UNEMPLOYMENT, ITS CAUSES AND A REMEDY.

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 291, 3 August 1932, Page 6

UNEMPLOYMENT, ITS CAUSES AND A REMEDY.

r E. Earla

Vaile.)

THE WORK AND THE MEN.

(BS

, No. 4. Now, as to cost. Take a 5-acre . holding. Land (partly improved), say, £15; materials for house, £50; materials for outbuildings, £10; materials for fencing, £15; proportion of cost water service, £15; seeds and manures, £5; tools, £5. live stock, £10; or a total of £125. That is quite within the range of practical politics, but it might he well to try out the scheme in two or three settlements first to gain experience for the main venture. From the point of view of the unemployed man, he would have a chance of independence — a home at a small cost, practically rent free: an oppprtunity to produce his own food from land to which he would have a good 'and secure title at the small cost price: a chance to grow crops of onions, small fruits, eggs or what not, the proceeds of which, together with casual wages, would meet his other wants. For a time part of the present relief funds would have to be provided for the settlers' sustenance while getting their plots in order. Probably half the sum now necessary would suffiee. And in the second year, perhaps a little help from the Government would be necessary. During the initial years each settler would be privileged to help his fellow settlers with his particular skill and knowledge, and to receive from the others the assistance of their special knowledge. The village council wciuld decide whether each was doing his fair share. With' comparatively small plots the proximity of the dwellings would relieve all sense of loneliness. Excellent Precedent. For sueh' a scheme we have excellent precedent. 'When I was in Athens about four years ago, I learned of the wonderful success- of the settlement by the Greek Government of 1,000,000 penniless refugees suddenly thrown upon their hands out of Asia Minor. The cost per settler was £125. The area of land was 11 acres per person. Per family, the area varied from l-8th acre to 25 acres. These settlers are making good. Many groups have already made considerahle repayment of principal besides meeting all current charges. They supply Greece with all her requirements in grain — formerly imported. Now Greece is a much smaller country than New Zealand, its soil poorer, and its climate infinitely more rigorous. Some of the areas occupied were so arid that water had to be e$rried thither on the backs of • animals. In the winter the land lies under snow. The country already supported a population of 5,000,000. Are wel in New Zealand so laclcing in essential abilities that we must confess our impotence to settle one-fortieth of the number, with vastly superior resources? Some raise the ohjection that we shall create a "peasant" class. But the peasant is usually a happy person, and "calling names" ought not to frighten us. Anyhow, we have a very plain choice: which is praferable, a peasant class or a pauper class? Other Measures. Besides the special and direct efforfc here advocated to meet the immediate urgency of the situation, many other measures will be necessary if our democracy is to be placed on a permanently sound footing. The administration of one of the most important of our institutions, the Arbitration Court, needs immediate revision. Its awards should be based solely on the capacity of the industry, under reasonably capable management, to pay the wages awarded. Tf the workers can get better pay in any other industry, they are, of course, free to resort to that industry; if they cannot get higher wages, they had better accept what wages are available: have some employment and some income instead of none. Either by the exercise of common sense cr by bitter experience, men will discover that wages can be paid out of one source only — the earnings of the worker. The trade unions of the country must change their policy. At present they function only as corners in labour, and claim the right not only to sell their own labour — the first necessity of the eommunity — but to prevent others from selling their labour. They press this claim even to the extreme of physical violence. By these means they have sueceeded in maintaining their wages so much above the general level of the earning capacity of the country that trade unionists still in employment are receiving their 2s per hour and even more, while their brethren are sent to relief camps at 10s per week and found. The discrepancy is scandalous. Thinlc of this shnple mathematical truth: If half the people get twice what they are worth, there is nothing left for the other half. We are now approximating to that state of affairs in New Zealand, and it largely gxplains unemployment. The Men Themselves. Much has been written and said about what can be done for the unemployed. But what of the men themselves? What effort are they prepared to make? Will they gladly wslcome the opportunity of a pdece of land and the right to live and work upon it? After all, the battle is theirs. All other folk can do is to afford them opportunity. Success or failure rests with them. Once the State undertakes to provide every citizen with a living it is out on the deep and stormy sea and shipwreck is imminent. If the unemployed stand by and say "we can do nothing: the Government must provide for us," the position becomes quite hopeless.