The Daily News SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1935. AIDS TO RECOVERY.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 April 1935, Page 6

The Daily News

SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1935. AIDS TO RECOVERY.

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Two statements included in the Budget speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, to the House of Commons deserve consideration in New Zealand. The Chancellor stated that during the past financial year “the time lost in trade disputes was the lowest on record.” Coming as it did within a few weeks of the announcement that a permanent arrangement had been arrived at for the settlement of differences between railway staffs and their employers, / Mr. Chamberlain’s remark gives hope that a new orientation of relations between employer and wage-earner is being brought about in Great Britain without a struggle 'and without any hold-up of industry. Britain has always declined to apply the principle of compulsion in industrial arbitration, and it may be said that this attitude has had the support of organised labour as well as that of employers. The railway workers’ unions are among the most powerful of the labour organisations, and at one time the relations between the employers and their men was anything but cordial. Ever since the disastrous general strike of nine years ago the railway companies in Great Britain have been struggling against acute difficulties. Reorganisation and amalgamation of services has done something to reduce railway costs, but for seven years dividends were doubtful, the reorganisations reduced staffs, and wages had to be lowered. The workers accepted the position, but with increased earnings during the past two years there were evidences of unrest, and a demand was made for a general increase in the lower rates of pay. Out of that ’demand arose the discussions that led to the appointment of a permanent authority, to be recognised by workers and employers, to handle any future railway industrial differences. The cotton industry is in process of reorganisation, as are also coalmining and iron and steel. Recovery in these three basic industries is slow, but Mr. Chamberlain’s testimony in regard to trade disputes shows that the process is not being held up by useless quarrels between capital and labour, a fact that justified optimism in regard to the future. A further important comment by the Chancellor of the Exchequer was that Great Britain might soon be unable to. spare

the right type of migrant for peopling the Dominions. The Minister may have been considering the effect of the decreasing birth-rate, but judging from the whole tenor of his Budget speech it seems more likely that he assumed that before long Britain will be able to give employment to all of her population requiring it. Mr. Chamberlain has always insisted that unemployment can only be cured by the stimulation of industry, he is known to be cautious in his estimates, and when a Minister of his temperament and responsibilities considers the need for migration as a means of relieving unemployment will not remain much longer, it seems probable that he has good ground for his belief. The Minister’s forecast presents a different outlook from that commonly accepted in New Zealand, and raises the question whether a policy of immigration may not be worth consideration by both the Dominion and the Motherland. New Zealand needs more population, if only to carry the burdens incurred to establish existing public services, and Great Britain has—at present at all events—many who are seeking wider opportunities for advancement than they can obtain there. An outlet for New Zealand produce would be an essential condition of a new migration policy, and it would necessitate also a considerable amount of selection and preparation in both countries. Mr. Chamberlain’s hint that it would be no waste of money to assist to populate the Dominions with British stock may have indicated Britain’s readiness to give financial assistance to suitable emigrants. If this is the position, and the way is cleared for the absorption of the additional output that would follow a large increase in New Zealand’s population, migration as an aid to recovery in Britain and the Dominion may be nearer adoption than has seemed likely during the past seven years.