The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, JULY 26, 1909. UNEMPLOYED INSURANCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2563, 26 July 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, JULY 26, 1909. UNEMPLOYED INSURANCE.

Recent English files bring further particulars of the scheme whereby the British Government proposes to solve the problem of the unemployed in England. Mr Winston Churchill, whose ideas seem to have been, accepted by his colleagues, commences by stating that it. is out of the question for the Government to attempt at the present time to provide for all the unemployed •in the country. His plan, therefore, is to make a commencement by dealing with those trades in which employment is notoriously irregular and in which at certain periods largo bodies of men are discharged from employment. He mentions amongst others these groups of trades : -^-Housebuilding,-engineering, machine and tool making, shipbuilding. Tho number of men working at these occupations, either as skilled workmen or as. general laborers comprises 2,250,000 adult males, and roughly speaking one third of the total population of the United- Kingdom engaged in purely industrial work. In regard to the actual working of the scheme we cannot do better than quote Mr Churchill’s own words. \He says: We propose to aim at a scale of benefits which will be somewhat lower, both in amount and in duration, than those which the strongest Trade Unions pay at the present. But they will be benefits which, nevertheless,afford a substantial weekly payment over a period which will cover by far the greater part of the average period of unemployment to all unemployed persons in this group of insured trades. In order to enable such a scale of benefits to bo paid, it is necessary that wo should raise something between fivepence and sixpence —and rather nearer sixpence than fivepence—per man .'per week, and that sum wo propose should be made up by contributions—not necessarily equal con-tributions-—between the workmen, the employers, and tho State. For such'' sacrifices —and they aro not, I think, exorbitant sacrifices —we believe it is possiblo to relievo a vast portion of the industrial ; population of these islands from a haunting dread and constant peril which gnaws at the heart of their prosperity, and contentment.

In connection with the operation of the scheme it is also proposed to establish in every town of importance throughout Great Britain a huge network of labor bureaux, existing for the purpose of helping men to find suitable employment. As a London journal puts if:— v

The present method of looking for work is as cruel as it is inefficient. There may he jobs looking for men and men looking for jobs, and yet unable to discover each other. The mental and physical agony endured by the laboren who 'pads the hoof’ in search of work can scarcely be imagined.

This scheme of bringing employers and those seeking work into more intimate touch and also of insuring workers against unemployment hats been acclaimed by men of all parties in England and even so conservative an organ as tho London “Times” declares that, “as a business-like effort to meet a grievous defect in our industrial system, the Bill must command the sympathy and support of all men of goodwill.” The Socialists naturally are only prepared to give modified approval to the proposals, which; are thus re-_ forred to by a writer in a recent issue of “The Clarion” : All one can say is that, subject to certain safeguards, which arc promised,, to protect organised labor against possible disintegration, the proposals will help and not hinder the'Socialist solution of our industrial problem. The vital defect in the Labor Exchange scheme is that it fails to deal with casual labor. Unless employers are compelled to engage men for casual employment through the Exchange, no drastic improvement in that field of work can be effected. Winston Churchill admits that he has declined to take this step because it involves accepting responsibility for finding State employment or maintenance for the margin of workers totally unemployed when the casual labor problem ha 6 been dealt with. The uroposal contained in the minority report for dea’ing with casual labor is that no employer should be allowed to engage a worker for less than a month, except through the Labor Exchange. The Labor Exchange would thereby be in a position to give a succession of short jobs to tho necessary number of workers and keep that number fully employed.. But there would remain a margin without employment in consequence. In order to escape responsibility for this inevitable result of any successful attempt to deal with the casual labor nroblem, the chief object of a well-considered scheme of Labor Exchanges has , been entirely sacrificed.

Our own Minister of Labor, Mr. Millar, is evidently enamoured of the idea which is said to be in successful operation in Germany, and promises to bring in a Bill on- similar lines during the next session of Parliament. The scheme' has many attractive features, and is likely to receive a good deal of consideration in this country as well as in England during the next year or two.