The Waikato Independent THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1929. RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYMENT.

Waikato Independent, Volume XXIX, Issue 3157, 7 November 1929, Page 4

The Waikato Independent THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1929. RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYMENT.

Since the Prime Minister made his rather staggering statement in the House a little while ago, upwards of 5000 men have been found employment, and on the whole the Government may claim to have carried out the promise. The actual statistics given in the House recently are too well known to need repeating here, but an interesting point is that of 1000 left unemployed, who were prepared to go and work anywhere, no less than 562 were classified as unemployable. This is a percentage which, if not very high, is still sufficient to provide food for thought. Another important point is contained in the statement of Hon. G. W. Forbes, that every effort had been made to prevent disturbance of existing labour conditions, particularly in regard to work in the country. At the same time there can be no doubt the offer of the Government to find work for all has had its effect, though possibly the lapsed applications for relief work represent some who decided that their present employment held better prospects than those offered by the .State. Though the cases do not go as far as to indicate a general state of affairs in the Waikato, there appears to bo every reason to believe that the relief work has attracted a number of men from the country and at a time when there is plenty of employment. From our own closer association, per medium of our advertising columns, we know that farmers in this district are having considerable difficulty in obtaining labour, and it would seem that the position will bo intensified with more work offering as the dairying season advances to the harvesting period. It is to be regretted, but it is known that in more than an isolated case, young men have left the district to take up relief work, and it would seem timely for the Government to take some action that would have the effect of preventing further disorganisation in this direction. In connection with the nature of the relief work it is claimed that the men are to be engaged on public works that required construction in the near future.' We believe that the employment of the unemployed on such road works as those progressing on the main highway in the Karapiro district is on the right linos, and temporary employment on afforestation is also to be commended, but it is very doubtful if some of the public works taken in hand , ore worth while at the present time. They have been speeded up to allow of the immediate absorption of those requiring work, though, in our opinion, a more general application to such works as we have indicated would have been preferable and more beneficial from a national standpoint. The cost of providing certain works taken in hand is heavy, and can only be justified on the ground that value for the expenditure is being obtained and that the works themselves will increase the facilities for production. While the intentions of the Government aTe good,

it is very doubtful whether, upon the present lines, a solution of one of the country’s most difficult problems will be found. At a great recurring cost to the Dominion the present scheme is only temporary in nature, whereas unemployment will be an equally recurring problem unless some provision is made with a solid foundation beneath it. The cities arc overcrowded in the matter of employment, and at the present time the tendency is for the situation to become intensified. In the search for a satisfactory solution of the problem it seems that those in control will have to go back to the provision of a more elastic land settlement policy and the employment of every possible effort to make men, and more especially young men, go upon the land and stay there.