UNEMPLOYMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 26 October 1923, Page 1

UNEMPLOYMENT

POSITION IX KXGLAND. -SIR ANDREW RUSSEL!.’,S VIEWS. [HI' TELEGRAPH—TER PRESS ASSOCIATION'.] WELLINGTON', October 2d. ‘‘The burning question in England to-day,” said Major-General .Sir Andrew Itussel, after stepping a.shoro from the liner lonic, in which lie returned from England, "is that of unemployment. There are a huge number of men in the Old Country, quite apart from the men who have fought for their country, who are wanting work. You will gather some idea of the position when you know that there were recently 300,000 unemployed men under the ago of 30 in the United Kingdom. That is not ticking into ac-

count the men over this age and the 10,0 U) disabled men who are unable to tind work. I lie whole unemploym .'lit que-.tir.n constitutes an enormous nrjbiem. 'I lie State is suffering emu metis coonr.mie !o-s, as all these men have to be led, must, be given sustenance, anu this is all so much waste because they are producing nothing, and ere hemming demoralised. The question of unemployment becomes a burning out-, not- only for returned soldiers whose sympathies are naturally for those men who fought beside them at the front but tor the whole of the community. It is obvious that the capital of the 'countiy must become seriously diminished by such, a state of affairs and w ithout a. corresponding amount of production by these men whom the country must keep. With work we convey wages, hut the whole system of doles and benefits, as in Great Britain at present, is nothing less than a curse to both the giver and the iccoiver. and has been for years. “What can we do to relietq. the situation? This whole matter was considered at the meeting of the Empire Service League which I attended and it was pointed out that one eon • of action was open. Take France for example. She is a countiy who

lost all her old markets on the Continent. and is not likely to regain them to the extent that she held them before the war. Ihe costs of production, partly owing to the deflation of the currency, are cnnsideylahly higher in England than on the Continent, where, compelled to do so during the war, countries have learnt to supply more of their own wants. Yet England, with her 000 people to the square mile, cannot do without her big overseas trade. The conclusion of the Conference was that every effort, should he made to increase the Mother Country's trade with the Dominions, with whom the per capita trade is higher than with any other country, hut in order to give the Dominions the added purchasing power required for a. bigger volume of trade, a forward policy of development of their latent, resources in land and otherwise is necessary. Development of these resources involves a demand for labour, and that demand must be met fiom Great Britain in order that the populations of the Dominions may be kept pure. Every man who leaves the United Kingdom to take up work in development .schemes in the Dominions means another purchaser of British goods, and one less limiting for a job in the Old Connin'. The question before the Dominions is: ‘Have wo resources which it will pay to develop and if ;.ueh is th e case, what stops ought wo to take to make u-e of thee assets, not only in our own interest hut in the interests of the United Kingdom and of the Empire C " Sir Andrew expressed his personal opinion that- capital was needed, and that the Government should attract men with capital to the country, giving them a chance to develop such land as was waiting in North Auckland and to make money out of ii. and stipulating that the country should he wanted ioi small finning in. my. fifteen or twentyyea is.