THE UNEMPLOYED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 292, 10 December 1925, Page 10

THE UNEMPLOYED.

* MANY MEN IDLE. WITH NUMBERS INCREASING. Even admitting that New Zealand is as good, if £iot better than most -countries in the world for the working man, that does not alter the fact that at the present time large numbers are out of employment in Auckland. For the unskilled worker a slack time is invariably experienced just before Christmas, because* local bodies do not as a rule like starting upon any new work till after the New Year. Even so, in the opinion of one in close touch with the labouring class the outlook is far from bright for the lot of the labourer in future, and he predicts a hard time next winter. In support of this he points out that the amount of building work being carried out at present is very small compared with early December in previous years, and mentions more than one of the city's biggest building contractors who has practically no work on hand at all, and none in sight. Other contractors were in the same position, and whereas they had regularly employed perhaps a hundred men they were now only able to keep ten or a dozen going. But not only had there been a marked falling off in building operations, but the local bodies were not forming new roads or doing the amount of work they did twelve months ago. "Without doubt Auckland has some of the finest main roads in the world," said a iinion secretary, "but those roads are not good for the labourer, and I'll tell you why. A few years ago these roads, in requiring to be remetalled or repaired in different ways, gave constant work to many men. Now with the concrete roads you can travel from Auckland to Onehunga, Ellerelie, Mount" Eden, Edendale, Grey Lynn, and on the main roads you would probably not find one labourer working. . No men are being sent away to the country on public works, but many are being dismissed, and all the unmarried men at once come to town. This does not ease the position, and with new arrivals coming out from England almost every week, the unemployment problem is getting worse rather than improving. I don't want to cry wolf, but 1 am certain that for the unskilled man there Is a serious time ahead."