The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1929 NO MORE UNEMPLOYMENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 781, 30 September 1929, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1929 NO MORE UNEMPLOYMENT

A DEFINITE guarantee has been given by Sir Joseph Ward that there will be no more unemployment in New Zealand after Guy Fawkes Day. Not later than that memorable date in history, the problem of miserable idleness will have been blown sky-high into the radiant air of flawless prosperity. In order to prevent any doubt or possible misunderstanding about the splendid prospect, it is essential to note and study carefully the exact terms of the Prime Minister’s guarantee: “I will undertake to say that in five weeks there will be in New Zealand no unemployed men capable of goin'g to work.” If that declaration has any real meaning at all, it only can mean that within thirty-five days the blight which has hindered enterprise, handicapped business, and imposed widespread misery on hundreds, if not thousands, of unemployed men and their dependants during the greater part of the past three years will have been eradicated by the United Government, alias Sir Joseph Ward. Until the specified time lias come and gone no one dare say that the promised political miracle will not have been wrought. It is true that the promise was made at or about 2 o’clock in the morning, but time on this occasion does not justify dubiety. The Prime Minister has never been a slumberer in Parliament; and when he foretold the early doom of unemployment he was openeyed, alert, and not flustered. Indeed, concurrently with his declaration as to the certain banishment of unemployment within five weeks, Sir Joseph refused to be hustled into bringing, in this session a scheme of unemployment insurance. That refusal demonstrated clearly his full possession of the faculties which have made him famous as a statesman. It is good to know that the veteran Prime Minister has no intention of allowing sentimentalists to foist upon him and on industry a futile system of unemployment relief which merely encourages many sturdy and fundamentally independent working men to slip into the plight of respectable pauperism at its best—making them, in fact, industrial “beachcombers.” Like most of the unemployed themselves, the Leader of the United Party prefers to provide work instead of meagre unemployment relief. Already the Prime Minister’s guarantee has been accepted with emotional gratitude by an exasperated and almost insurgent member of his pai’ty, and with wary enthusiasm by the Labour Party whose leader at once pledged unqualified support for the Government until the success or failure of the guaranteed miracle in modern politics. Mr. J. S. Fletcher,, the Government Party member for Grey Lynn, who threatened to become a rebel, characterised the declaration of his chief as “the biggest thing that has been done in the history of the Dominion”—something, indeed, if accomplished, which “would write the Prime Minister’s name on the hearts of the people of New Zealand.” Allowing for the emotionalism of a comparatively youthful and innocent member of Parliament, Mr. Fletcher’s praise was a pleasant expression of gratitude. The Labour Party, however, was a little more restrained, and much more subtle in its immediate gush of surprised gratitude. A few moments before, one of the leading members of the Labour group had warned the Prime Minister in brusque words that if Sir Joseph Ward could not solve the problem of unemployment, he would have to make way for someone else. But Mr. 11. E. Holland, long familiar with the frailties of politicians, was cautious, and not altogether without a dash of scepticism in his cordial welcome of the great promise. The Labour Leader quietly reminded the Prime Minister that the House would still be sitting at the end of the five weeks—a fateful period. Until then, Labour would be as the Government’s protector against the stronger party of the Opposition. Already, there has been a variety of opinion about the glorious promise of final relief in the most appreciable form for unemployment. Journalistic supporters of the Government have described the guarantee as “a sensational statement.” Other critics in the House have hailed it as a supreme example of the highest statesmanship. Many observers of the litter of broken promises are inclined to give the declaration a harsher definition. Meanwhile, with helpful patience, let the unemployed and their distressed relatives “remember, remember the fifth of November.”