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Hokitika Guardian, 20 March 1930, Page 4

Tun Dominion controversialists on the subject of the cause of unemployment may have been interested in the eontrihut ions to the discussion that were made last week by two statesmen, whose views should lie regarded with respect, at least l>v members of tlio Labour Party. .Mr Thomas, who is .Minister of Unemployment in the Labour Government at Home, and is naturally chagrined by the knowledge that the volume of unemplovment in Great Britain has not diminished since his party came into power, attributes the existence of the evil to the fact that there is “a world reaction in trade’’ Ah' Scull in. Prime AHuMer of Australia, for his part, speaks of a “world-wide depression in trade.” Roth recognise that the problem of nmeirtplovment is not floral fin its character, nor even national, but universal. The mimher of unemployed in Germany exceeds the number in Great

'Britain, and the number in the United States is not Jess than, and in all probability largely exceeds, tiie number in Germany. Unemployment in Australia is more than twice as prevalent at the present tone as ii is nn .er normal conditions of trade. Included among the unemployed in the t'o.ninonwcaltli are, of course, thousands of men whom work awaits if only they will accept it on the terms on which it is offered. Some few hundreds of-miners, tired of their long period of idleness and probably influenced by the exhaustion of their personal resources, have, it is reported, applied for employment at the reduced rates of wages that have been specified by miners. ]t is likely that large numbers of others would willingly go to .wnik if it were not for the pressure exerted upon them bv their unions, whic h require that not only shall they decline the work that is available for them, but also that they shall dissuade 1 and prevent other men from offering their services for the work. It may be concluded, besides, that the inelastic provisions of Arbitration Court awards, governing tbe payment of wages, are operating to keep men out of employment that might otherwise be obtainable. Mr Sciillm. ivi the c-ouise of his speech a few nights ago on the financial crisis in Australia, > said that “suggestions that wage reductions were essential to bring about increased production could not pass unchallenged.” And lie went on to say, somewhat platitudinously, that “production would be much increased ir those now unemployed could lie placed in useful work,” lie laid himself open to’ the answer that production has not been increasing in ratio to the increase in the costs. “Existing industrial efficacy,” the Melbourne Argus saiu in a recent article, “is not sufficient to nay the whole working population the current rate of wages. Those in full work are thus able to enjoy high wages only because a considerable percentage of their fellow workmen is unemployed.”