The Daily News TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1935. OUTLOOK IMPROVED.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 June 1935, Page 4

The Daily News

TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1935. OUTLOOK IMPROVED.

OFFICES: ' NEW PLYMOUTH, Curri* Street STRATFORD. Broadway. HAWERA, JEHsh Street.

Unemployment is a problem in which it is essential that a national assessment be made from time to time if the community is to realise the true value of efforts made to assist the unemployed and remove the causes of .their economic predicaments.. To those who are engaged in relieving local distress it is sometimes difficult to see much ground for optimism. They find themselves after five years of effort still confronted by many families for whom official assistance is scarcely able to provide bare-ne-cessities. There are also- despondency among many relief workers and 'indications that some of them are rapidly passing into a class that is no, longer anxious to back- to normal occupation, but has become willing to accept the inhibitions of relief earnings and to limit their energies to efforts towards further assistance from the State. It is easy to deprecate and even to blame this tendency towards dependence. It is not so easy to show how it can be arrested and new courage and fresh . determination kindled _ within the ranks of those of /whom some ever since they reached - adolescence have been shown that there is little opportunity for them in the economic life of the community. Realisation of these factors makes for a very sober viewpoint among those engaged in mitigating the limitations of State assistance to the unemployed. But if a wider perspective is chosen the gloom is somewhat dissipated. Reviewing the conditions throughout the Dominion there are grounds for tempered optimism, and there is 'no finer tonic for mind and body, individually and collectively, than sane and reasoned belief that improvement is under way. For that reason the review made by the Minister of Employment, the Hon. S. G. Smith, and published in yesterday’s issue of the Daily News, was particularly valuable. With the drop in seasonal employment inevitable in the winter months, the uncertainty in regard to the disposal of the Dominion’s exports in Great Britain, the tremendous load of taxation, and the qualms felt about some of the Government’s financial rehabilitation proposals there was ample need for a presentation of the case for optimism, and it must be admitted that Mr. Smith based his upon figures that are indisputable, although the individual deductions from them may vary. The Minister was able to show that the remissions in unemployment taxation had been made good by the increase in taxable earnings and incomes. He contended the collection of ..levies proved that in the past year normal wages had. shown an increase in the aggregate of £3,600,000. With the reduction of the levy upon relief workers to a nominal charge of fouY shillings a year it is obvious that the improved wage condition applied to normal occupations, and, judging from various reports that have been published, the return to wage rates of pre-depres-sion days is still progressing. In regard to unemployment levies paid from income other than earnings the increase in taxable ability was even moi;e substantial than in the case of wageearnings, but that, as Mr. Smith pointed out, is a less reliable indication of returning prosperity because of its dependence upon overseas trading and other factors to a large extent beyond Dominion control. The Minister’s defence of the Unemployment Board’s administration will be generally approved. The board has tried to temper prudence with sympathy, and with considerable success. It must be remembered that where public funds are concerned and a national policy is being administered there must be rules 'that in individual cases appear harsh and anomalous. But those who criticise the board most are singularly reticent in suggesting an alternative to its administration, although ' like any other man-made expedient it suffers from human fallibility. Mr. Smith was able to show that the board had not created a large surplus at the expense of those requiring relief, and that the need still remained for prudent administration of the funds placed at its disposal by the taxpayers. General employment increasing, and wise administration of relief measures were two of the grounds for optimism.instanced by the Minister. A third, and it may prove the most satisfactory of them all, is that Mr. Smith and his advisers are engaged in preparing plans for further stimulation of normal occupations. For employment is still the only cure for unemployment, and the more employment

can be increased the larger the Minister’s claim will be to the successful handling of a difficult problem.