Unemployment Finance The debates on the Finance Bill and the
financial clauses of the.Uneinployment Bill have raised no questions of any particular interest,. for the criticism of -Mr. Cham- berlain's provisions regarding the new scale of transitional benefit could only have arisen out of a misunderstanding of the situation. As was pointed out in The Spectator a week ago, since transitional benefit is awarded on the basis of the applicant's needs, and not according to a fixed scale, there can be no automatic increase of indi- vidual allowances. All that is possible is rather more generosity all round, and to admit of that the Chancellor has allocated a sum of £3,600,000. The important question of whether last year's surplus of £31,000,000 should not be used to reduce the indebtedness of the Unemployment Fund is still theoretically open," for though Mr. Chamberlain announced his intention of using the money in the orthodox way for the reduction of the National Debt, influential appeals, with Sir Robert Home as their chief interpreter, are being made to him to change his mind. There would be general satisfaction if he did.
