ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1793, 4 July 1913, Page 8

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.

UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS. :" .' HOW TO SOLVE THEM. The adjourned debate on the Address-ln-Eeply was resumed. Tho Hon. J.' Jf. SIXCLAIE, after congratulating tlie mover and seconder on their ipeeciies, said he proposed to speak on the question of insurance against unemployment. Ho was' not sure whether a measure dealing with the subject was necessary in Xew Zealand, but the subject was none the less worthy of the consideration of the Government. He approved; generally of the Government's land settlement proposals. If there, was allowed to 1 ' remain unsatisfied a demand for land, and the Government would not take steps to satisfy it, syndicates would, and they knew that the effect of this was bad. The tendency, wtwn land was handled by syndicates, was for the land to carry a loading—the middleman's profit—and there was also a tendency for settlers to realise their profit by reselling the land instead of farming it. And everyone knew that there could not be 'speculation* in land without the community being prejudicially affected. We needed settlers, but he thought tho settlers who should have first chance were the sons of our own farmers. He was pleas- - ed to sec the references in. the Governor's Speech to reciprocity with Australia, being of opinion that the opening of avenues of trade must be for the good of the whole community. He was not a free-trader, but the possibilities of a wider market for our produce should be investigated. ,'i'hero were huge possibilities opening up in America, if the tariff there were re-< viewed it promised to be. Our prosperity was practically assured, and it behoved us in our time of prosperity to provide for the waves of lessened pros- : perity which invariably followed good . times. The Casual Worker. 'Wo'vshould do this first l)y providing for those in the community who did so much to satisfy the demand for our . goods in ,times of prosperity—the workers. They should be insured against' unemployment. Ho would say nothing of ' tho unemployment, of which there, was still a great deal, which w'as due to vice, sloth, and intemperance'..'. Thafcjvas a problem all its own.'-- .But ire; could not prevent the recurrence of periods of Blackness in trade and industry, and with tho slackness came unemployment for workers. Then there was the problem of — casual , labourers, ,whose lot seemed to be frequently broken-employment. It should be remeinhereil that the oasual worker not an accident, but a manufactured article, for industry depended' for its development upon the presence of a mar- ; gin of partially employed people. The • casual worker held an important place jn the economic and the comrnunlty.owed much, to him. A difficulty about bringing into a contributory scheme such a -larRD body of workers, only partly em- . ployed, and therefore unable to make payments with much regularity, would be met/but it must he overcome. The first thing to be done would be to decasualise the work. The problem of how to deal with casual labour in England ■had been too much ,for Mr. Lloyd-George7 It must -be, d<>ne in the colonies before the position became acute. There must be some method discovered of keeping : casual workers constantly employed. Iho Hon, H. I). Bell: How employed? _ Iho Hon. J. It. Sinclair: Of course, it If ve 7 m,lc h easier to ask a. question •than to ansiver it. Tho question, he ad- . mitted, -was one of very great difficulty, ; hut the Salvation Army on a small, scale did a great deal to mitigate the evil of Unemployment, and he thought the State could creato an organisation which could floagreatdeal more. At any rate the time to inquire into such matters was'in- the l-Sil • p c ri>s l P mt -Y' ? wl not in time misfortune had. overtaken us. Whatsis to be Done?

i t° thf State owning the railways leie, it should not be difficult to increase the mobility of labour by granting free K?? V"* r ? ilw , a y s -, ilTjeh. more, too, might be done by local bodies. A. fullvequipped labour exchange under State control might do a great deal to prevent !;V a i i 't®. E artl y-cmployed being swelled, and certainly prevent the increase coming troin the young people of the country. In the body controlling the exchange ho would like to see representatives o£ the employers and the workers, and for his part he would also like to see in tins country a representative of the schoolmasters, who were aniong the chief agents tor ■bringing young workers into touch with their employment. The problem ot young people joining the ranks of the under-employed was a very great evil in the Old Country. Surely this could be prevented here. Undoubtedly there was something wrong with a- system which permitted of boys mid young men, the newest and best labour, going to waste He argued, therefore, that in conjunction with a schemo of unemployment insurance there must be organisation to preventin some measute this wasteful partial , employment, in order to make it possible for nil workers to contribute to the scheme. Most of tho systems of unemployment insurance tried in other countries wero contributory and voluntaiy. In England the schemo was contributory and compulsory, and this seemed to him "to lie the best possible. The cost of the scheme would probably be so huge that the bulk of it would have to be borne as it was in tho Mother Country, by the State. At first the benefits to bo extended could not be large, because it was essential that a sound establishment zihould bo made at first. Afterwards the benefits might bo extended. What should be the attitude of the scheme towards trade unions? Ho understood that very few unions here paid unemployed benefits. The State, he thought, should not interfere with any existing insurance arrangements, but should seek to ombrace workers ltas well organised. He indioatcd certain of the details necessary in the workiug of such a scheme as he proposed, explaining what .was dono in England. When a mail was •unemployed, he would either be found work, or he would bo given unemployy;! benefits. But where employment was offered, the man must take it; there could be no shirking, and it. would be in tho interest of every man in the scheme to see that there was no shirking. First wo should set up the well-organised labour exchange, which, by reducing partial employment, might also reduce labour unrest. This labour unrest was increasing tho world over, and he was sure that the effect of it was to stay progressive legislation. On Colonial Navies. The Hon. R. A. LOUGHNAN said he hoped that the amendments which tho Government proposed to make in the Arbitration Act would be decisive. Ho hoped that the mischievous right to strike which had been exploited so freely would bo taken .away or modified, and that tho Act would attain bo put into such shapo that It would fulfil its original object of making the wheels of industry run smoothly. Our present prosperity was undoubted, our voiumo of trade was increasing annually, and our country • had achieved its present measure of greatness wholly, by, jadustries or agnciu-

ture. None of our greatness was to be oredited to manufactures. Referring to defence, he eaid our country was worth attacking, and assuredly in the event of war it would be attacked, wtfierefore we must take proper steps to defend it. He indicated that he did not believo that colonial fleets could ever be amalgamated into a. first-class battle fleet under Imperial control in war-time. There could be no such perfect cohesion as was absolutely necessary, and there would always arise the difficulty raised by less patriotic sections' of communities about making a colonial fleet available for use in a war in which that colony was not vitally interested. He thought the»only assurauce of permanent safety was the Imperial fleet, but at once the burden of keeping up the fleet must be shared imong all the Dominions. Referring to Labour, he said he was not despairing of the future successful working of the Arbitration Act. The debate was adjourned, on the motion of the Hon. C. H. Mills, and the Council rose at 4.10 p.m.