§ So much for the provision which we hope to be able to make for those who, under the changing conditions which are inevitable in trade and commerce, are temporarily thrown out of employment. We do not put this forward as a complete or an adequate remedy for all the evils of unemployment, and we do not contend that when this insurance scheme has been set 490 up and financed that the State has thereby done all in its power to help towards solving the problem. After all, it is infinitely better, in the interests both of the community and of the unemployed themselves, that the latter should be engaged on remunerative work, than that they should be drawing an allowance from the most skilfully-contrived system of insurance. This country is small—I suppose it is the smallest great country in the world—but we have by no means exhausted its possibilities for healthy and productive employment. It is no part of the function of a Government to create work; but it is an essential part of its business to see that the people are equipped to make the best of their own country, are permitted to make the best of their own country, and, if necessary, are helped to make the best of their own country. [Cheers.] I am glad that that statement has been received with such general assent. A State can and ought to take a longer view and a wider view of its investments than individuals. The resettlement of deserted and impoverished parts of its own territories may not bring to its coffers a direct return which would reimburse it fully for its expenditure; but the indirect enrichment of its resources more than compensates it for any apparent and immediate loss. The individual can rarely afford to wait, a State can; the individual must judge of the success of his enterprise by the testimony given for it by his bank book; a State keeps many ledgers, not all in ink, and when we wish to judge of the advantage derived by a country from a costly experiment we must examine all those books before we venture to pronounce judgment.
§ Any man who has crossed and recrossed this country from north to south and east to west must have been perplexed at finding that there was so much waste and wilderness possible in such a crowded little island. There are millions of acres in this country which are more stripped and sterile than they were, and providing a living for fewer people than they did even a thousand years ago—acres which abroad would either be clad in profitable trees or be brought even to a higher state of cultivation. We want to do more in the way of developing the resources of our own country. [Cheers.] Hon. Members opposite cheer, and I am sure they will help me to find the money. There is much to be done for the re-settlement of neglected and forgotten areas in Britain. We have been spending for the last two or 491 three years £200,000 to £300,000 a year upon work which I would not like to discourage. I have no doubt that it has relieved a great deal of distress, and that it is the best thing that could be done as a temporary shift and expedient, and all thanks and gratitude are due to the people who have devoted their time, leisure, and labour in expending the money in the most profitable way possible, but still it is a wasteful expenditure. Sometimes I have no doubt some good is done, but it is wasteful whenever you create work for the sake of creating it. We think that the money could be spent much more usefully and profitably, and with better direction, so long as we take a wider view of our responsibility in this matter.