Public Works Dismissals.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20496, 15 March 1932, Page 8

Public Works Dismissals.

The Government's recent statement of its public works policy prepared the country for the announcement to-day that two thousand men will be dismissed by the end of the week and three thousand more in the near future, ■while the rest will be employed on reduced pay; and although it is easier to accept a policy in general terms than in those that show its distressing consequences, the Government cannot be reproached because it resolutely does its duty. It can, however, be blamed, and should be sharply blamed, for its delay in developing an adequate unemployment policy. The country knows very little more noAV about the Government's than it knew weeks and months ago, and anxiety can only be increased by to-day's news, which means that , the many thousands of men are joined by thousands more, without any sign of near relief. The Government must understand that its silence, whether due to secretiveness or to uncertainty or to helplessness, is doing it enormous harm, and, what is much more serious, creating in the Dominion a resentful mood not at all favourable to the acoeptanee of hard struggle and sacriflej.