The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1934. OF SOCIAL MOMENT.

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 86, 7 April 1934, Page 4

The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 1934. OF SOCIAL MOMENT.

In view of the constructive policy pursued by the Waipukurau Unemployed. and Employed Association, throughout the whole period of its activities, a commendable measure of self-help being in evidence, and the similarly sound course of action adopted by the National Union of Unemployed Workers despite much •opposition from within the ranks of the workless, it is to bei hoped that there will be an encouraging response to the publicly issued invitation to all citizens as to attending the meeting announced for to-night. Messrs. F. E. Park, president of the National body, and H. Ashford, a National Conference delegate, are well qualified to give an authoritative outline of the work and objectives for which the organisation is responsible, therefore the addresses should prove informative as well as of arresting interest. It has been long since our opinion, as from time to time expressed, that the workless people of the Dominion have, as a whole, displayed wonderful fortitude and patience in the face of phenomenal difficulties as well as tardy justice as far as State assistance is concerned. They have been expected to do the impossible, i.e., balance their domestic budgets on a food or rental standard of income, with a whittling down of the basic rates of allocation from time to time —particularly so, as applied to the country centres of population. Not only has the general situation been aggravated by the inadequacy of the income thus made available and the differentiation mentioned, but by intra-rural variations in the same connection. Locally, thanks to the breadth of outlook enjoyed by the Chamber of Commerce in respect of the uneconomic trend of Dominion legislation as far as the undermining of spending power is concerned, there has been a helpful understanding of the unemployed's plight, and to an extent unique perhaps, in commercial circles, this body has actively associated itself with the efforts put forth to better the conditions of those in need, opposing at all times wage and salary reductions, also any allocation “cuts.” It is unfortunate that the proposal adopted at the Waipukurau and district conference of local bodies and the Chamber, advocating a £ for £ subsidy scheme (based on family and housing variations) has not been carried into effect. In the interests of security of tenure for thousands of harassed family circles as well as landlords and mortgagees (many of whom are in much the same straitened circumstances as those dependent on their goodwill) it is highly desirable that the State should shoulder a due share of the obligation at present cast upon the sections of the population thus involved, also the business community, which is likewise burdened to an exceptional extent. We are of the opinion that the local Chamber has been on solid ground also in urging that standard rates of pay be adopted, and local bodies operate on a subsidy basis devised accordingly. It is pleasing to find that many leading independent-mind-ed public men of the Rushworth and Atmore type, additional to those figuring prominently in the Labour movement, are alive to the needs of the workless, not only as to immediate relief but industrial development and inflationary as against deflationary methods as represented by lowered earning power, flat rates of taxation, and higher exchange. To be told by a well-known non-radical New Zealander (Mr.'Will Appleton), who has recently toured the Homeland, that we are 20 to 30 years behind the Old Country in the matter of community social life should prompt even the conservative element in our population to think and act more liberally.

PUBLIC SERVICE. “The public is a fickle jade, and he was goes out to win her favours soon becomes aware of the fact that her favours are hardly worth the effort of winning,” comments the “Stratford Post,” in a leading article, and we sympathise with the conclusions reached. “Men may be impelled by vanity to go into public life, but vanity will not be a sufficient stay to

keep them there. They must be imbued with a spirit of public duty and a desire to better the conditions for the whole of the people. They will soon realise that there is very little I h appreciation for such work, and it re- * quires a stout heart to. keep going under such discouraging circumstances. That the sweets of office are not attractive for many men goes without saying, because they find that there are sweeter things to be had by pursuing one’s own self-interest. Generally however, the stock of publicspirited men is sufficient to allow’ of the disillusioned to gracefully drop out, but the Woodville Borough Council has found that it cannot recruit two men to the vacancies on that body. The public should take the incident as a sign.' If worthwhile men are not appointed to such, offices, then the public will pay dearly, but if, after having appointed a good man, it does not accord him the respect that is his due for working in the service of the public, then it must be ready for a general defection , from the ranks of public administration.” ’