A REMEDY?

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 274, 9 February 1928, Page 10

A REMEDY?

SOLVING UNEMPLOTNQft NEW PARTY’S SWQf RH If the remarks of Me. c Fgrbes. M.P. for Hurunai, are <e iL accepted as an indication, the m ™ ner in which the United PolithUl Party would attack the unempl£* ment problem in New ZmalrnHj would be in the direction of settlement of the land, checking of the drift from IT* country to the city. How it warn ♦ be done was not explained by M Forbes, who took the platfern. t the new party at the last evening. *" His first mention of the Auckieon soup kitchen in the City Miasior. co vinced Mr. Forbes that he had piaeL his finger upon the most contention, subject in this city at the present tiuj for his remarks were punctuated ■»*«,’ strong comment by interjectore, .y continuous cries for a tangible remee to the unpleasant situation. a tribute to the work that was being done by the Rev. Jasper Calder. ** A Voice: We want the remedy. A Second Voice: The labourer « worthy of his hire. Mr. Forbes: This question is one v the indications whether the machine 2 Government is working right or not t, is one of the tests of statesmanship at the men who are running the country X do not want to make party capital out, of this, but X want to suggest * remedy. A. Voice: What is the cause of it* Mr. Forbes: We had soup kitchen, in the old days. ... A Voice: Not anything like these. Mr. Forbes: Not anything like these but then we have double the population now to what we had at that time. The speaker claimed that it -was the land policy of the late John Mackenzie that had broken down the land mono- | poly of that day. and provided a solution of the unemployment problem as it faced the country at that time. Our present policy was not progressive, although everything possible had to be done in the direction of relief works. A Voice: We want work: not charity. Mr. Forbes: We have to undertake reproductive work, and have to provide for the unemployment that Is sure to occur during the coming winter. (Applause). A comprehensive scheme is necessary, and all the local bodies as well as the Government, must do their best to relieve the position. A Voice: Give us a policy. Interjections continued to come from all over the hall, and suggestions and comments were shouted from floor and gallery. This caused Mr. Forbes to remark: “From the interruptions, I can see that this is a burning question.* Voices: What are you going to do? Haven’t you anything to suggest? Mr. Forbes faced the crowd very well. “I am willing to do everything I can to assist in alleviating the distress that exists.” he said. A Voice: What do you suggest? Mr. Forbes: What do I suggest? I have been suggesting all along. But after all, you have a Government In power (loud applause) and it is ft*r them to do the work, and not me. 'Further applause). The Mayor, who presided, was compelled at this stage to war* inUrjectors that extreme measures would ba exercised if the interruptions became too persistent. “If we do not see the settlement of the land keep pace with city development, we will have unemployment cobsta.nt!y with us,” Mr. Forbes wrat m, “Figures show that the drift tc w towns from the country has been oet of all proportion to development, in 1911 57 per cent, of the people lived m the country and 43 per cent in tne towns, but at last census the had changed to 49 per cent—sl per cent, respectively/”