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Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7865, 16 May 1891, Page 6

The Premier said that the Government recognised that a certain duty devolved on them to keep people in work, but they could not find employment at their trades. All they had was road-making. He thought they could provide for about a hundred, and would send them to the districts and find tools. Speaking generally, he thought the cure for the attraction of labor to towns was to be found in village settlements. Only a few daye ago blocks were set apart in the Wairarapa for this purpose and he hoped to see the same men now asking for work settled there. It was the duty of the Government to keep statistics of the unemployed regularly and it was their intention to ask Parliament to allow a Minister for Industry to be appointed who should watch over the interests of labor, otherwise the exodus from the country would still go on. Government accepted their responsibility and intended to do all they could to keep the people employed. The Hon. Mr Reeves added that the Government thought well of the suggestion that officials in the country districts should be employed in keeping a register of available work, and sending intimation to other parts of the colony. Mr D. P. Fisher asked the Premier whether the Horowhenua block could be made available for village settlement, and Mr Ballance promised to look into it. The Hon. Mr Buckley, in consequence of a remark about the Government printers working overtime, said he would see that, if there was an opening for unemployed compositors, they should have it. (By Telegbaph.) (fbom our correspondent.) WELLINGTON, May 15. Speaking to-day, in reply to the deputation of Trades Unions on behalf of the unemployed, The Premier applauded the action of the Trades Unions for bringing this matter forward. It was, he held, the duty of the Unions to ascertain how many men were out of employment, and if there were only twenty, to make an attempt to find them work, but the Government were not in a position to afford employment to the various trades, as there were not in New Zealand the Government workshops that were to be found in some parts of Europe. They might do something in the way of general legislation to ameliorate the lot of the trades, and they were going to introduce Labor Bills this year which should have that effect. He admitted that a very heavy responsibility rested upon the Government, and that they should find employment as far as they could for the unemployed. The principal employment they could give was that of road making and of constructing railways, which was not suitable for all the men who might be willing enough to work. What the Government could do was to give employment on roads where they were required, at the same time opening up the land for settlement, upon which men could make homes for themselves. As things now were men from the country were driven into the towns to intensify the evil there. One of the evils of the day was this attractivess of the towns. His own idea was to give a man an opportunity of taking up land in the country on the village settlement system, putting a house upon it, locating his family there, and going round the district to look for work. Thug he would live as cheaply as in the town and the tendency would be to live in the country instead of coming into the city. He saw no reason why the unemployed should not be given contracts on roads about to be made in the Wairarapa district at fair average rates, not less than ordinary current prices. The Minister for Lands had sent men to the Wairarapa to see that the land was suitable for settlements, and within the last week or two various blocks had been set aside as suitable for village settlements. As to the railways, nothing could be undertaken until Parliament authorised lines and voted money. Those desirous of employment should give in their names, and he had no doubt but they could be found employment to the number of about 100 within the next two or three days. Mr Ballance expressed approval of the action of the Trades Unions, and said he believed it to be the d.uty of the Government to arrange for a careful collection of statistics of people out of employment. The Government intended to ask Parliament to consent to the appointment of a Minister of Industry, whose special function it weuld be to take under his charge this question of finding employment for the people, collecting statistics, and seeing that tl c people of the country were employed. For his part, he believed the State was not properly constituted if there were industrious people out of employment. Possibly there were some loafers in every community, but his impression was that they were not a very large section of the body politic. The Government would do what they could to keep the industrious population of the country fully employed. He asked for a Hat of the names of men willing to take road work in the Wairarapa, and said the Government would have them sent to the place and provide tools for them. The Premier was followed by the Minister for Education, who said the Government were favorably impressed with the suggestion that Government officera, such as Postmasters in outlying districts, should be asked to keep lists of men wanting employment and employers wanting men. They would probably use the Postmasters and Clerks of Court for the purpose, and have the information transmitted to large centres. Mr Beeves expressed his sense of the extreme importance to the Government of the question of employment of the people, and said the Trades Unions never did a better deed than when they took up the cause of their brethren out of work.

I hear that the work it is proposed to give to the men is the formation of a road which will pass through dense bush and will open up entirely new land. Each man will be conveyed to the district and will have tools supplied to him, but must find bis own tent and other requisites. The course adopted by the Government in this matter appears to meet with general approbation.