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NOTES OF THE DAY

It is much to be regretted that some, of the organisations invited to nominate members of tho local Repatriation Committees have been slow to bestir themselves in the matter. According to a, Departmental statement, city organisations have as. a rule been prompt in responding to these invitations, but in some cases organisations in provincial towns have made no response at all. Such inertia and indifference can only be attributed to a failure to realise the importance of tho task allotted to local comm.it,tees in carrying' out the repatriation scheme and the essential services they are in a position to render. No repatriation scheme can succeed ,unless the efforts it comprehends are backed by strong public sympathy and _ support. It must rest largely with the local committees to arouse practical interest in repatriation activities in ■all parts' of the Dominion. Organised as they'should be, they will be in a position to note and concentrate public opinion on what it is necessary to do in the interests of soldiers and to ascertain and indicate how it is best to be done. It is. a big point also that some returning soldiers who most need help can only be given the kind of help they need by and through the agency of local organisations. If the nature of the call made by the Repatriation Board on behalf of soldiers is realised, the measure of indifference now in evidence in some provincial-centres will speedily melt away.

An experiment well worth making is advocated by Sir - Eric Geddf.s in the suggestion that British trades unions should buy the national factories and run them. Apart from some five thousand "controlled firms" which will now for the-most part revert to their former activities, there arc more than two hundred national factories in the United Kingdom, as compared with the three national arsenals which existed at the outbreak of war. Some of these national factories rank amongst the biggest _ and most highly organised industrial establishments of the day, and all of them are capable of being converted in a comparatively brief period to the purposes of peaceful industry. So converted they would no doubt cover a very wide range of productive activity, including engineering production on tho largest scale. Sir Eric Geddes's proposal stands , out, therefore, us one of the boldest over made in tho way of the ownership of industries by those to whom they afford employment! A great and gifted organiser like Sir Eric Geddes has presumably not advanced such a proposal without being convinced that 'it is capable of being carried into effect.

SuQfi an experiment as the acquisition of the British national factories by" trades unions should commend itself equally to organised Labour in Great Britain and to other sections of the community. It js notorious that in seeking to satisfy aspirations in themselves legitimate Labour frequently injures its own cause and tho interests of the community by failing to make allowance. for the problems and.difficulties.of. other parties in industry. If Sir Eric Geddes is speaking with the knowledge and approval of his colleagues, the workers are now offered an unprecedented -opportunity of entering into complete possession and control of factories which represent the highest level of British industrial organisation. Presumably it would not be difficult, with 'Government assistance, to ' make the financial arrangements necessary to establish' union ownership. £>omc of the Labour organisations possess funds ..which would be much better spent in acquiring proprietary control over industries than in supporting wasteful strikes. The experience gained, whether the experiment fared .well or ill, should prove of value in assisting Labour unionists to a better understanding of the employers', side of industrial questions....

Ax additional' proof that the Government 'desires to make provision for all possible contingencies in elaborating its repatriation scheme was supplied by the ActingMinister in his address at Jhe Nurserymen's Conference oil Thursday. Besides touching un a number of measures taken or proposjd which are already familiar, Sir James; Ali-en mentioned for the first time that regulations will shortly be gazetted under which sustenance will be provided for men who honestly arc unable to get work. This is quite, distinct from the provision made for the support ,of returned soldiers while they 'are undergoing instruction in fanning, or arc being trained at technical schools or other educational institutions. "What is proposed is a straight-out grant to tide those who are unable to obtain work over their period of unemployment. The New Zealand Government in this matter is taking a lead from Great Britain. In that country an "out-•of-work donation" scheme was' put into operation about two months ago, which has been described as "in essence a free insurance against unemployment for a year in the case of discharged soldiers and sailors, and for six months in the case of civilians." Men for whom work cannot be found are to receive 245. a week, and women in the same case 20s. a week, with allowances for dependant children under fifteen of Gs. for the first child and 3s. for each other child. An unemployed man with three young children will thus receive lite. a week. The scheme is estimated to cost £,10,000,000. The uaymcnts are small by New Zealand standards, but no doubt will reasonably cover necessities' in Great Britain. This scheme of unemployment benefit has a, necessary' place in the i British plans for demobilisa-

1,i0n... and reconstruction,, and is demanded on grounds of justice and humanity. As Dis. Addison, late Minister of Kcconstruc-t-ion, observed recently, it will be better for. Britain to pay' ten, twenty, or even fifty million pounds in this way than to permit any of those who-have served so well to suffer. * « » » .. Sir James Ai,i.en did not say on Thursday whether , the unemployment benefit -projected in this country is to apply solely to returned soldiers or, as in' the case of the British scheme, is to extend to civilians. In practice the point may not- arise, for the civilians to whom the British scheme applies are no doubt-chiefly, if not solely, those who have been : translated from their normal occupations' into war industries which have now been discontinued. . It goes without saying tha-t in this country, or anywhere else, the direct relief of unemployment will have to be administered with great care to guard against its being exploited by the idle and unworthy. It . may, bo hoped also that it will be found possible to keep assistance of this nature within proportionately narrower limits than in Great Britain, where the problems of demobilisation and reconstruction are so much more coniplcx as well as greater in magnitude. As a whole the. local repatriation scheme is generously framed, and if it works well and smoothly there should be little unemployment. It is only just, however, that those who, through no fault of their own, are unable to find employment during the period of readjustment should be provided for. The provision made should, of course, provide fairly for a man's needs. - ■■* * * * Extracts from German newsnapcrs cabled yesterday gave some insight into a section of opinion which still exists in Germany favourable 'to_ the ex-Kaiser. The "glory of his thirty years of rule" was naturally contracted with. the present unhappy condition of affairs. The German mind apparently is so one-sided that it is unable to perceive that , the present condition of Germany 'is just as much due to the . Master Assassin of the world as .was. the previous "glory" for which he is given the credit. In November last the Bavarian Government published documents relating to the origin of the war which were found' in the archives of the Foreign Ministry. These documents fixed .beyond all dispute the,responsibility for .planning and procuring the war. The whole conspiracy of the Central Powers—the underground trickery and-systematic planning by which Germany was to be made to appear wholly unprepared and an unwilling victim of enemy wiles—was exposed in astonishing detail. It was stated that the revelations created a profound, sensation throughout Germany, and. threw the deluded populace into a fur.v of indignation. Anyhow, this is what 7orwncrls, the great German Socialist organ, thought of it: Wilhelin, it.'said, declared in a proclamation that the enemy attacked us" in deej) peace. That is an unfounded, barefaced, infamous, shameless lie, and this gaug of miserable mass murderers who, during the revolution, owing to the people's generosity, got off lightly, aro slili planning the re-establishment of their bloodstained rule befouled with lies. Tho people cltaspd (hem away with shame. awl disgrace. They ought to titanic their God on-their knees that they got off so cheaply. " It would be interesting to know which of the two sets of newspaper opinions is nearest to expressing the sentiments of the mass of the German people. "We rather suspect that Vorwacrh does so not so much because Wilhei.m was proved an "infamous liar" and a "miserable mass murderer," Such things might, have been nardoned by the German people. AVhafc they could not pardon was his failure.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19190201.2.15

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 109, 1 February 1919, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,497

NOTES OF THE DAY Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 109, 1 February 1919, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 109, 1 February 1919, Page 6

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