One Way for the Relief of our Unemployed and the Taxpayer

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 134, 23 June 1937, Page 7

One Way for the Relief of our Unemployed and the Taxpayer

H. R

;, ERENCH.

Sir, — Men tlnable to find permahent work and who are on sustenahCe, and the rate and taxpayers, have caase to dfim^nd new and vigorous action to inCrease eeonomic employment. | The ballyhoo over the plaCement service is overdone and it is time to sav so. PracticalJy all, if not all, Of the jobs which that service claims to have found Would have been filled as they Were JHled prior to the inauguration of this further extension of Government activity. This belated copy of whai has been done in some other countries for a nuniber of years laCks the best feature of overseas initiative — that is, the trajiniug of unemployed men to tiike jobe which they cannot take witkoiit preparation, This is certain, the plaeeineut service has not solved unemployment; nor is it likely td do so. The protests of various correspondfents against the apparent poliey of the acting-Minister of Employment iii expecting local bodies to provide furthfer employment is justified. 'ihe tremendous expenditure on Public Works in this Doniinion hae prOvided facilaties that are probably unsurpassed in tiie world. To continue spending inoney lavishly on further Public Works will raise another crop of difficulties. Witiiout the heavy expenditure on afinaments that many countries are burdened with, yet our indebtedness exceOds that of all other Countries. Oiir Bi'iine Minister praises the measures taken by PrCeident Roosevelt. There afe two things to bear in mind in regafd, to Aulerican relief expenditure. The fifSl w that the mouutxng indebtedness m that country xs far below ours on d pfeiCapita basis. The second xs that inlich 0f the expenditure is upon roproduCtivh work. Tne milJions of trecs tkat have been planted in a belt from tllo ORiiadian to the Mexiean bordors afe the best correctives to the extending alid extensive erosiun of the soil, aiid of thO eevere and oft-recurring dro'ughts. Ihe twenty millions Of dollars 1'iind to prdvide for rural settlement to enhtiie workers to acquird their own honiCM hnd attain economic independence afe two measures thiC Dominion could apply. Oloser settlemeut and tree:planting have been advocated by various Cpinmattees in this district for years Without mueh resuit. In repiy to requests for co-opex'ation of the public made by various MinisteiS. I wrote to the Priiile MihMtOr pointing out that on a fivd per cdhu basis quite coirifortable liomds with iive acroB of land and sheds ahd fdfiCing and stock Were available for lli/* per Week On a three per ceut. basis the shiiie aecommodafciou with ten hcres coilld be provided at a cost below £1 a vveek. 1 was duly thanked for the letter, wliich was referred to the Aiinister i'or Housiug. it is now in some pigeon-holc, there to remain. The ouly apparent way ro niove aUV OovernUient io adoyt measures applied with success eJsowhere is by uneucliitg and insistent hgitab^on. What is tlie use of talkiug aboUt eniigrants froiu Uvferseub whcu our cotuparutively few farm labburerS are liable to disniissal a-i soon as prxmary- produce pr'nies iMtede timi are lei't Btrutided liidu-c-y,oss uud iandless? That is out r.robleui iu this rich distr ct extending from Palmerston Nor t b to Gisborne, It is il eryitig ollumc that fdi yeurs Sve liuvu ihe. high est relative uuomployuient in tlie I'e ininioii Onrl still nd adet| tute iUlenipt is in sight to lesseu oui' disgraee. The Govorniuont's housirig pdlicy t'ur too costly, axld alreud.v demandr are made further to increase wages

even before a single houise is ready for ' occupation. When Dr. Addison was in charge of the British Government 's housing administrati.on he made the same xnistake as Mr. Lee is makdng. The cost was too high. Sir Alfred Mond succeeded Dr. Addison and at once altered the programme so that reiitais wOuld Uot overtax the tenant. And the Government soon found that the buiiding sodieties and other ageneies could handlo the problem more efficiently. The scheme of Canon Hammond in New South W aleS is an unsatisfactory palliative. for our people shotild be better housed than the shacks his scheme proviides, Mr. BryaUt, in the Waikato, has shown the way to sdttle iuen on a low-cost basis that proiniSes good sucCess for all concOrned. The houses built on the Kairangi bldck are far ahead of the average homes of the pioUeers. Their cost for* three rooms, 0 sun-porch caphble of division into two rooms, was £164. The homes on tho Karamu settlement cost under £400. We want more permanent settlers, espeeially in this province, and we should make some further xnove to establish oiir own dispossessed wdrkers by pressing foT rural settlement on the lowcst basis of Cost So thht each family may have every assistanCe to attaiii economic iUdoOendence.' — Yonrs f

Hastings, June 19, 1937.