The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1910. A WORLD OLD PROBLEM.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 2 July 1910, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1910. A WORLD OLD PROBLEM.

A wond of praise may bo said de<;v(i'vlc(!ly in] favour of the .movements nuv apparent in Groat Britain foi meliorating: l)y statutory .provisions certain of t.lio greater hardships which jifH-ict large numbers of human unftfntu notes. At eertaiiin of tlie present British IjiluMMil Govciiltfrtment's policy proposals many true Liberals are inclined to cavil, but tlio I'ore.shiadtawod attempt to remedy t.he evils springing from nniemploymeii.t lis ono tli.'it should win rmoroval ifrcm all humanitarians. Ruli tho prospects of success for the .'•.cliemo aire aivotheir and very different question. It may be that mmim> day there will bo perfected a scheme for the prevention of unemployment by systein'atised dovetai'liing of all casual labour avenues of employmen, t; but that time, we lV>ar, is afar and nelbitlous. "W/lnat is most necessary, now, is to doa.l A\-,i,tli the evils as they exist today, recognising that although a panacea is 1111ascurtaiiinialble, a partial remedy may bp provided. If the British Government suceecd in its effort to achieve this it will by so doing establish itself in am almost impiregnaiblie fortress of popular esteem, ami. be enabled to withstand all tlh-c buffefcimfis by its political Antagonists at the next General Elootions. The cablegram is silent us to the means to be adopted to secure this end ; butt it will be found, no doubt, till at what the Government proposes is a species of compulsory subscriptions by employers and employees, the totals oif which will be further increased .by subsidies from tUio National Exchequer. Sudli a scheme, on paper, is simple enough; but there is a weak' link in the clvain of rt>ntri l butions. The oasmal labourer usually has his earnings earmarked, before lie begins luis late.st labour, by oredliltors who trusted him while his lateslb period of .enforced idleness was ui>on Mm; and as a result of those circumstances lie agaiin needs accommodation sooin after Iris latest job fades awiay firlom liim. Thus it coimeis about tlnat lie bias very feiw .pence to spa.tfe, even in times of work, for fliiiy mutual scheme of insurance

against unemployment; And that being so, the prospect?; of success xoi the Government scheme Jose the rose coloured; shad© th-alt distinguished tiheni at first blush. For the surety of success, in industrial schemes siwvli as these, lies in the eompulsio/n of oont nib unions from the parities to be benefited. If once the scheme degenerates into an eleemosynary oniiei, it wflJ gdlop .along the (highway to failure just as surely nuid as fast as the hare-brained Socialistic schemes of the French fldiministratoi'S (known as the. Itighft-oHOinploy-ment-for-EvcM'.v-Sra'ii-Syatom) did in the twrlier <and middle periods of last century. For a- while the present winter shared .the. opinions 01 other and more mature thinkers that complex questions could he settled speedily and well hy the mere making of legislative enactments: but wider experience and deeper thought <have seiwed to convince him that the world's chief social problems are not to he solved by any such simple fmnmula .as "Be it Enacted" ; though, within limits, an amelioration of them may be obtained, by judicious legislation.

There is to he found amongst the poorer prior a not- inoonsideriaiblo section that is unfinanciial wholly through misfortune; and if this section done had to ho dealt with, the world's groalest task would presenlt no imsupera.blo difficulties. Unfortunately, however, there. ive.mn.ins always the improvident, thriftless, careless legion thait hy li'or-edity or use ,has come to lean upon its more aotive fliiid frugal fellows almost as a niatiter of right. Tts constituents are the hutterflies of the hnmnin kind—insofar as they flutter in the evanescent sun of prosperity, and galiner no grain for the duller wintry days—though truth to tell there is no great gaiety for tlbe hulk of (hem, even when their sun does shine. Within sharply defined limits, the State "may" dlo a little to hotter the lots of the sinking ten fhonsamtls; but for the submerged ■nrillit>ii.s, we if ear, future ages will have to he looked to to provide the cure. The last two thousand years have seen the world work up to only a very slightly raised piano. The old "Roman who dissipated Iris substance, and "lagged superfluous on life's stage," ha.d to subsist hy no fitireir .nueains than those of the veriest pariah dog in the Seven-Hilled City" ; hut iu later times there has been at least the workhouse refuge of the paupers, .and to-day honest poverty has the relief of Old Age Pensions that come not as.paupei (Ides, but as a right. Porhsups two thousand more years may mot be required for the solving of the greajt problem: hut certainly it will not be solved in the British Parliament of 1010.