The life of the -Government is threatened by the unemployment
problem. In the Commons on Thursday, May 22nd, the debate on unemployment which had been begun on the previous day was continued. Mr. Shaw, the Minister of Labour, again, though not in so many words, tool up the position that it was quite unreasonable to expect him to produce rabbits out -of a hat. He could not, in fact, point to any definite enterprise Which the Government had yet undertaken for the reduction of unem- ployment. What he did was to quote figures which, he said, were most encouraging as Showing that unem- ployment was steadily diminishing. Unfortunately for him, Dr. Macnamara -was able to quote figures which proved that last year, when the Labour Party were loudly complaining that nothing was being done, un- employment was being reduced rather more rapidly than since Labour bad come into office. Mr. Shaw asserted -that -the reduction in the -number of -the unemployed was 16,000 in the previous week, and that if this rate continued for a year there would be no unemployment at all.
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