The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1920. UNEMPLOYMENT AT HOME

Waikato Times, Volume 93, Issue 14536, 7 December 1920, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1920. UNEMPLOYMENT AT HOME

The information that unemployed in

London are seizing unoccupied municipal property in order to establish relief organisations is distinctly disquieting. Wc are at the beginning of the English winter, and the outlook is serious. The people of the districts mentioned in the cables are not members of strong trade unions. There are a very large number of small and subsidiary industries in which the workers are often not organised at all, and where they are organised 'the unions are not strong. Probably many of those who are unemployed are engaged in warehouses and shops in normal times. The occupation of municipal buildings is the smallest part of the evil. It is that outdoor relief is already being granted, and if this has to be done on any considerable scale it will prove a heavy tax on householders, and English papers are already full of the bitter cry of the middle class man. Trade unionists have been able to enforce their demands for increased wages to meet increased prices, but the professional or the black-coated worker can seldom do much to secure increased remuneraton. His position is settled by economic causes that act slowly, and the living wage theory is not for him. Since the armistice there have been favourable times for labour in England, which was able first to supply its own requirements in manufactured goods, and then to fill the orders for Europe and the Dominion. The aftermath of war also provided easy living for many people by arrears to pay, gratuities, unemployed bonuses, and other methods, and the country is only now returning to normal conditions. It would be impossible to avoid a great deal of suffering, which results inevitably from the dislocation ot war. Men changed their pursuits, left their homes, took up fresh employment, spent a year or two in "khaki, and have then had to return to their previous occupation where that was possible, and where.it could not be done tr. ey had to find fresh work. The man who had a trade at his finger ends and was a member of a trade union, had no d'fflculty; but the other man who lacked those qualifications has had trouble, and it is such men who are now coming en to the rates. WeAo not know what has been done to deal with.the case of such men. The two years that have elapsed since the armistice have afforded an opportunity to make provision, but unfortunately politicians* seldom look ahead, and until trouble develops no steps are taken to deal with it. Our reason for thinking that little has been done is the position of the housing question, which the Government took in hand, and have done little with. It is recognised that one of the causes of Hie failure is the refusal of various tinions in the building trade to admit rew members. Mr Lloyd (jeorge lias slated this in the House of Commons, and has pointed out that the action increases the misery and discomfort that

combat this. The Home Government might well have dealt with the refusal of the building trade unions to admit fresh members, for the excluded men were largely ex-soldiers, and the demand for houses was so great that the public would have heartily supported any measures that .promised relief. The power of the Government to deal with unemployment is strictly limited, and is usually of a negative kind. Industry has been hampered to some extent by the want of capital, and that is largely due to the demands made by the Government on the money market. A largely reduced expenditure would enable them to refrain from borrowing, and cheaper money would revive trade. The movement, however, would take time, and something more striking will probably be attempted. It is said that relief works will be started, but as these will absorb more money for some unproductive purpose, Hhey will make the' financial position worse. The Government should do all in its power to reduce prices, which would give seme relief to harassed ratepayers. Unfortunately their policy has lain in another direction; and after holding up the price of meat as long as possible they are now engaged in doing the same thing with wool. Yet the extra milliens they may make that way come from their own people, and make life harder for those who would buy and use tlie manufactured article, and at the same time they hamper and depress trade and cause unemployment. The Government had certainly a hard task before them, but it cannot be said that they have had any definite policy. Apparently each man attends to his own department without consultation with his colleagues, and no general course ot action is ever decided on. Finance is usually the question which exposes

the weak spots, and there is genuine and widespread uneasiness at Home over the financial position of the country. The majority of the House of Commons who have done well out of the war are chiefly concerned to get rid of Mr Austen Chamberlain, who insists on taxation in proportion to expenditure. He is made the subject of altack when he should be supported, for he has made a gallant effort to bring home to the country the position into which they are drifting. A minority of members of the House set up an association to printout methods in which savings might be made, but Hie full force of the Government Was employed to discredit them. Yet it is largely because of extravagance thai money is dear, and the dearness of money is one of the causes of bad trade and unemployment. England has been unusually free of unemployment for some years, and it is an ominous sign that the conditions should have reappeared. It will require a somewhat drastic adjustment of many things in order to deal adequately with the situation.