In the House of Commons on Wednesday Sir Montague Barlow
described the Government's proposals for dealing with unemployment. We shall not go into the matter in detail, tremendously important though it is, as Sir Montague's statement was admittedly provisional. Un- happily, the trade recovery has been even slower than was expected, and though 300,000 unemployed have found work since last year there are still 1,200,000 ont of work. The Government intends to go further in the direction of the existing Exports- Credits Scheme and the Trade Facilities Act, and to grant money equal to half the interest on loans for not less than ten years in order to encourage local authorities to start work on useful enterprises. Sir Montague calculated that 200,000 men would thus become directly employed and 100,000 indirectly. Since work has to be invented the principle, in our opinion, ought to be that all the apparatus of the country—the roads must never be forgotten— should be made ready for a general trade recovery. When that recovery comes labour will hardly be avail- able for schemes which can easily be undertaken now. * * * *
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