GOVERNMENT DEFENDED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 415, 25 July 1928, Page 9

GOVERNMENT DEFENDED

Baldwin on Unemployment

HOPEFUL REVIEW OF INDUSTRY

British Official Wireless. Received 11.2 a.m. RUGBY, Tuesday. THE Prime Minister, in Parliament to-day, dealt with unemployment, especially with the points raised by the report of the Industrial Transference Board.

His statement -was made in reply to Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, Deader of the Opposition, who moved a resolution

deploring the inadequacy of the measures taken by the Government to deal -with the tragic national problem of unemployment, and -who generally criticised the policy of the Government on the question. The Prime Minister said the latest figures of the Board of Trade showed that unemployment was mainly in the great staple indvistries, particularly coal and cotton; but the general trade of the country had been maintained. They demonstrated that unemployment was serious, though it was local •and confined. Development in this country was going on. He did not think there was any doubt about that, taking the country as a whole, and it ought to be perfectly possible, for the growing prosperity of other areas in the South as in the Midlands to afford some relief to depressed areas. If the changed equilibrium of more prosperous industries was a fact, then it should be possible that, whenevr development was still proceeding from that source, help might be found for places where development had been arrested.

That really was the key to a large proportion of the report of the Industrial Transference Board. The reorganisation of industry unfortunately had meant a certain amount of displacement of labour. Undoubtedly reorganisation was going on in this country, to an extent which it had never done before, and he found comfort in the thought that industry would emerge, when we were through these times, better manned, better organised, and pulling together better than ever before. For the time being there was a surplus of labour. The aim of the unemployment policy should be first, so far as was possible, to break up concentrated unemployment by the absorption of as many unemployed as possible in areas that were prosperous. That was the view of the Transfer Board, and he agreed with it.

With regard to migration, Mr. Baldwin said it was no case of shifting our unemployment burden on to the Dominions, or wishing to transfer men overseas simply because they were unemployed. What really mattered was the likelihood of a man making good in his new home. When a man contemplated what was before him here, and compared his prospects with his chances overseas, he should have a right to choose for himself and put his choice into practice. The question of migration had to be further thrashed out between this country and the Dominions. The Government wanted to have the fullest and most frank communication, and it saw its way in certain directions to the adoption of a more active policy of migration, both under the Empire Settlement Act and otherwise. In the matter of preliminary training, the experience of the last few r years, and the reports on overseas training, had decided the Government to embark upon a substantial expansion of its policy in this direction. Lord Lovat, Under-Secretary for the Dominions, was going out to Canada, Australia and New Zealand to follow up the discussions already initiated by the Dominions Secretary during his recent tour. He would discuss fairly and freely -with representatives of the Dominions all the matters which had been mentioned. EXPORT CREDITS SCHEME

With regard to the export credits guarantee scheme, Mr. Baldwin said that it would come to an end next year. In <' the absence of a further order, the c Estimates Committee of the House of j Commons had conducted recently a searching investigation into the 'working of the scheme, and had expressed s itself as satisfied that it was of prac- c tical advantage to the export trade. c This certainly was not a time when c they could allow any approved assistance of that kind to be dropped. The 1 Government proposed in due course to t introduce legislation extending the scheme a further two years from September next year. In conclusion, the Prime Minister j I announced that the Government would a accelerate the execution of portion of j c its scheme for giving railways relief from local taxation, in return for a reduction of freight charges on certain specified traffic, with a view tc helping the basic industries. ; - 1 " ’ t

' UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM MR. RAMSAY MACDONALD'S ' WARNING “The most cramnlng contribu- j tion ever made against the Government and its handling of the unemployment problem,” was how Mr. Ramsay Macdonald described the report of the Industrial Transference Board in the House of Commons. (United P.A.— By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) Reed. 1.10 p.rn. LONDON, Tuesday. Mr. Ramsay Macdonald said that the Government was doing its best to lull the country into a state of complacency. The tremendous and unexpected leap in the official unemployment figures shows that the Problem is threatening to master us, he added. . . _ “The report of the Industrial Transference Board stresses emigration as a remedy, but we should first be most careful that our own country is being developed.” continued Mr. Macdonald, amid Labour cheers. "There are roads to be constructed, slums to be cleared away, and other essentials by which the wealth of the nation may be added to.” So far as emigration was concerned, he went on, the report of the Transference Board was one of despair. It was the most damning contribution ever made against the Government and its handling of the unemployment problem. MORE BLAME FOR LABOUR RESTRICTED MIGRATION PAPERS COMMENT ON REPORT (United P.A. —By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) LONDON, Tuesday. Commenting on the report of the Industrian Transference Board, the “Daily Telegraph” says:— | “The members of the board were set an arduous and a thankless task. Their proposals do not seem to pro mise much immediate fruit. Overseas migration offers a natural solution of the unemployment problem for young men, but it is checked by the high rates charged for passages, the excessively stringent medical examinations, and the restrictions in regard to the callings a migrant may adopt. "It is principally the Labour Parties in the Dominions which are responsible for this jealous contraction of the avenues of entry. “The Leader of the British Labour Party, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, re- ; cently said it had changed its attitude on migration, but alas, It finds 1 itself up against some of its own worst faults, intensified by the Labour ParL ties in the Dominions. We hope the ! report will not escape the notice ol - statesmen in the Dominions.” "The Times" says: “What the board e has in mind is that we should prae- [ tise at home to the fullest extent tilt : policy we desire the Dominions alsc | to adopt. When all that can be done at home has been done there will bi

added possibilities of migration overseas. There is no intention of dumping unemployed people in the Dominions, but Britain desires to make it easy for the vigorous, the adventurous and self-reliant to try their fortunes in the younger lands of the Empire. The preference which the Dominions are ready to give the Motherland In matters of trade might be shown more markedly in matters of migratic^.’