It would not matter so much if finance were the
only matter in whit.h the Government have thrown over the Blanesburgh Committee. They have not yet even decided whether they will act on the important sugges- tion that the contributions of the State, the employers and the workers should be equal. The Committee did not argue from the revenue and outgoings of the Fund in any single year. They took a trade cycle:. If this is a just basis for reasoning, as we believe it is, we are already entering upon a trade cycle which promises quite well enough to warrant a reduction of the contributions. The saving in the costs of industrial production would be very great, and that alone would swell the Fund. It might not be right to reduce the contributions at once to the single rate of 5d.—the ultimate normal level which the Committee fixed—but equalization might be intro- duced at once and the level of the contributkins might be reduced gradually, beginning now. Finally, we are disappointed with the Govemmenea treatment of the younger unemployed. There is a real danger of, turning this class. into an unemployable class. The right way Was indicated by the Committee. Younger men and women should be a charge upon the State only in order that they may be taught to earn their living before it is too late. * .* * *
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