The Sun WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1928 TRIFLING WITH UNEMPLOYMENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 273, 8 February 1928, Page 8

The Sun WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1928 TRIFLING WITH UNEMPLOYMENT

IT is reported that the Government has taken action to cope with * the serious unemployment position in Auckland. In the words of the Prime Minister, who has issued a statement on the subject, “the co-ordination of official effort has been achieved, and the Auckland situation is now receiving attention.” Everybody will be glad to have tbis soothing assurance of sympathetic administrative activity, but it is to expected that the ranks of the unemployed will forbear to cheer. Co-ordination of official effort is not nearly so impressive as work and wages. There is no unkindness or political chicanery in saying quite plainly that the action of the Government is almost grotesque 'in its method and inadequacy. A private secretary from the Prime Minister's Department has been sent to Auckland to investigate the unemployment position. If, in this energetie officer’s opinion, the situation appears to be serious or desperate (the full scope of his instructions has not been disclosed) the Prime Minister will come post-haste to Auckland and personally attend to the sorry business. If, on the other hand, the able young man, who has been handling the unemployment question ' all along, comes to the conclusion that the position is merely normal, with no more than, say, a thousand persons out of work, then, presumably, nothing exceptional will be done to relieve unemployment distress. The problem will remain, while politicians, peering into the future, will see the country turning the corner of economic depression and glimpse in lowering gloom the silver lining to the clouds. And it has to be observed as a remarkable innovation that the departmental secretary has received certain instructions which, if necessary, “will enable the position to be relieved to some extent.” It is far from our intention to criticise an officer who can be relied upon to do his duty most conscientiously and with marked secretarial ability; indeed, those who know him and his work will have nothing but praise for his zeal. That, however, really does not come into consideration at all. The assailable fault lies in the staring fact that Ministers of the Crown have adopted a dangerous practice by delegating their administrative duties and responsibilities to secretarial officers. If private secretaries be able to perform Ministerial work, the need of economy calls for immediate retrenchment of Ministers. It is right and proper that a careful census of the unemployed should be taken, but the problem involves more than a superficial counting of idle folk in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch,, Dunedin, Wanganui, Napier and Palmerston North (to cite the official list of centres where there are unemployed). The seriousness of the position is such as to demand the appointment of a representative committee in each centre, so that each part of the problem would receive expert attention. And Ministers, instead of gallivanting up and down the country, opening schools and performing ceremonial duties which might well be done by secretaries, should be on these committees, seeking earnestly to devise a constructive policy for making a durable end to unemployment. Though Government supporters have not yet deliberately said that the unemployment position in Auckland has been grossly exaggerated, their comment obliquely hints at • hysterical estimates and political party propaganda. It is a poor reward for splendid civic service to suggest that social workers have indulged in perjury in order to emphasise their financial needs for the relief of acute distress. The position is serious in Auckland, and has become a disgrace. It demands better attention than a secretarial inquiry.