The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1929. UNEMPLOYMENT

Southland Times, Issue 20770, 10 May 1929, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1929. UNEMPLOYMENT

One of the first problems the council will have to deal with is the employment of workless men in the borough. At present the position is not serious enough to demand elaborate action, but it is idle to think that Invercargill will go through the winter without some call being made on it to provide work, and it is desirable that the corporation should be prepared for eventualities. Mr Campbell has given some general endorsement to Councillor OByrne’s proposals in connection with the Seaward Bush endowments, which, if practicable, promise to provide an excellent method of dealing with a fairly large number of men, but we notice that some strong criticism has been levelled at the scheme by a correspondent who is in a position to speak with some authority of the land and its possibilities. He declares that the estimates of the timber on the endowment waiting to be cut are too generous, and that the corporation will not obtain anything like the revenue Councillor O’Byrne expects. The fact that posts will be required on the endowment lards if they are

to be put up does not destroy their economic value, but if they are used in fencing of sections they will not provide immediate revenue for financing the project. As we. have said, the correspondent who has traversed the proposals in connection with Seaward Bush is in a position to speak with authority, and the council will have to take a serious view of what he says. It is desirable that this matter should be properly sifted before anything is done and with an eye to the future the Mayor should see that a thorough examination of the property is carried out in order to settle all doubt on the points raised by the critics. It is no use leaving this matter to be taken up when there is a demand for work. The time for action is now so that if the municipality wishes to go ahead with the project it will be in a position to act confidently and with a properly balanced scheme. There is an advantage in improving corporation endowments which will offset part of the expenditure, but the whole of the facts must be carefully weighed, because there is a limit to the amount which can be expended on land. The council is not entitled to launch into waste, and the caution with which this matter has been treated in past years should be enough to warn the present council that it must proceed deliberately. All the more reason for an early beginning. Mr Campbell has only just taken up his duties and it is too soon to ask him for any definite programme, but we feel that the public will welcome from him an early statement of the council’s intentions and its preparations for the winter months, should the amount of unemployment demand action. Some of the cities are already getting their machinery under way and the Government is making grants to assist them. Undoubtedly the position in Christchurch and Auckland is acute enough now to warrant their activities, but past experience shows that we should not be dilatory. We would not be surprised to learn that something already is being done by some of the municipal departments, but the possibility of a larger' effort being required is the demand for preparation in good time.