The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28th, 1921. A NATIONAL, QUESTION..

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1921, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28th, 1921. A NATIONAL, QUESTION..

'l’m.; l.ahcr Mayors of l.omlon who made it a point last week of pressing their presence oh ill' Lloyd George irrespective of the Prime .Minister's health ami convenience, laid it' down that ‘the proldcin of unemployment is a national one and should he shouldered bv the central Governmont.” This lays down a very important principle, and with the knowledge that matters equal she same thing arc <<jii;i| to om* ; nother, the Jiriuciple seems to suggest it the central or General Government is to take the responsibilities of unemployment. tin’ same governing body should take, also, the responsiblities ol employment. The I .a hour party will not subscribe s» readily to that principle, for already they have by their labour unions, made the matter of employment something of an exclusive circle. Wo recall that the very genesis of the unemployment trouble at Home had its start from the action of the labor unions refusing the request of the Govern- • meant to permit ex-servicemen taking up work- which Hie uninns appropriated to their own members. It was from the ranks of the ex-servieemcn that the first army of unemployed gained its strength. I.ater, we found organisrd labor by tin- coal strike and other tin eats of striking paralyse industry j and add enormously to llie ranks ol tbe mi employed. Wi' saw the unjKin ! strikers stand asrde while the mines were Hooded and machinery lost, the ! effect of which was to throw thousands ! of people out of employment indefimi tely. The ( .oal strike and the industrial i crisis arising therefrom, lias done more to disorganise labor in Britain than any 1 other fireuinstance in tbe aftermath of the war, and yet we find representatives of organised labor responsible for creating the appalling conditions which are life, going to the Government and blaming those In power for not at once shouldering the burden which the selfish labour unions have put upon the country uucl their fellow hhwi. And after all, who are the Govi eminent but the very people themselves 1 of whom Kifflamsed labor is a section.

If the Government that is tHu people as a whole - recognise the situation no.v revealed in its true light, they will 1 y it down that never again may any organisation subsidiary to the Government of the whole, attempt to throttle the whole community themselves included without nil immediate cheek. Too much lieens,. has been permitted Too great a liberty bus been taken with tin- inherent liccdom we enjoy ..ml which the unions have abused. Certainly the matter is a national qiwstion and the Government should take the representatives of labor at the:, word, and treat -it as such, not only with regard to unemployment, but also with employment. That where unions seek to destroy public inteie-ls including employment bv strikes or other overt act. such organisations shall at once be determined and any privileges they enjoy, automatically withdrawn, and the sphere of their operations thrown open for general competition. Never * again should it he possible for the whim of a Bolshevist leader to imperil the goed government of the community and to indulge in measures which stir up strife, create industrial unrest and produce unemployment. Some strong remedy m, Ife enforced if the country i s to escape from the mud acts of the unthinking leaders whose objective appears to tie chaos every time.