ONE STEP FORWARD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 207, 26 April 1932, Page 4

ONE STEP FORWARD

At the end of this week the revised scale of unemployment relief made possible uiider the amending legislation passed by the present session of Parliament will be put into operation. As the Minister points out, although the new scale may not be as generous as could be desired, it does represent a marked advance on the provision made in the past. Not only have the weekly rates of men wiith the heaviest family responsibilities been slightly increased, but the elimination of stand-down week will have the effect of increasing the net payment to men under all categories. The increases, which have been made possible by the quadrupling of the direct tax levied on the wages and salaries of every man, woman and child over 16 years of age still in employment, will, however, on the Minister's figures, absorb no less than six-sevenths of the total estimated revenue from this source. This is a very heavy price to pay for what must, at best, be very largely a palliative rather than a permanently productive scheme, and after all that has been said by the Minister about pntting men on definitely productive work, is most disappointing . There is, however, this to be said for it. The need is urgent — in many cases desperate — and a recasting of the No. 5 Scheme is obviously the quickest way of meeting the situation. Provided that it is treated. by the Minister and the Unemployment Board merely as a temporary expedient, it is probably quite the best way of dealing with the present situation. The danger is, however, that once in operation, it will, like past schemes, be allowed to drag on until it breaks down, or threatens to do so, as a result of its'own economic unsoundness. Treated as a temporary measure, however, it should enable the unemployed to carry on until more permanent schemes, such as land settlement, farm improvement, and other definitely reproductive works can be put into operation. Details of such schemes are to be announced shortly,, Mr. Coates said, and these will be awaited with some impatience by the public, both employed and unemployed, as it is now generally realised that only by the provision of definitely productive work is any real easing of the unemployment problem likely.to be achieved. Meantime, every effort should be made to get something practical done by those who, like the Mayor of Rotorua, have gone to the trouble to dra'w up land settlement schemes as a means of assisting toward a solution of this most urgent problem. The complete failure to date of the Minister and his advisers to produce a really economically sound and financially practicable scheme for permanently absorbing into productive work even a small proportion of the thousands of skilled unemployed workers emphasises the need for such efforts. The people of Rotorua are therefore to be eongratulated upon the decision reached by the representative meeting held on Friday last, to proceed with the practical preliminaries of the Mayor's plan for co-operative settlements. A great deal of work will have to be done before the first co-operative settler can be given possession of his sec-tion, and past experience suggests that only the presentation of a fully organised and detailed plan has the least chance of moving the authorities to action. The most difficult problem to be solved is that of finance, and for, this the active assistance of the Government will be necessary. It is, therefore, to be hoped that when "the Rotorua scheme is presented to the Government' for its: >approval and support, it will not only be thoroughly practical and complete in detail, but will also have the unmistakable support of the people of Rotorua, includingithe unj employed themselves.