290 THE RELIEF OF THE UNEMPLOYED 



shipbuilding, and metal trades (the first four columns) 

 fluctuates more violently than in industry as a whole, 

 though in the same direction, is not difficult to explain 

 when it is remembered that this group of trades is 

 largely concerned with the making of the instruments 

 of production — machinery, implements, ships, engines, 

 etc., and other forms of fixed capital, and that a very 

 small expansion or contraction in the total output of 

 commodities in the country is likely to cause a 

 relatively large expansion or contraction in the 

 demand of new instruments. Thus this group of 

 trades affords a very sensitive, though exaggerated, 

 indication of changes in the labour market as a whole ' 

 (Code 2,337). 



As has been said before, there are no figures for 

 India comparable to the table on p. 289 ; but it is 

 evident that the experience of England does not 

 justify the view that diversity of occupation is a 

 remedy for unemployment. 



