The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1931. THE WORLD’S UNEMPLOYED.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 February 1931, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1931. THE WORLD’S UNEMPLOYED.

The Minister of Labour in the British Government has acquired a reputation for candour and courage, and in her speech in the Commons recently, on a motion to increase the borrowing powers of the Unemployment Insurance Fund, she adduced some basic facts to account for unemployment and considered these conditions as a world problem. Until a year or two ago a great many people seemed to think that: Britain stood in solitary disgrace as a country with a high unemployment rate, but of late it has become plain to everyone that the world is suffering from the malady. The facade of prosperity that the I nited States presented to other countries has been tom down. and. according to Miss Bondfiold’s figures, there is to-da.v more unemployment there, in proportion to population, than in Britain. Germany's army of unemployed is proportionately, on the figures. considerably larger than Britain’s. Among the causes of unemployment, Miss Bondfiold mentioned rationalisation and the development of labour-saving machinery. There is irony in the tact that the process of rationalisation, that is,

the elimination of waste 'in industry due to competition, has found support among both employers and Labour leaders who sincerely wish to improve the relations between Capital and Labour and generally promote peace and progress in industry. The displacement* of labour by machinery is an old problem. which, owing to the i xtreme ingenuity of inventors, the high cost of labour (which is aiwavs an inducement to improve machinery), and the special economic conditions of the times, is for the time being, at any rate, pressing heavily upon the industrial community. Rationalisation and improvement of labour-saving machinery are similar in that they seek to eliminate waste and cheapen production, but ni the process human labour is dispensed with, and in the present state of economic depression it is very difii•u 11 to place this labour elsewhere. When the economic condition of the vorld lias improved, this difficulty will he less acute. One thing is certain, that it is the duty of the communilv to maintain these discharged workers. Capital, which for its own needs supplants them, by machinery, and when it needs more hands draws from the reservior of labour, is involved in this obligation. The “dole” may be shockingly abused at times, hut a member of Miss Bond field’s party was justified ,in saving that unemployment insurance insured the country not only against starvation, hut a gains*, “moral degeneration, crime and social disorder.” Later there has been news of a warning by the Mayor of Philadelphia, that if the rich of that city do not realise their obligations towards the unemployed he wiTl not be responsible for the consequences. There is a good deal to be said for the muelieritieisod “dole.” Britain began with the “dole,” and lias not been able to find a suitable substitute. New Zealand is endeavouring to find work for the unemployed in lieu of paying out money without any return, beyond providing mere sustenance. The present scheme is to operate to the end of March, and the wages have been attractive enough to increase greatly the number of unemployed. After next month, the wages will decline. and no doubt the scheme will he readjusted. Tt will he interesting then to see how the numbers are

effected. But ns has been said before, all these measures are purely palliatives. It remains yet for some country to devise a cure and remove the great blemish on society. An effort to redeem the world situation is urgently necessary to remove the basic cause of all the unemployment here and abroad.