The Minister of Labour in presenting the bill for its second read ing before Parliament, referred to the demoralizing effect that the long period of unemployment must necessarily be having on the victims, and called for the ce-operation of the employers in minimizing this by quickly notifying the Labour Exchanges of vacancies that could be offered to applicants, and so enable the officials to weed out the work-shys from the workers. He said it was ridiculous to suppose that the, small benefit would prevent a man with a dependent wife and children from seeking work, but the case was different with many young people who relied on their relatives for food and shelter, and he regretted that it was at present rarely possible to test their alleged inability to find work by offering them a vacancy. He advocated a stringent examination of their claims. In pursuance of this policy instructions have now been issued to all Labour Exchanges ordering the suspension of the payments of extra benefits to all single young men until their claims can be inquired into. This has caused a great outcry, for there are many instances in which a young unmarried man has to support a widowed mother and younger brothers and sisters.
The bill for the extension of benefits was unfavourably received by the Labour Party, and by some of the financial Diehards of the Conservative party. Labour made political capital out of it as evidence of the Government's inability te achieve economic reconstruction, and blamed the Versailles Treaty
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.