UNEMPLOYMENT

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15024, 22 August 1922, Page 7

UNEMPLOYMENT

MEASURES OF RELIEF. (By Telegraph. —Special to Times). WELLINGTON, Saturday. A suggestion that the Government should promote village settlements in the neighbourhood of the cities with the object of relieving unemployment was made by Sir John Luke in the House of Representatives when, he was reporting, as chairman of the Labour Bills- Committee, upon Mr P. Fraser’s Unemployed Workers’ Bill. The committee was of opinion that the Bill contained provision for appropriation, and therefore could not proceed. ' Sir John Luke said that much of the unemployment in New Zealand was due to the seasonal nature of some of the Dominion’s industries. He believed that the difficulty could be solved in part by the establishment of village settlements. He would like to see this remedy applied to the unemployment on the waterfront. It had been said that the waterside workers had to kelp close to the wharves, so as to be ready when they were wanted. But this did not seem to be really necessary. Telephones and tram services made it possible for men to be brought to . the wharves when they were required. Village settlements had proved successful in the neighbourhood of British ports. The establishment of such settlements • in New Zealand would require the co-operation of the Government and local bodies. He thought that the harbour boards and the shipping people would face the question. Village settlements would help to solve the problem of seasonal occupation m olher industries, sucli as the freezing industry. Men who had homes with a little land attached could employ themselves profitably when their services were not required elsewhere. _He believed that the unemployment difficulty was being overcome gradually in a reasonably satisfactory way. The reduction of taxation was one of the remedies required. He did not approve of the principle laid down in the Bill that the Government should be responsible for finding work for everybody, but he agreed that the Government ought to keep the channels of ..employment as clear as possible, and do whatever could be done to remove the causes 'of unemployment. He i'elt that New Zealand could not. expect a full return to prosperity until the farmers got an improved return for their produce. Mr Fraser (Wellington Central) said he wa.uld not quarrel with the decision of Hie committee regarding the Bill. But the Government and Parliament ought to realise that every citizen of the country was entitled to an opportunity to earn a Jiving. Charity was good for no one. It was not a remedy for unemployment. The man who wanted a job ought to have it as a right. If the job really was not available, then the State should accept the responsibility for the maintainance 'of the worker and his family until .the worker could earn wages again. If New Zealand had adopted Sir George Gray’s fundamental principle of the land for the people much of the present difficulty would have been avoided. But the land had been allowed to become an article of barter and speculation, and the Dominion bad its unemployment problem to face. The Speaker ruled that the Bill could not proceed.