THE UNEMPLOYED.

Press, Volume XII, Issue 1474, 30 July 1867, Page 2

THE UNEMPLOYED.

The Commission appointed by his Honour the Superintendent to inquire into the above subject met yesterday in the libiary of the Provincial Council at noon. Present —Messrs J. Si Williams (chairman), H. Wynn Williams, S. P. 'Andrews; Hillyard, W. Wilson, and F. E. Stewart. The : Chairman stated that a preliminary meeting had been held, on the previous Saturday, and thae ft was then decided two more members should be added to, the Commission, viz. Messrs \V. Williams and Andrews. The only other buainessxtrußsacted was taking the' evidence of the Assistant Immigration Officer.

The minutes of the previous meetin„ Wete then rend n-:d ■•'•-n(lr:v.(» I. re The Chiiirm-ui said that it had been decided to take the cv.demy of the fu!lo,vi„„ „v ,v,.,.< :-R,ehard .Smith, ,» plumber; „ IJ( J n Cull', city surveyor. Mr Smith, in his examination, slated t nat thin-.- *ere s vera! men nt present nut „f Wor u in his trade ; tho number employed this yea wis far less than during last year. Goo,! tm'd,,. men were not helmed to like lower \v,ur ( ,j' although inferior ones might. 11,- 1 that a great de.,l of the digress at present existing in OliriMchureh was owing to persona without ii onus putting up buildings without having the means of paying for them thus causing losses to tho contractors. J{ e con> sidered that a portion of tho distress Wa , owing to the bad working of the bankruptcy law. He would pay good efficient lahourora 7s to 8s per day now, and thought that he could not obtain them for 5s to do a fair day's work His experience was small, as h 0 did not employ much unskilled labour. There is a material difference in the cost of living fn Christchurch since eight years ago ; provisions were then very much dearer. An ordinary labourer would be of little servico as a plumber's assistant. He was st present employing men whon he had had in his service for some years at full rates of wages, doini? little more than labourer's work, sooner thaa let them go away. There are several plumbers and glaziers, good workmen, at present out of employment. He could not, if he discharged ! his present men, obtain others equally ekillod for less wages, as they aro not to be had. He believed that all the good men were engaged, and could save money out of their wages if they liked. Many men wero kept on in tho trade as labourers in hopes of better times. He thought tho labourer was as much entitled to profit out of his day's work as t„o omployer.

The next witness examined was Mr C. Cuff city surveyor, who stated that during the time he hud held his office ho had been in the habit of employing a number of labourers ; 6s and 7s was tho rate he paid per day at the time lie entered the service. The number of men employed by tho Council has increased, and the rate of wages given now to the new men is 5s per day. Had found some difficulty in getting suitable men at tho lower wages, although there wero plenty of applicants. If tho Council wore willing to employ 100 extra men at this price, there might be some little difficulty in obtaining them ; but fifty could be had at once. One reason why ho could always obtain men was that they wero sure of their money. Ho wanted mon on whom dependence could be placed, and possibly had to discharge about half of tßioeo ho engaged. Had never had to discharge a man until tho wages wero lowered, although ho considered that if the men discharged had been paid 8a a day he should still have had to disoharge them. About 60 per cent, of the men unemployed aro not to be trusted to do a day's work if out of sight. Since tho Government had opened tho registration office he had seen more unemployed than previously; that is probably owing to the fact of their being congregated togethor. The City Council havo several contracts let, on which about thirty men are at present being employed. The work is being effected much cheaper than it was two or three years ago, one reason being that the price of labour is cheaper. Many contractors wero also in difficulties, and willing to take work at a lower rate.

Horatio Henwood, a carponter, stated that he was mostly employed as an overseer by tho Government. That he had engaged men for the works lately carried out at tho Lunatio Asylum, and had had some difficulty at first in obtaining carpenters, owing to the distance from town. Had paid men 10s per day, which has' been for Borne time tlie usual rate of wages. A great number of carpenters are out .of work. All the men have finished at the Asylum. No doubt many of tho men would take a -less rate of wages; others again would hold out for the present rate. He had a large number of applications made to him for jobs lately. There is hot nearly so much going on now as there was two or three years ago, uud many more carpenters are in the province. He waß superintendent over the men employed by the Government in breaking stones t wolvo months ago. The largest number-, of men engaged at One time amounted to thirty-three. Employment was afforded to all who stated that they were out of work. Men left off breaking stones as soon as they could gut another job, some left before. Tho men required a great deal of watching. They were allowed 2a 6d a yard. .The highest wages made, working from before eight to half-past five,' was £1 19s 6d per week. Hjhe averagp earnings would be high at £_. Some men did not make 10s per week. Breaking stones is not a fair test of a man's abilities ; few men will break stones if they can get anything else to do. He did not think that 100 men could be at present obtained to break stones at 2s 6d per yard. There are many other tradesmen besides carpenters out of employment at the present time. A man could not at tho present time live as well for 30s per ■ week as he could, have done five years ago for £3.

The following statement, showing the number and occupation of men unemployed, is taken from the register at tlielmmigrationOffice: — Number of married men, 82 ; single men, 40; widowers, 3 ; total, 125. Of the married men, three have a wife arid five children ; ten, a wife and four children; fifteen, a wife and three children ; seventeen, a wife and two children; eighteen, a wife and one child ; and nineteen, a wife and no family. Among the married men the occupations represented are as follows— Labourers, 4 ; carpenters, 10 ; joiners, 1 } masons, 2 ; stone masons, 1; blacksmiths, lr bricklayers, 4; engineer, .1; fitter, 1} plasterer, 1; painter, 1 ; printer, 1; miller, 1; quarryman, 1; baker, 1; gardeners, 4 ; shepherds, 2 ; stearine maker, 1 ; sawyers, 6. Eighteen of the men had come to Canterbury from other colonies, and sixty-four direct froja England. There were forty single men out of employment, thirty-one of whom were labourers} twenty-seven arrived from other colonies,' and eleven from England. 'J he Commission adjourned till Lalf-past six o'clock.

On resuming, at half-past six o'clock, Mr Grigg gave evidonoe before the Commission to the following effect—That he'had been a large employer of labour, especially by con_>a6£> and had been in the habit of paying frbih 6s to 8s a-day. That when the hands were engaged by the year he had to pay from £52 to £75 per annum, and as many as one in three were leaving rather than continue at that rate. He Lad had no difficulty in getting work done at those rates. Mr Grigg mentioned instancein which labourers employed by him had refused to submit to a reduction, and had ia Borne cases left his employ to obtain higher wages. Especially in the case of a carpenter of the name of Denham, who refused to take less than 10s a-day and his _eep, ohd said he always received 12_ a-day in"' Curistchurc-, and felt certain h$ could get average wages at the present time, besides the advantage of taking a .finu-U now and then. Mc Grigg said he was notfc, in ''want, ot good men at reduced wages,,. In the case of a stockman,' in chdrjfb Of ; c„ttle beyond the Hurunui, lie had been giving 50s a week, bub on wishing to reduce the amount- the -man- -tad-objected to taking a lower rate, and had only qoxiaeatoa. to stay a short time longer on condition oi being allowed to leave on the shortest notice., A carter who had' been receiving 25s and board had left him, and immediately obtained a situation at a higher rate. He did not consider that the same wages, could ■&* obtained, now as two years ago," but still a vexy i-f remuneration could be obtained. He had employed as many as 120 ken at one time. Mo did not think there were many good men unemployed. He had hot had any application from a good agricultural labourer, within tho last two months,, with one exception. M& always tried to get the best men", and to them only did he pay the highest wages. Some or his men were very good hands. Mr Urigg mentioned acase in 1 which two gangs ot fencers had been employed in the same district, ana with precisely -itnilar work to perform, and thoi one gang had made a deal of money from their control bot e tmd °!S thing. He attributed this to tho former gang

being. coropQsad_.of- more- skilful indusIjjous workmen. He considered that if the men would accept a lower rate of wages a great deal more work would be -put itr hand.' jjje considered that there was' no distress among the labourers generally, but that the email farmers were "suffering. He had determined to stop works on which a great number of men were employed unless they would accept lower wages. He felt quite certain that if he were to reduce the price lie had hitherto given all the men would leave. The men on contract work are charged 7_d per lb for beef. The whole cost of their living was about lis per week per man when the provision'? were carted to their huts. Tlu-y then had the be.-* of everything. He was in th? h. .it of paying 255. per week for the purpose of maintaining in Christchurch the wives of some of the married men, after deducting sufficient to pay for their own keep on tlie station.

Captain Brown said he was a stationhokler in the Mackenzie country, and was paying 25s per week for shepherds and bullock drivers, and for farm labourers 203, and their keep in each case. The number of men employed would not be greater if the men asked less wages. John Fulton, a lithographic printer, with a wife and three children, said ho was out of employment and had been so for three months because there was not much doing in his line. He had come down to Doyle Bros, under a special engagement. He had only had six months' work in his trade since coming into the province, but had been engaged fencing and doing anything he could get. He would be glad to work for 6s a day, and was quit* able to do a hard day's work. He could mention married men with families who were willing to take 6s or even less, as they were in great distress and did not know where their next meal was to come from. There was, in bis opinion, more distress amongst artizans than ordinary labourers. The Commission then adjourned.