UNEMPLOYMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 153, 30 June 1934, Page 8

UNEMPLOYMENT

NUMEROUS PROBLEMS MR. JESSEP INTERVIEWED. WELLINGTON, June 29. Some of the problems which are met with in the administration of unemployment reliuef were discussed in an interview by the retiring deputy-chair-man of the Unemployment Board (Mr. J. 8. Jcssep), who has seen three strenuous years in that office. Mr. Jessep, who was appointed East Coast Commissioner in April last, has found that his work as Commissioner and in connection with native affairs generally, requires his full time, and is relinguishing his position on the Unemployment Board. “The underlying responsibilities of the board,” said Mr. Jessep, •‘fall into two broad divisions—on the one hand the relief of distress due to involunthey provide an abundant crop of other trustee duty to the public who provide the funds. Superficially, they look very clear and straightforward, but actually they provide a nabundant crop of other problems. To begin with, there is a very definite limit to the amount of taxation which those iu work or with incomes can contribute for the maintenance of those without either work or incomes; but there seems no limit to the amount which can be absorbed in helping the latter. The first task, therefore, is to cut the relief coat to the financial cloth, and the process at once brings the board at once between the upper and the nether stones.

“Concerning the nature of relief works through which the funds are expended, there are several important points which have to be kept in mind. It is almost as much a law of nature as of society that each man should seek first to exhaust all proper means of supporting himself and his family before falling back on tire aid of the community. As in all other things there are exceptions to the observance of this. They are represented by the relative few in every community who never in their lives felt any burning desire to support themselves by their own efforts, if it involved anything in- the nature of steady application to work. They are generally described as the “unemployables.” They are practically always unemployed, but their unemployment is voluntary. The relief system was not designed with any concern for that class, although democracy, in its impartiality, does not exclude them from participation iu its benefits. Their inclusion is incidental. But for the first time in history, so far as New Zealand is concerned, they have

attained formal recognition. They are a far from inarticulate section, at whose door can be laid the indiscretions which have from time to time been committed in the name of the unemployed, and can be expected to create noisy opposition to any suggestion of contracting the relief system when the time comes for that contraction to be reasonably possible. “Sociologically, the danger most to be guarded against is the lowering of the genuinely unemployed man to the plane of the other class. In theory, a man who has all his working life been accustomed to, and taken pride in fending for himself and his family, would in very nature Im repelled from such a change. But proper account has to be taken of the forces arrayed against his maintaining independence of spirit, strong as it may be at the commencement. He Sustains an initial blow to prid-e when he finds that his craftsmanship and industry are no longer sought after—are, in fact, at a complete discount. His spirit is fuither dampened and his savings consumed in vain search for work, his world for all the things he has come to regard as fixed and permanent gradually disintegrating about him. To men of this type—and the wave of unemployment engulfed thousands of them.—there was in the next step of registration as unemployed a symbolism that they did not speak of. They felt it to be an

acknowledgment of personal defeat by overwhelming forces against which industry, skill and good citizenship had become suddenly impotent. The state of mind promoted by such an experience created the psychological ingredient in the board’s problem. “Work of a stiniultaing nature that would encourage men once more to take pride in their handiwork is what is most required in devising relief works, and at the same time most difficult to provide. Unfortunately money cannot be found to finance the ideal types of relief work which v ould give accustomed occupation to professional men, artisans of all kinds, clerical workers and labourers. Even if funds could be found, it would not always be possible to put such works into operation. They would compete with normal activities in the community, and throw fresh victims into the ranks of unemployed, creating a last position worse than the first. This is a possibility which has continuously to be watched for in instituting relief works and greatly complicates administration. “Experience shows that even good workers, after they have had to depend on relief work for a considerable time, and have had perforce to adjust their (standard of living to their relief earnings, tend to become resigned to their position, and when offered private employment not infrequently decline it unless there is a substantial difference between the pay offered and what they receive on relief. There is in this a serious significance. It denotes a weak-

ening of moral stamina which :uniulatively means a tremendous national loss. Economically too. it sounds a warning of the danger that arises from allowing relief earnings to approach too closely to the ruling wages in industry. That is just another of the pitfails of relief administration which arrest rather than assist the revival of industry. “The whole questio of unemployment is an unfailing source of concern to thoughtful people, and because of its many-sided nature, one most difficult on which to find unanimity of opinion regarding its treatment. Resolutions are continually coming in from all quarters of the country. These are always examined with the attention which their sincerity calls for. Sometimes th«y are found to embody principles which have already been tried and abandoned as producing in practice effects contrary to intention. In other cases, financial considerations rule thvm out. Frequently again, it is found that the measures propounded are already in force. An example of this occurred recent y when a responsible body, after giving a great deal of thought to the problem, adopted resolutions calling attention o the possibilities of afforestation, flaxerowing, and goldmining. In each of these fields, the Unemployment Board

has long been operating. In it has. through the organisation of tha State Forest Service, caused the planting of about 50,000 acres of trees, and could have done much more but for tha difficulty of inducing men to take the work. In the flax industry, marketing assistance and labour assistance ha« been given to enable New Zealand hemp to hold its place on the market pending improvement in prices, and to maintain the flax swamps in good order. I have taken a special interest in measures for reviving the goldmining industry, and in spite of initial apathy encountered towards the idea, the board to-day has some 4000 men out goldmining or prospecting. Arrangements are in train for the board to enter upon still more, comprehensive proposals m this field, as, for instance, the Humphreys Gully area on the West Coast, where 10,000 acres of auriferous ground has been taken over, and large eugi-n-eering works are contemplate! wiih the object of bringing in wi’er so thai a considerable number of unemployed men can be placed on sluicing claims. * Commenting on the future oosition <f

unemployment, Mr. Jessep remarked that while it appeared that th: crisis, in a numerical sense, was now ovo£ and registrations had a destining trend, there yet remained the proctMS, conr* parable to post-war repatriation, restoring thousands of men back into their usual occupations A '•ompJcif* ing feature of that phase of the work would be the harmful effect taken rt, individuals of long-continued dependence on the State for support. It would demaud in those responsible a special degree of sympathy, firmness and :nitiative. It would also require a high degree of elasticity in the -idminisfiutive machinery. Any tendency to rigid departmentalism would be a fatal obstacle, and would merely solidify tut problem into a permanent oao.