POLISH CONDITIONS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10290, 27 May 1919, Page 5

POLISH CONDITIONS

. LABOUR PROBLEM AU UTE, _!. I had a long conversation this morning with Mr iwanowski, Minister tor Labour, about the condition of jtie working-classes in Poland means that are being employed, to help, them to tide over the present difficult period (states a correspondent, writing from Warsaw to-the-“ Daily Bows’’ of March sth last). “Mr “Iwanowski is in the prime of life, with a brisk;ShWhC.r. and : the air of an English > business’ man. He was Minister'for Trade'hnd Industry in the Government of Mr Moraczewski, who is a Socialist, but he himself is, as he told me, a convinced liberal in the English sense of the word.

“The great problem which we have to deal with at the present time,” ho said, “is that of unemployment. The number of men for whom no work 'can bm'found is being constantly increased by'ithe return of labourers from Germany, whom no fewer than -700,001)■ Polish working people were employea during the war—some of‘them were in Germany when war-was declared and were unable to return; others were simply kidnapped by the Germans here and taken away to work in the mines of Westphalia or elsewhere.'!. And here, perhaps- I may be- allowed to interrupt the Minister's statement, dnvofder to mention on,o pf our methods adopted by, the Germans, to catch their slaves. They arranged a cinematograph entertainment in a number of villages_ _ and small towns, and then captured' all ~ tjie young men who came to see the pictures aud dispatched them to Germany. “An almost equal number of workers are returning from Russia,” continued Mr-Iwanowski. “Being unarjlo >6 pro vide work, wo had to make the best arrangements we could.' Iff ‘the middle of December it was arranged to give every man -and every independent, wo-* man on the official register of unemployed 3 marks a day, while married .women were to be paid 1 mark; There , were also allowances for children. At present we are paying money to only SO per cent, of the unemployed, aijd the rest are being given food instead., There is a moratorium,, and landlords aro not allowed to turq JhqwnqWßlPJTi. ed out of their houses. .

“Poland is the only country in Europe,” he went on, “which has a surplus of coal. Wo are working the mines with two shifts of , bqufs. each, and were it not we, arp producing more coal'than" we require we could introduce a third shift and give employment''to' great''''nußlbets; - hence the restoration of a' normal industrial life in the country will be » benefit to tho miners. What we want above all is railway engines and rail- ; way trucks.” ■ ' , - Dealing with the financial aspect of tho situation, Mr Iwanowski said that the Government had-obviously to exercise great economy.. . • “Mv Budget from the-middle: of December to July,” he said, “is only a hundred million marks—at the p/esent rate of exchange this represents less than £2,000,000 —and I am afraid 1 have already spent more than half. ol it. However, I have no doubt, that I shall be allowed an additional sum.”