Truth THE NATIONAL PAPER THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1929. Unemployment Problem

NZ Truth, Issue 1207, 17 January 1929, Page 4

Truth THE NATIONAL PAPER THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1929. Unemployment Problem

THE division of .opinion as to the fundamental cause of. the present unemployment, while very illuminating m its. way, does not help to ameliorate the' lot of the workless. At a time when the depression should be considerably lightened by the advent of the harvesting season, unemployment is still acute and labor bureaux m the main centres hold formidable lists of' workless and hungry. In pre-slump days unemployed lists were non-existent -during the summer months, when harvesting, scrub-cutting and other seasonal occupations absorbed the few unfortunates who had idled away a winter. There were no special "unemployment loans," raised by local and governing bodies m those days. While, something had to be done during the past two years to relieve the strain, the practice of providing work by means of special loans is a pernicious one. Such loans place a further burden on the shoulders of ratepayers, who, although ready and willing to assist their more unfortunate brethren, cannot indefinitely bear the strain. This has been oiie factor m tight-, ening up the purse strings of those who find labor for a few. These loans also provide, among a certain class of men, an excuse for not seeking , work away from their usual habitations. - When wages are forthcoming from unemployment loans raised by a city council, the allurement of o\ty life is not readily forsaken for the more drab and less comfortable surroundings of, say, a scrub-cutters' camp. Even at the present time there is work to be found m the back country by those who like to go m search of it, but the inducement to search is not strong enough for many unemployed. Had the tide of immigration not been stemmed when it was, unemployment conditions would have been far worse. The halt was called somewhat late m the day, but better late than never. The prosecution of a vigorous land policy which gives encouragement to th c sin all farmer, ' although not m itself the solution, would lessen, the trouble to an appreciable extent. ,