THE LABOUR BUREAU.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 118, 19 May 1892, Page 2

THE LABOUR BUREAU.

AN ADMIRABLE INSTITUTION.

WORK PROVIDED FOR THOUSANDS

MR JAMES MACKAY INTERVIEWED.

It .was stated in our lasb issue, on the authority of Mr James Mackay, chief clerk of the Wellington Bureau of Industries, fchat since this institution was called into existence, about twelve months ago, some 3,000 men have been passed through the books, and employment obtained for them. This seemed to bo a subjecb worthy of further investigation, and a Star reporter proceeded to interview Mr Mackay. In what way do you assist the unemployed ? asked the reporter. We send them to districts where there is work to be done, replied Mr Mackay. In what parts of the colony have you found room for the unemployed ? In the Wellington, Wanganui and Sbrabford districts. There is more work in these districts in the winter than in the summer. Gisborne, also, will give us a big field for labour at bush-felling. All along the new line of railway in the Huntorvilie district we have sent a large number of men. Wo have assisted scores of men to find work there, and have afterwards sent on their wives and families, so that the unemployed have in many cases been converted into lona fide settlers. In Wellington tho Forty Mile Bu6h will absorb 400 or 500 men every winter for bush-felling. Settlement is increasing there very fasb. On what terms do you undertako to reunite wives and families with their breadwinners ?

Suppose a man is sent up country and sees a prospect of twelve months' work. He has paid back the advance made for his own passage, and he guarantees to do the same in respocb of the cost of sending his wife and family after him. After they get on n bit some take up village settlements, and in this way tho unemployed are to come extent permanently disposed of. Bub can you rely upon the&o advances being repaid ? Eighty per cenb. of the persons we assist pay the money back to the Bureau, and as tor the actual cosb of the institution, ib is trifling in view of the fact tbat these men are kept off the streets. Then the Labour Bureau is not a greab cosb to the country? iSob beyond the clerical work and tho cost of printing, the whole of tho management being carried on by Government officers who bold other appointments, uotably as inspectors of factories.

I suppose Labour Bureaux aro now established throughout the colony ? We have Bureaux in Christchurch.Dunodin and Auckland, with the head office in Wellington. Every police constable in country districts is an agent of the Bureau, and is required to furnish a monthly report to the head office on fcbe state of tlie labour market in his particular locality, and as to how many men the district will absorb. By bhab means we litivo made up a chart, covering the wholo colouy, from which we can see at a glance where employment can be found. Thero are hodio 200 sub-agents in the colony.

Are bhey paid agents ? No, bhey aro all constables, and do not receive special remuneration. Do you find the unemployed accumulate on your books, or do you get them employed as they apply ? We get rid of them as fast hr they are pub on the books. On Monday last, ab Wellington, after an absence of about nine daya I had about fifty men waiting for employment, and sent them all away. Twentyfive of the number left Wellington for Gisborno in the Australia yesterday.

What do you reckon to be a fair average ? Fifty a week is about the average number of men we assist to tind work. During the summer months we had very few, as they were then employed harvesting, and so on." Since the Wellington Bureau was opened in Juno last year, we have senfe about) 3,000 men out cf town to various fields of labour.

Do you aesisb the same men more than once ?

Certainly, if the case is a deserving one. Suppose a man is sent away to-day to do a job which only occupies a week, and suppose he baa a wife and family living in Wellington ; he is likely to find his way back there. It ia no loss to us, becauto he refunds whatever money wo advance. Suppose we Bend twenty men to work on a Government railway ; we geb each man to sign an order on the engineer bo bhe amount of his railway fare, and bhe amount is deducted from his wages. Ib costs the counbry nothing bo send bhese men tfhere they can obtain work. The Manawatu Railway Company, the Union Steamship Company, and tho Northern Steamship Company havo made substantial reductions in passenger rabes for men forwarded by the Bureau, and bhe men bhemeelves get the benefit of these reducbions. I suppose bhis is also a very good thing for sebblers ?

: Certainly it is. They are provided with i labour. In proof of thab I can state thab many contractorsand farmers apply to us for labour a second and third time, and many make the Bureau the medium of getting all their employees. We take care to send suitable men in each instance, and employers are coming to know that they can rely upon us in this respect. Do you think the exodus has now ceased ? I cannot: speak positively about thab, but I know that we get a good many arrivals from New South Wales and Victoria. What is attracting them to New Zealand ? Tho terrible state of affairs that exists on the other side ; that is a matter of public notoriety. ■ . Do you assist them, as you do New /ealanders? Yes, many of them are returned New Zealanders. It is better for ua to find work' for met) who come from Australia ttian allow H-.f.'.n to fall.upon the Charitable Aid Board 01 "«rhapa get) into prison.

What clas- of m'on are they ? ' Labouring n'-et>, tradesmen, and farmers, and they tell a very: painfulstory' of ,b_ad timee, want of v/ork v and the hardships they have sufiered.