CRISIS APPEARS OVER

Taranaki Daily News, 28 June 1934, Page 7

CRISIS APPEARS OVER

dominion unemployment restoration of men to work, great problem, facing board. DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN’S retirement. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. Some of the problems which are met with in the administration of unemployment relief were discussed in an interview by the retiring deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board (Mr. J. S. Jessep), who has seen three strenuous years in that office. Mr. Jessep, who was appointed East Coast Commissioner in April, has found that his work as commissioner and in connection with native affairs requires his full time and he is relinquishing his position on the Unemployment Board. '"The underlying responsibilities of the board,” said Mr. Jessep, “fall into two broad divisions—on the one hand the relief of distress due to involuntary unemployment and on the other. trustee duty to the public which provides the funds. Superficially they look very clear and straightforward, but actually they provide an abundant crop of other problems. To begin with, there is a very definite limit to the amount of taxation which those in work or with incomes can contribute for the maintenance of those without either work or incomes; hue there seems no limit to the amount which could be absorbed in helping the latter. The first task, therefore, is to cut the relief coat to the financial cloth, and the process brings the board at once fairly between the upper and the nether stones. IMPORTANT POINTS. “Concerning the nature of relief works through which the funds are expended, there are several important points which have to be kept in mind. It is almost as much a law of nature as of society that each man should seek first to exhaust all proper means of supporting himself and his family before falling back on ine aid of the community. As in all other things there are exceptions to the observance of this. They are represented by the relative few in every community wno never in their lives felt any burning desire to support themselves by their own efforts, if it involved anything in the nature of steady application to work. They are generally described as the unemployables.’ They are practically always unemployed, but their unemployment is voluntary. . “The relief system was not designed, with any concern for that class, although democracy, in its impartiality,, does noexclude them from participation, in its benefits. Their inclusion is incidental. But for the first time in history, so far as New Zealand is concerned, they have attained formal recognition. They are a far from inarticulate section, at whose door can be laid the indiscretions which have from time to time been committed in the name of the unemployed, and can be expected to create noisy opposition to any suggestion of contractmg the relief system when the time comes for that contraction to be reasonably possible. SOCIOLOGICAL DANGER. “Sociologically, the danger most to be guarded against is the lowering of the genuinely unemployed man to the plane of the other class. In theory, a man who has all his working life been accustomed to, and taken >yide in, fending for himself and his family would in very nature be repelled from such a change. But proper account has to be taken of the forces ’ arrayed against his maintaining independence of spirit, strong as it may be at the commencement. He sustains an initial blow to pride when he finds that his craftsmanship and industry are no longer sought after. His spirit is further dampened and his savings consume in vain search for work, his world of all the things he has come to regard as fixed and permanent gradually disintegrating about him. “To men of his type-and the wave of unemployment engulfed thousands o them—there was in the next step of registration as unemployed a symbolism that they did not speak of. They £elt it to be an acknowledgment of personal defeat' by overwhelming forces against which industry, skill and good citizenship had become suddenly impotent. The state of mind promoted by such an experience created the psychological ingredient in the board’s problem. “Work of a stimulating nature that would encourage men once more to take pride in their handiwork is what is most required 'in devising relief works, and at the same time most difficult to provide. Unfortunately money cannot be found to finance the ideal types of relie., work which would give accustomed occupation to professional men, artisans of all kinds, clerical workers and labourers. Even if funds could be found, it would not always be possible to put such works ' into operation. They would compete with normal activities in the community, ana throw fresh victims into the ranks. of unemployed, creating a last position worse than the first. This is a possibility which has continuously to be watched for in instituting relief works and greatly complicates administration. MORAL STAMINA WEAKENED. “Experience shows that even good workers, after they have had to depend on relief works for a considerable time, and have had perforce to adjust their standard of living to their relief earnings, tend to become resigned to their position, and when offered private employment not infrequently decline it unless there is a substantial difference between the pay offered and what they receive on relief. There is in this a serious significance. It denotes a weakening of moral stamina which cumulatively means a national loss. Economically, too, it sounds a warning of the danger that arises from allowing relief earnings to approach too closely to the ruling wages in industry. That is just another of the pitfalls of relief administration which arrest rather than assist the revival of industry. “The question of unemployment is an unfailing source of concern to thoughtful people, and because of its many sided nature it is one most difficult on which to find unanimity of opinion regarding its treatment. Resolutions are continually coming in from all quarters of the country. These are always examined with the attention which their sincerity calls for. Sometimes they are found to embody principles . which have already been tried and abandoned as producing in practice effects contrary to intention. In other cases, financial considerations rule them out. “Frequently it is found that the measures propounded are already in force. An example of this occurred recently when a responsible body after giving a great deal of thought to the problem adopted resolutions calling attention to the possibilities of afforestation, flaxgrowing and gold mining. In each of these fields the Unemployment Board has long been operating. “In forestry it has through the organisation of the State Forest Service caused the planting of about 50,000 acres of trees, and could have done much more but fox

the difficulty of inducing men to take the work. In the flax industry marketing assistance and labour assistance has been given to enable New Zealand hemp to hold its place on the market pending improvement in prices, and to maintain the flax swamps in good order. “I have taken a special interest in measures for reviving the goldmining industry, and in spite of initial apathy encountered towards the idea, the board to-day has about 4000 men out goldmining or prospecting. Arrangements are in train for the board to enter upon still more comprehensive proposals in this field, as, for instance, the Humphreys Gully area on the West Coast, where 10,000 acres of auriferous ground has been taken over, and large engineering works are contemplated with the object of bringing in water so that a considerable number of unemployed men can be placed on sluicing claims.” Commenting on the future position of unemployment, Mr. Jessep remarked that while it appeared that the crisis, in a numerical sense, was now over and registrations had a declining trenu, there yet remained the process, comparable to postwar repatriation, of restoring thousands of men into their usual occupations. A complicating feature of that phase of the work would be the harmful effect taken, on individuals of long-continued dependence on the State for support. It would demand in those responsible a special degree of sympathy, firmness and initiative. It would also require a high degree of elasticity in the administrative machinery. Any tendency to rigid departmentalism would be a fatal obstacle and would merely solidify the problem into a permanent one.V