The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1932. THE REAL REMEDY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 366, 7 March 1932, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1932. THE REAL REMEDY.

'\'X7'IIILE the arrangement and adoption of relief schemes to assist the workless bulk so largely in public discussions in New Zealand, it is appropriate to examine views and theories on the same subject advanced by other countries. To the United States, unemployment may have come as a bolt from the blue, as something foreign and totally unexpected, but this much can be said for Americans: they are not accepting the situation as if it were incapable of readjustment. Already experience gained under the stress of depression and industrial strain has focused attention upon the true objective ahead of industry everywhere the provision, not of doles or of other alleged substitutes, but of work itself. A leading New York economist says: “For the worker there is in all the world no substitute for his job except another job. The reason for this is less economic than is generally supposed. The simple truth is that since the beginning of human history nothing has ever been invented which counts for more in helping a man to believe in himself, to retain bis selfrespect, than his job.” To some people this may sound perfectly obvious. Many others, however, urgently need to realise the patent truth that the evils of unemployment cannot be exorcised by a system of sustenance payments and relief depots. Necessary as these may be for the time being, they must not be allowed for one minute to obscure the only true solution, national schemes for full-time work on a profitable scale. Preliminary action on these lines has already been taken in Christchurch, and, if enthusiasm is thrown into the task, the public meeting of local bodies and members of Parliament, to be held on March 14, should see further definite headway made. TOTALLY UNWARRANTED. SHRANK DISCUSSIONS of economic problems are to be welcomed, but their good purpose will be defeated if exaggeration and loose allegation creep in under the guise of frankness. A speaker at a meeting of the For New Zealand Society on Saturday evening said: “ We did not get into the gutter ourselves. With all due respect to the Mother Country she dropped us there.” For this amazing statement, there exists no justification ever; the facts of the situajjpn point irrefutably in the other direction. In the first place, the speaker patently had but the vaguest idea of the effects of the economic depression on Great Britain and the grave perils that threatened her national life towards the close of 1931. The formation of the National Government and the adoption of drastic measures to restore Britain’s financial stability averted a catastrophe, and for this far-reaching change, New Zealand, like Australia, has every reason to he profoundly thankful. Our position, with Britain reduced to the level of an impoverished and insignificant industrial nation, would have been almost too hopeless and desperate to contemplate. Another phase of the situation about which the speaker at Saturday night’s meeting may need enlightenment is the part played by (treat Britain as a purchaser of New Zealand produce. Since the establishment of direct shipping lines with the United Kingdom the Mother Country has absorbed the bulk of Dominion exports—in 1930, the percentage was 80.14 and the value £36,000,000. This is a fact of outstanding significance; its significance is trebled by the 10 per cent preference to be accorded Dominion products under the Import Duties Act, for which Royal Assent was given a few days ago. To infer, in the face of this generous and magnificent gesture, that the New Zealand producer receives scanty consideration from the Mother Country is unwarranted and absurd: