The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1930. UNEMPLOYMENT ISSUES

Southland Times, Issue 20999, 4 February 1930, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1930. UNEMPLOYMENT ISSUES

This country is thoroughly wamedby the approach of another unemployment problem in the coming winter, and people are sure to ask what is being done by way of preparation. No Government can plead that it has not been warned, nor will it do to shelter behind the political plea that the causes had their rise during the reign of another Ministry. Last year the United Party Government came into the business with a bold fanfare after the major part of the unemployment had been dealt with and when the seasonal demand for workers was at hand, but this year it will have no chance to fob off its responsibilities. Much .has been made of land settlement as a cure for unemployment, but even the most rabid supporter of the Government is now ready to admit that the progress in land settlement has been very slow, and that the prospects of removing unemployment in this way are very remote. Could they be otherwise? Can men who have been out of work for months suddenly take up land and make a success of farming? The whole idea was preposterous, and this country is now coming to realize that highsounding phrases are not enough. Land settlement is not the cure, and, if it were, the application of it is too slow to give any hope of success. In some quarters there is a tendency to throw up hands and consent meekly to a return to the expenditure of money on relief works in town and country, often works that are not immediately required, but a more practical method wouldbe to set out on an effort to remove or mitigate the causes of this annual suffering and waste. Land settlement is not the cure, because people have yet to be shown that farming pays well enough, but there are people who can advance sound arguments in favour of a policy which through the development of local manufactures will make a better market in New Zealand for New Zealand produce and goods. For years there has been a steady flow of money out of this country to foreign countries, and this has contributed to the difficulties from which we now suffer. Slowly but surely, it seems to us, the public is beginning to realize that the Dominion must protect its own market by buying wisely within the Empire, but there is also another problem: the absorption of the young men and young women who come on to the labour market at the close of every school year. Agriculture cannot take them, and the manufacturers cannot unless they are definitely encouraged to expand and provide openings for more employees. Empire trading and the development of local industries can run side by side in perfect harmony, and through them something can be done to reduce if not to eliminate the unemployment which takes such a heavy financial toll on the country each year. Everything must be examined from a standpoint that recognizes the supreme importance of agriculture in New Zealand, but it seems to us that this implicates a realization of the paramount value of Britain as the overseas buyer of our produce, and the need for the development of industries which will be able to give employment to those ready to work, together with the annual recruitment of young people. This is a question which strikes clean to the roots of New Zealand’s problems, and yet it seems that nothing is being done to educate the public to whom any Government must finally look for authority to apply effective remedies, It can only be understood if a broad view is taken of the situation, and the problem is discussed in a manner that will extend the examination beyond the narrow limits of any one section of the community.