THE UNEMPLOYMENT LEVY.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1930, Page 8

THE UNEMPLOYMENT LEVY.

Apart from a section of the Civil Service, the latest announcement' in regard to the proposed unemployment levy is, likely to meet with general approval. In introducing the Bill which provides for tlie. levy the Minister of Labour, the Hon. S. G. Smith, intimated that it was not the)) proposed to make the levy upon civil servant's. ' The argument presumably was that as they had their own systems of superannuation and were m constant employment the unemployment fund was not likely to be of service to them, and therefore they should not be asked to contribute towards it. Since then it has been announced that the levy, if made, will bo demanded from civil servants as well as from other members of the community. This is the only logical course to adopt. Were considerations of possible benefits to contributors to be the deciding factor in making a levy upon them endless complications would arise, and the amount of revenue the fund was likely to provide would be extremely difficult to forecast. It is hoped that the great majority of contributors will never require assistance from the unemployment fund they are asked to create. Were it otherwise the scheme would fall by its own weight. The Bill is an endeavour to make a community effort to deal with unemployment by creat-

: g a fund out of which works providing additional employment can be financed. In such-an effort it is obvious that those least likely to require assistance must bear their share. Civil servants fall into that category, and there is no reason to doubt their willingness to share responsibilities their fellowcitizens are also asked to shoulder. • To say this is not to maintain that the proposed levy is sound in principle or that the Bill now under consideration is the cure for unemployment. The point is that if Parliament decides to call upon the manhood of the Dominion for a certain financial effort the call must be general or it will be unfair.