The Daily News THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1935. EMPLOYMENT PORTFOLIO.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 April 1935, Page 4

The Daily News

THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1935. EMPLOYMENT PORTFOLIO.

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The observation made on Monday by the newly appointed Minister of Employment, the Hon. S. G. Smith, that he intended to view the unemployment problem from a new angle has aroused considerable interest. Unlike irresponsible but very articulate critics of the relief policies , of the past three years, Mr. Smith must not only consider the weaknesses revealed but substitute a more satisfactory method of relieving the unemployed. He is the fourth Minister to have held the portfolio of Employment during the past three years, two of his predecessors having found the strain of the work too much fortheir physical strength. Although the Unemployment Board is presumably a non-poli-tical body the nature of the problem makes it certain that no Minister of Employment can. hope to escape heavy responsibility. The recent debate in the House of Representatives showed that the Government is regarded as responsible for the actions of the board, of which the Minister of Employment is chairman, and if Mr. Smith’s statement indicates that he proposes to make his chairmanship include a share in formation of the board’s policy there will be many who will appreciate his courage. In any commercial enterprise of the State there is everything in favour of nonpolitical control of operations. But. unemployment relief measures cannot be treated as merely commercial or economic problems. They must give heed to humanitarian needs as well, and to the credit of the authorities and those" who have been entrusted with the administration of the board’s policy, that aspect has received quite as full consideration as can be hoped for in a Dominion-wide scheme limited by the funds provided by a heavy tax on the community. At present the chief executive officer of the Unemployment Board is the deputy-chairman. He has greater powers than his fellow-members and receives a higher salary. The arrangement was deliberate, for it was the Government’s intention to keep the board a non-political organise ation charged with administering relief funds to the best of its ability and with the aim of increasing employment as well as of affording immediate relief where required. The board has done good work, although in. some respects bureaucracy has marked its policy. With the framing and direction of that policy the Minister, who as chairman of the board is its link with Parliament, has little to do, but' he has to expound and justify.it whenever called upon to do so. Sound relief administration is extremely difficult, as even a country with the long experience of Great Britain has found. Action taken must be determined to a large extent by the funds available, for Britain’s experience in living beyond her means in regard to unemployment relief was that it led to the most serious raid upon her economic security the nation had ever suffered. Neither the Minister nor 'the ■ Unemployment Board is likely to win popularity by. adhering to the wise policy of paying the way . in regard to unemployment relief. They have the satisfaction of knowing, however, that they are not piling up fresh burdens for the Dominion to carry later on. Seeing that the Minister must—in practice, whatever may be the theoretical view—accept responsibility for the board’s policy and administration, there is a good deal in favour of recognition by the Government that these matters are too important, too intertwined with social wellbeing, to be entrusted, at least so far as 1 policy is concerned, to an allegedly “non-political” board. If Mr. Smith’s intimation means that he intends to take a greater share in the formulation of the board’s policy it is to be hoped he will apply his energies to increasing avenues of employment rather than seeking to increase relief except 7where, for humanitarian reasons, circumstances make that necessary. Without any audacious scheme of public works financed by borrowed money, investigation would reveal many potential opportunities of employment paying normal wages and giving a direct return for the expenditure. In the railway tracks, for instance, there are deviations and alterations that could be made that would lower working costs, but which cannot be undertaken by the Railways Board because earnings do not permit the necessary expenditure, and there are other industries with potentialities of development that would repay inquiry. Success in restoring normal enaploy-

ment will be the test of the Minister’s foresight and capabilities. If Mr. Smith shows determination in that direction, rather than in bolstering up a dole system, he can fee# assured of the co-operation he has asked of all who are anxious for the welfare of the unemployed. . >