UNEMPLOYMENT, ITS CAUSES AND A REMEDY.

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 289, 1 August 1932, Page 4

UNEMPLOYMENT, ITS CAUSES AND A REMEDY.

E. Earle

Vaite.)

A SETTLEMENT SCHEME.

(By

No. 3. The following few words eontain the kernel of economic truth: — It is of more importance to the individual, And of infinitely more importance^ to the State. That the citizen should have cohstant employment, And he ahle to huy his requiremeiits cheaply, Than thM— be^sh"ould have money wages by the hour1 or by the day. By. employing men at Is a day for from two .to. four days a week, the workers' earnings are limited to from £1 to £2 a wesk, and his efiiciency is destroyed by overmuch leisure. Hov infinitely hetter for himself that be should work full time at 8s a day. He would 'earn £2 8s a week. Ali prices hased on wages — that is, the price of every thing made with' hands — would he greatly reduced. There- : fore the worker, besides having a! larger cash income, would be able to buy far more goods with every sbilling of that larger income. And the State would have the henefit of the .full labour value of the .citizen, in.; stead of only one-third of it as at present. What are our resources ? Our timher is done, our gum is done; flax ij unsaleahle; our mines harely supply our oWn requirements. THere' re. mains only the land — and only graSs farming at that. This is our one and only resource. But after all, the only absolute essentials to the production of wealth are land and labour. Both of these we possess in abundanee, ..Shall it pass our wif to hring them together? j Now, in this problem, there are tiro limiting factors which can in no wise be neglected. They are (1) the financial capacity of the country, and (2) the rnental and physical capacity oi the unemployed. Any scheme entailing heavy expenditure per capifa b impossible of aehievement; any scbeme presuming in the unemployed qualities which they do not possess will fail.

A Useless Solution. Dairy farming or any ordinary scheme of land settlement is useless as a solution. The numbers are huge — 70,000 — but if we can settle half on the land, the other half can, probably, as a consequence, be employd in the towns. With 25,000 to provide for, the State cannot, under present circumstances, spend moii than a small sum on each individual A small dairy farm cannot be provided for less than £1000, wbiei would mean £35,000,000 to prov® for half" the present number of unemployed — an absolutely impossii undertaking. Gf the unemployed nol more than one out of ten would sueceed on a dairy farm if it were giva to him. What is our experience? Ha: any recent attempt at land settlemes been a suceess ? Is there any peculia; virtue in being an unemployed persoi that will enable him to succeed wheii others have f ailed ? Moreover, tbei] would he a great element of unfair* ness in spending hig money on a fefl and leaving the mass of the unemploy® ed unprovided for. And it is biglifl injudicious and indeed very wrong tfl encourage the unemployed in the iiejfl that more can he done for them tkS is really possible. a What Can Be Done? ■ In my judgment the only practic® solution is for the Government to tafl a large area of land — Crown land prfl ferably, unless, indeed, private laij can he acquired for the cost of iifl provements or less — and lay it ofl for group settlements, mostly in stuaH plots. The land mus-Uirot be brok® the soil must be cultivable and rcfl sonably fertile; water must be insu® abundanee as to provide a permaiie™ supply on each' plot at a minimi™

cost. The situation need not be givfl much consideration as long as accefl is not altogether too expensive. IS deed, there is some advantage in «■ rating in a sparsely settled localiM for the introduction of a consideraM number of settlers should so impr'M the value of the land as to ensure tfl financial success of the venture. H would be very advantageous also® have some improvements already® being, so that cows, sheep, etc., oo'jH be carried and some food supply P® vided from the heginning. Busb^B else well established plantations ® the provision of firing would also ® most useful. ® Village Centres. fl Suppose, then, that a group : consist of, say, 200 families. 1® | land must he surveyed into a vill® : centre with small sections for fr® ness purposes, for public Iiall, offiee, school, village market, efc.^B large number of plots of from tff0® ten acres each, and a small numbol® 56 acre farms for the seleetedi^H who may be willing and able to lj® them up. The concern would erned by an elected village council^B which the Government would app5® one or two neighbouring farnie13,® experience and perhaps a repi'esejj® tive of the Dept. of Agriculture. |® main idea would he not to pr°^B 1 goods for sale on a market amj® oversupplied, but for each' settle®,®^ to live upon and consume its own duce, in the same manner as pioneers of this and other coun !® Take for example, a five-acrs see^B of reasonably fertile land. 0f three acres will support the cow, and two or three lambs, ; can ,be bought for next to n°^ |H and will grow into good mutton,^B acres will run a Iot of f owls a™ vide a good garden and orchar«i ®| a small' area of crop for It would probably be advisab^B provide a considerable area ® - monage, and, moreover, co-opeI^B . effort would he necessary at The group would consist of all 30 farmers, carpenters, hlacksmi® tors, tailors, dentists, butchei'Sr^B and mutual help would have giveri to f ellow settlers. (To Tbe continued.)