THE WORKLESS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18802, 21 September 1926, Page 11

THE WORKLESS.

S.CJ.S. TO GOVERNMENT. UNEMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE'S APPEAL. The Executive of the Citizen?' 3- »• employment Committee is of op" 1! "" that, from the point, of view of unemployment, 4he position today is worse than it has been all through the winter," Mr K.'B. Owen, organiser for tlio Committee, told a reporter yesterday. As..'a result the Committee decided yesterday that the Government should be .approached 'and asked for financial

The i.ieetinc of the Kv-'Utive yes-cr-d.ir was attended bv Messrs K. 31. --indrew* 'e'a.imau), A. R. Oalbraith. Young/H. Worrall. E. G. Querec. R. JOwen,.and. F. A. Grant '(secretary:. Ov. ih-i suggestion of Mr Owen it v,--.= dcciJetl, in view of the present .stat-; Of affairs in respect of unemployment; aud iu reopeet of the. i'-nos at the disposal of the committee, that, a fiepuf.'.ioi! ,-.!:. uld go to Weilhgton and ;u----tor-.-it.nv tie Acting-Prime Mm':.fer (Hon W. Lownie Stew-uP, and Andrews aud Owen were appointed Me clq.u:ntjcr.. They were to leivc fn.r Weill glon last night if the Act-ing-Prime Minister, in :ep!y to an urgent telegram, agreed to receive them.

Acting-Fr:me Minister - ? Telegram. Late jiffcrday aftertuen tie- fo"h:\vi iyr t-.'leg-am was reeehed from i::e Acting J'jime Minister: "It. has been arranged with the Public Works Department, to place 50 married men on the Ric-earton-Aithur's Pass highway, ?•?■- vo:id Springfield. Minister for labour anives at Christ-church to-mor-row (Tuesday). Suggest you interview V-, and avoid the necessity f.r <om.ng.to Wellington. I am :n----forracd that' 22 men left departmental relief works in Christ-church iast week, which seems to indicate that other work is available. As the Minister for Labour will be extremely liusv during his stay in the South, I suggest that you should meet him on t..he°railway station on the arrival of tiic ferry train."

Tlic deputation, accordingly, will wait on Mr.Anderson on the railway station this morning. With reference to the -Acting-Prime Minister's statement as to men leaving departmental relief works, Mr Owen tolda reporter that some of these would be men from the Evans PassGodley Head road works, which arc almost finished and will be completed, it is expected, in two or three days. Others were doubtless men who had gone to the road works at l'uhipuhi, and found that they were not equal to the work.

Position Very Bad. In a statement made by Messrs Andrews and Owen after yesterday's executive meeting, the position was described as "very bad indeed." They said that'the money in the relief fund was running out, and there was an increasing number of applicants for work, but there was no iimuedi ite prospect of providing them with employment. -The position was being further intensified owing to a number of"local firms putting off hands. The drainage works were not expected to relieve the position materially until about three weeks' or a month's time, when new contracts would be started, providing employment for about .a hundred men. Mr if. Worrall, secretary of the General Labourers' Union, said .that the position was more serious to-day than at any time right through the unemployment period, because previously the Unemployment Committee had been able to provide work for as many as two hundred men. The committee's money was now almost used up, and there was still a' large number of unemployed. At present the committee was unable to do anything for men with fewer than four dependents. Mr Owen told a reporter that the depression in trade and in manufactures was certainly very marked at present. A:large number of men had been paid off from many of the City's industries for an indefinite period. / It was reported at the meeting of the executive that the money in hand amounted to about £3OO only, and that employment was provided for only 30 men. The Week's Kegistrations.

During the week ended o p.m. yesterday the registrations at tho Labour Department totalled' 380; of this number 281. were married men with dependents. The registrations yesterday totalled 40, of which, number about 2.j were applicants who had not . been assisted either by the Department or the Citizens' Committee. Of the total, 27 were married men with 88 dependents. The occupations were: Labourers, 24; gardeners and drivers,' 4 each; clerks, 3; and one each engineer, bricklayer, blacksmith, boot-finisher, and grocer's assistant. One man was placed in private employment yesterday. Bix men were sent to the Menzies' Bay road works, and five to work at Lake Coleridge. Eight men arc to leave tomorrow (Wednesday) for the road works at Puhipuhi. The Citizens' Committee has selected thirteen men to be given work at the end of the week in place of men who will be put off. These thirteen men have 79 dependents. Mr Owen states that at one period the committee had 200 men at work, but owing to the lack of funds only between 25 and 30 could now be employed. The executive's suggestion is that ihe Government should make a grant of £IOOO, which it was hoped would be subsidised to some extent. The executive had been quite taken aback by the present position of affairs, as its original estimate was that bV September 20th it would be able to announce that it had closed down feeling that its job had been finished. Instead of that, there was no question that at present there must be much suffering and privation. "While appreciating the generous way in which the citizens have supported the qommittee " Mr Owen added, "we cannot do anything c.sc but send out an 5.0.5."

I Loan Suggested. The Trades Hall Unemployment Committee met yesterday, and afterwards issued the following statement:— "The Trades Hall Unemployment Committee has considered the question of unemployment in Christcliurch, and has been forced to the conclusion that far from being less acute it is worse than it was three months ago. The number of registrations at the Government Labour Bureau is not diminishing, and on account of the Citizens' Committee, which has done such excellent work in raising funds and providing relief, having apparently reached the limit of its resources, the opportunities of the men now out of employment are becoming quite hopeless. The officials are now placed in the painful positiou of being compelled to turn away applicants for work without being able to suggest possible' avenues of emplovment. In view of the urtrenev of" the ease, it lias been determined to send a deputation to the Finance Committee of the City Council to urge the claims of the unemployed, and to press that body to put work in hand r if necessary, by raising a loan to provide special work. It has also been determined to ask representative men in Wellington to lay before the Acting-Prime Minister the position of

the unemployed in Christehiirch, with a view to inducing him.,, to provide more work through the Public Works Department."

THE FUND. 'Die Committee acknowledges the following subscriptions: — ♦ £' s. d. Previously acknowledged GO-'W (i O W. J. MeCauslaml ... 5 0 0 St. Paul's Prcsbvteriati Church ... ... 8 3-33 City Finn (Llth) .'.. 0 15 0

Total to date ...I'GO-30 16 1

5.0.5., . FROM UNEMPLOYMENT - COMMITTEE. Our money is petering out, and our job is not completed. Will you help us carry on for another month and so find partial employment for 400 -men? Kindly send your donation to-day to Mr J. Anderson City Treasurer, Citv Council Offices. Thank you. —7