In the House -of Commons on Monday Mr. Shaw was
botly attacked for his proposal to extend unemployment insurance to children of 14 and 15. He defended himself on the ground that those children who have left school, -but cannot find employment, are now "kicking about the-streets." No one denies that that too often happens, but it is not -an -excuse for introducing the demoralizing -principle of giving the children pay for "kicking -about the -streets." -If the _clause on the insurance of children went through, more parents than ever would =end their children's schooling as soon as it was legally possible to do so. The family would make money out of it. Mr. Shaw protested that the time had come to help the unemployed children, and that again we do not, of course, deny. But his way of helping them is one of the very worst that could be devised. If unemployment money is to be paid in the case of children, let it be paid on condition that they go on regularly with their education. In the end Mr. Shaw agreed to remove his proposal from the Financial Resolution and to bring it up again in Committee. We can only hope that it will be finally dismissed or recon- structed in Committee. The school, not the factory, is the right place for children. We never thought that the Labour Party would go back in effect to the principle of the "half-tinier."
Previous page
