FIGURES MISUSED

Southland Times, Issue 22733, 8 November 1935, Page 6

FIGURES MISUSED

Of the many absurd accusations levelled against the Government, the most flagrant is that which advances as proof of the Coalition Government’s incompetence the fact that unemployment to-day is greater by 10,000 than it was when the Government took office. The figures certainly show that, but if the desire was to inform the public properly there would be added to this statement the reminder that when the Coalition was formed the effect of the economic depression was still comparatively light, though the threatening sky made it clear that the coming storm was to be the severest yet felt by the country. It must not be assumed that the Coalition was formed only when

the depression was at its climax. When Mr Forbes and Mr Coates led the United and Reform parties into a coalition their purpose was to meet the storm which was yet to reach its highest point, and to compare the unemployment figures of that date with those ruling to-day is obviously misleading. It has been shown that by means of carefully selected dates it is possible to obtain figures which apparently prove that the wages cuts caused unemployment, and there are candidates who are still using these hand-picked figures to the confusion of the electors, but once the full statistics are examined this particular inexactitude is exposed. Similarly once it is realized that the figures giving the unemployment at the time the Coalition was formed represent the position at the early stage of the depression, the misleading character of their application is understood. To-day the country is moving steadily out of the storm and the unemployment figures are falling. Instead of presenting misleading figures the critics of the Government should be explaining that whatever faults the Government has committed the position of the country is getting better daily, and unemployment is receding.