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Regarding the proposals of the workers for unemployment insurance, I would point out that, eveti. although they were adopted by the Conference here and now, they could not and would not afford immediate relief, and I believe that during the passing of legislation to set up machinery to regularize all funds in some way or another possibly the most critical stage we are passing through at present will be passed before the relief works the report mentions can be established. The report emphasizes the necessity of the gravity of the problem and the need for immediate relief, and I hope the right efforts will be put forth. With respect to Professor Tocker's suggested amendment, as to the insertion of the word " chronic "in the resolution, there are two objections to that course. In the first place, lam sure every one will apprehend this point: that the whole of these findings have been the result of discussion and compromise—very exhaustive discussion, too—and the committee could not under those circumstances agree to any amendment. Ido not say that the amendment in some cases would not improve the motion materially; but, even so, if it were inserted it would tend to upset the principles on which we have agreed, and I think that Professor Toeker will see the objections to his suggestion. It may be quite true that unemployment does tend to ignore the individual system of production and the high organization of industry as a permanent feature of our present system of production. That is a question for those exponents and supporters of the capitalistic system of industry to justify, defend, or explain. It may prove that the capitalistic system of production will fail entirely to even feed and clothe a large part of the population, and that another way may be found to enable them to maintain themselves in the way they should. This proposal affords an opportunity of discussing the matter on economic grounds as well as on national grounds, and we think we should not anticipate either for the present or for sometime to come in this Dominion a position of affairs that means that a large part of the population will suffer want. In this country at the present time I believe we are passing through a wave of depression. I think we are passing through it and not into it, and I think we shall be quite right in assuming that our present unemployment problem is periodic, and not chronic. The figures as to exports and imports for the last twelve months, and still more those for the last month or two, show a buoyant tendency that would lead a superficial observer —and I do not claim to be an economist —to assume that things are on the up grade for this Domin on. We all sincerely hope it is so. At any rate, the sub-committee has assumed that the present problem is a temporary one, and has dealt with it on those lines. The workers' representatives' proposal for an unemployment-insurance scheme is to be regarded as a safeguard, and as a means of providing a more permanent insurance against unemployment. Whether it finds favour with the Government or not is, of course, for the Government to say, and the workers are quite free to advocate it to the fullest extent. Ido not think I will go further into the economic question, except to say that if production and consumption were immediate and equal, obviously there would be no unemployment. When a man is a barbarian and takes a fish from a stream and eats it immediately, production and consumption are equal. But with a highly developed system of production, division of labour and employment of machinery, and involving systems of production and distribution, the period of delay between production and consumption is necessary and long. The immediate example is the agricultural industry, where there is seed-time and harvest, and the period between production and final consumption is longer than in some other industries. There is also the question of the provision of capital, and in that respect this country affords an opportunity for proper co-ordination. With a full knowledge of the facts and a clearer vision we would be able to get a remedy that "would last for a long time against acute unemployment. No one will say that this country, with a population of less than a million and a quarter, is fully developed. The overhead costs of the Dominion are such that unless development does proceed, and production becomes greater, New Zealand is in for a very bad time. I think that the sub-committee's proposals, when they are understood, will meet with fairly general acceptation, and I believe that they will be adopted unanimously by this Conference, and will carry the utmost weight with the Government when presented to it. The motion, "That the recommendations in respect of Unemployment be adopted," was carried unanimously. Immigration. Mr. Turner : Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, the task which has been allotted to me, that of moving that .the recommendations in respect of immigration be adopted, is a very simple one indeed. I think 1 may say that this problem caused the least difficulty to the sub-committee. Upon it we found ourselves more in accord than upon the other two questions. Before we went into committee it was obvious from the papers submitted by both sides—from Mr. Poison's paper and that of Mr. Blood worth —that both parties recognized the responsibilities of New Zealand, in common with those of other still not fully developed portions of the Empire, to do its share in solving the problem of the distribution of population, which is so acute in the Old Country. This section of the report, therefore, commences with the statement that we do recognize our responsibilities in connection with the solution of this very important problem. I think, too, I may say that we realized that those responsibilities developed upon us as the result of the historical origin of this Dominion, and of the position that this Dominion holds in what we call the British Empire. We realize that the benefits that we enjoy consequent upon our association with this league of Dominions has placed upon us serious responsibilities in connection with this question of immigration. The question of immigration, of course, comes under discussion at this Conference very acutely in view of the problem of unemployment. The point of contact between the two matters is indicated in the report which the Conference has just adopted dealing with unemployment, where in clause (5) (d) the sub-committee states that the committee to be set up to deal with unemployment matters should co-operate with the Immigration Department with respect to the employment of immigrants. We realize that, with the unemploy-

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