UNEMPLOYMENT AND EMIGRATION

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 236, 5 October 1928, Page 6

UNEMPLOYMENT AND EMIGRATION

There is little that is new to be said about emigration as a remedy for industrial depression at Home, and only the high literary reputation of Mr. John Galsworthy could secure widespread publicity for his views on this well-worn topic. But in spite of Mr. Galsworthy's acknowledged intellectual ability, he has little that is valuable to add to the large mass of conflicting opinions that have already accumulated round this subject. It does no good to advocate emigration on a large scale without taking into account the strong and well-founded objections entertained by the workers in the Dominions to any great influx of labour to compete in an already overstocked market. Moreover, Mr. Galsworthy seems to overlook entirely the injury that would be inflicted on the Old Country by the loss of large numbers of its most efficient and productive industrialists. But while we agree with Mr. Galsworthy that it is desirable, if it is practicable, to draft a large proportion of the unemployed from the overcrowded secondary industries and settle them on the land, it may still be asked why this process of settlement should not be attempted in Britain itself. There are great areas of productive land now thrown out of cultivation, and it ought to be possible to devise a scheme that would absorb many thousands of workers in rural industries, thereby helping to solve the unemployment problem and benefiting the whole country. The possibilities of the situation will not be exhausted till land settlement has been tried on systematic lines at Home.