LABOUR AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3006, 17 February 1917, Page 8

LABOUR AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Tub unhappy position in which many people in-Australia arc finding themselves, through lack of employment, should provide food for thought for labour unionists here. In Australia the reason given for tho shortage of work is the reduction in loan expenditure. 'Neither the Federal nor the State Governments can now borrow as they used to do for public works.purposes, anc' tho ovils hatched by the plunge anc squander policy aro coming home tc roost. Artificially created laboui conditions aro breaking down foi lack of the means to bolster them up, and deluded workers are finding themselves face to face with some very unpleasant economic facts. And while this shortage of wort exists in Australia we find workers in New Zealand playing, only_ in a different way, the. same suicidal game that has brought trouble tc so many in tho Commonwealth. It Australia the immediate cause oi the trouble is stated to be shortage of funds duo to inability to borrow, Here some of our workers are invit ing'similar trouble."by refusing tc work or by, "going slow." At the Denniston mine, for instance, we were told on Wednesday'the mer had decided; to "go slow" anc reduce their daily output oi coal.. Whom do they think thej are really punishing by this stu pid and dishonest procedure? I; is true, of course, that the owner; of the mine may suffer some loss but what is that loss compared witl the loss to the men themselves, the loss to their fellow-workers in othci branches of industry if the move ment became general, and tho los; to tho whole community. In sucl a case it is not tho mine-owners wh< aro penalised, but the whole country is the poorer bv just so mucli ai these men could have fairly pro duced and did not. Strangely enough they cannot see that the les: wealth we produce tho less able i: _thc cduntry. not only to meet it: 'obligations, but to find' profitable employment for its population. 1: there is a shortage of coal througl tho . "go slow" policy, then inclus tries which use coal must pay mor< for it, and some of them may closi down or put their on shori time; workers of all classes wil equally have to pay more i'or coa for. domestic consumption and pos sibly go short as well. Tho State ii ,tho poorer, too,"through loss of in come from taxation due to tholes senecl earning power of taxpayer! occasioned by the shortage, and "it; weakened finance cripples its effort; at social betterment. And so the evil goes on reacting throughout the community, and always hittins hardest those least ablo to bear the blow—the poorer workers and theii families. At the present time Nev Zealand is abundantly prosperous ■practically all sections of tho people aro fully and profitably employed, there is a call for the greatest pos sible output in all our industries— : the promptings of patriotism anc the claims of self-interest alike urge all to the maximum of effort. Anc , what do wo see? "Go slow" move mcnts; industrial dislocation, re . strictecl output, wasted time, la ■ stead of seizing the opportunity afforded by the present prosperity tc • builcl up reserves which will carry us through less fortunate times; instead of making more stable and assured tho prosperity we are now ! enjoying, the tendency- amongst a . section of- workers is to undermine

the industrial security cm which thei'r own fortunes so largely depend; to minimieo output and to cripple enterprise. 'Those who preach and practice these follies are tho worst enemies of labour, as they are also the enemies of every section of the community.