TRADE AND LABOUR

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 41, 18 February 1927, Page 14

TRADE AND LABOUR

NOTES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.)

UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK.

Monday. February 21.—Furniture Trades, Hairdressers. Wednesday, February 23.—Auckland Carpenters, Onehtinga Carpenters. Thursday, February 24.—Coopers.

UNEMPLOYMENT NOT ABATING

Bv a return given to the Central Unemployment Committee this week, by Mr. E. Phelan, the mind of the general public which had rather complacently, perhaps, adopted the opinion that unemployment as a chronic condition is usually relegated to tiie winter months, has had a rude shock and been awakened to a knowledge of the true position. After consulting with as many union secretaries a? he could get into communication with at short notice. Mr. Phelan submitted figures which showed that, instead of the 600 odd registering with the Labour Department as being out of work, the number was over 3000, and this at a period which is usually the most favourable time of the year- for work being obtainable. Since then, this official Unemployment Committee, set up at the suggestion of Mr. Coates himself at the beginning of last winter and composed of "all sorts and conditions of men." under the nominal presidency of his Worship the Mayor of Auckland, have carried a motion to disband, owing, it is stated, to the apathy of the Government upon this most serious problem of unemployment. Thov have realised that while doing their utmost to provide avenues of employ- j ment for the workless who are here, the j Government is still encouraging a copious stream of immigration which can | have no other result than adding to the | already large number of applicants for j work. Disheartened, they have given up j the struggle, and small blame to them., One of our writers has related an alle-1 gory of the man who was engaged strenuously in pouring water upon a tire before it could become dangerous, so as to quench the flames and remove the impending danger, but found that the reason he failed in his object w{w because of the action of another man on the other side of the flames who was feeding it with inflammable oils. That is the position of the Government.

This week, the union officials at the Trades Hall met to consider the seriousness of the position and, in view of the Prime Minister's return to the Dominion, decided to ask Mr. Coatee to receive a deputation from the unions, during his vi«sit to Auckland this week, on tiie question of unemployment and immigration. On Wednesday, Mr. M. J. Savage, M.P. for Auckland West, sent a M ire to the Prime Minister at Welling- i ton, asking him to receive this deputation and tix a time. After a space of 24 hours, Mr. Savage yesterday afternoon received a reply to the effect that tne Prime Minister anticipated that hie engagement list on his visit would be a very full one and he would receive the deputation if he had time, but to see his private secretary after his arrival in Auckland. After the pronouncements made bv the Prime Minister on his rectum to the Dominion, "that the prospects of the Dominion were bright," in fact, "everything in the garden is lovely," it may be easily patent to the most casual observer that the Prime Minister is not possessed with the seriousness of the situation.

UNITY. Last night at the Trades and Labour Council was interesting for the fact that, for the first time since the basis of unity was decided upon between the executives of the Trades and Labour Councils' Federation and the Alliance of Labour, delegates of both organisations met together on a common basis. The combined meeting transacted quite a lot of business and got through in good time by 9.40 p.m. under the chairmanship of Mr. O. Mcßrine, who was appointed to act as chair.man for the evening, owing to the absence of the president-in Wellington. With a genuine desire for industrial unity by both parties to the fusion, this feeling of amity can be maintained.

A DEMONSTRATION TRAIN. A recent issue of ''Industrial and Labour Information" the weekly publication of. the International Labour Office, includes a note on a tour made by the demonstration train of the Department of Agriculture in the Orange Free State.

This is the ninth tour of the demonstration train. Nineteen stops were made and over 10,000 men, women, and children visited the train, giving an average of about 540" per stop. Every day at an early hour a programme of lectures and demonstrations were displayed: on a large board; eight to ten lectures were given per day, sometimes necessarily two at a time. The staff tarried, with the train was competent to deal with 12 separate subjects. Anotler demonstration van tour on a much smaller scale is noted in England. One of the Ministry of Agriculture's blacksmith's touring vans was borrowed by the-Kent Education Committee and went on a six months' tour in that

county. The van made stops five or six miles apart in rural districts. All smiths we advised by post of the arrival of the van, and after the van had left, the Kent Rural Industries Co-operative society followed up by letters and personal visits. A feature was made of having short special demonstrations for schoolboys, lo to 16 at a time, with the idea of interesting them in blacksmiths' work A number of woollen mill hands in Dunedm have been paid off from vari?f!m,^?Pa^ nien , t3 > ° Wing to sickness, though other departments are working overtime. borne employees are working on y five days a fortnight, but man? will have to obtain other emplovment. •-hop assistants are in plentiful supply in Dunedin just now, wires our correspondent, and many girls, some of whom have had previous experience, are on the lookout for positions. The number has been considerably augmented since the schools closed last year, but not very many male assistants are in quest of jobs. A Trades Hall official said to-day it seemed to him that many young boy and girl immigrants were receiving preference as shop assistants over New Zealanders, not because they were superior in any to local bovs and girls.