The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1930 NO MAGIC FOR UNEMPLOYMENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 948, 15 April 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1930 NO MAGIC FOR UNEMPLOYMENT

A DOSS-HOUSE for a hundred distressed men is to be opened ■fa m Auckland on May Day; and the current cost of unemployment relief as dispensed by the Charitable Aid Board is already £, 8,000 over the estimate of such expenditure for this financial year.

1• V Tl , lese fac t s demonstrate clearly that unemployment, hitherto supposed to be nothing more serious than a seasonal irritation like a common cold, is getting worse instead of better. It has outrun the remedial policy of the Government and has exposed the illusions of the Ward Administration’s political magic.

i think that the question of unemployment should not be raised at ail in days of depression or, if raised, that the best face should be put upon it for the sake of apprehensive business men. let it be said emphatically that conditions ai e a gi eat deal worse in Australia, also in Great Britain, just as had, indeed, in so-called prosperous America, and immeasurably more dressing in Germany. That admission at least will console JNew Zealand politicians and frightened optimists, though it may not comfort the unemployed. They want work and the bread-and-butter of independence, and not an endless feast of buttered wisdom about the good times that are coming. The problem of unemployment in Auckland was submitted > esteraay to tlie Minister of Labour by a deputation whose vocah members said anything that anxious men could say about it, and -ott very little unsaid. It is to be hoped, however, that there was some exaggeration in Ihe statement as to unemployment here being now more acute than it had been for many years. In all probability it would have been nearer the mark'merely to have stated that enforced idleness was acute. Still, like draws like and the deputation doubtless believed that the Minister would best understand and appreciate* an impressive declaration. On a first Ministerial visit to Auckland, the Hon. W. A. V eitch was frank enough to have earned some praise. He did not attempt to disperse the problem of unemployment by a a erbal process, and he withstood the temptation to repeat the political legerdemain in the Government’s guarantee six or seven months ago to banish unemployment within five weeks. On the contrary the Minister discarded the bad political habit of depending entirely on short-run remedies and expensive mitigation, and showed an inclination to adopt long-run measures for the ultimate cure of an industrial economic disease. Of course, the Government will continue to do what it can, even in the present extravagant way, to relieve social distress from the lack of work, but the final elimination of unemployment must be a problem ior statesmen. Unfortunately, if statesmen alone can solve the problem, Hew Zealand may have to wait a. long time for national prosperity free of unemployment. The Dominion suffers from an acute dearth of statesmen.

r - Veitch, however, is confident that the elimination of unemployment can be effected somehow and some day. How and when remain matters for conjecture. The Minister did not put a period to his long vision which still is merely a peering belief. But he foresaw the development of industry as a practical remedy for unemployment, and mentioned, in particular, the carbonisation of coal as a new industry which would gain some kind of State encouragement. The aim of the Government to promote the use of 100 per cent, of New Zealand coal is an excellent one, deserviiig of support, but it should be recognised that ■ it will take a long time to make a carbonised coal industry strong enough to employ an additional five hundred workers in the depressed colliery districts.

Although the Minister of Labour characteristically was vague and non-committal about a legislative policy for alleviating acute unemployment, he at least announced the Government’s intention to introduce during this coming session of Parliament a bill embodying several of the remedial proposals submitted recently to the Administration by the special committee of investigation. prospective measure, as usual, will he comprehensive. hether or not it will be competent is a question that must be left to Parliament and time to answer In short, _ neither Mr. Veitch, as Minister in charge of a job that is just a little too big for him, nor his colleagues have, a definite scheme for the banishment of unemployment within five years, far less within five weeks. They may produce the real magic during the Parnell campaign. The unemployed and the overburdened public that pays dearly for unemployment would like to see it soon.

A SILENT SERVICE

AMONG public bodies, school committees take a modest place. They might almost be known as “the silent service,” for very rarely are their proceedings reported in the Press, and it is only at the annual meetings of householders that any conuerted attention is drawn to their works. No service earns for those who undertake it so little regard in the material sense, though sometimes for the aspiring politician a stepping-stone to higher things, the school committee is more often a field of unselfish and disinterested labour. Possibly every committeeman carries a Cabinet Minister’s portfolio in his brief bag, but tp Yi them are aware of it, and would be very little concerned if they were. Those who offer themselves for service on school committees usually do so for no other reason than their interest in the welfare of the children of their district. .There could be no finer motive for service.

It is perhaps a little disconcerting to find that at one meeting °f householders held in Auckland last evening, an organised political “ticket” soiiglit the support of the electors. The appeal u as successful, the ticket, a Labour one, being elected in entiretv. llie lesult is not likely to be harmful; it may on the contrary lie a ery beneficial. But it seems entirely unnecessary to introduce organised political planning into the formation of such an essentially 11011-political institution as a school committee. Nowadays the activities of committees are covering many forms of effort to a\ Inch a generation or so ago they were complete strangers. Ideas ot education are changing, and the committees are correspondingly acquiring a broader conception of their tasks. Ev’ery well-intentioned school committee strives to provide the children in its care with efficient dental ser\ T ices, cocoa or tea in winter, adequate SAvimming instruction, and plenty of oiganised games. By contrast with that which their parents knew, the lot of school children these days seems a A T erv happv one, and much of the improvement is due to the work of school committees. That much remains to be done is indicated by such conditions as exist at the NeAvton East School, where unfortunate deaf and dumb children are being taught in Avhat is practically an atmosphere of decay. Here, again, the committees can shoAV their strength. The Grafton School Committee has delivered an ultimatum to the Education Department on this subject. Realising the AA’eight of popular opinion a school committee can swing to its support, the department would be Avell ad\ T ised to heed the represen tat ions.