LIGHTER BURDEN

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21329, 23 November 1934, Page 23

LIGHTER BURDEN

PROVISION OF RELIEF JOBS MOKE PERMANENT WORK AVAILABLE _ | Officials of local bodice in and around .'hristehurch' are almost unanimous hat the burden of providing relief >-oi-k for the unemployed is becoming ighler, and that there is a gradual but efmite tendency toward the absorpiun of unemployed in industrial and tther permanent work. The great in- | i-ease in building activity under the m.employment Board's subsidy scheme s recognised as one of the primary ) "actors in the absorption of men hi j eguJar employment, but the view is ,-idely held that there is a wellriarked improvement in the labour . .narket in other directions. | "We have noticed for some time that | nany men formerly on relief work ave now Rained permanent employment. 1 ' remarked an official of the L'hristchurch Government Labour l)u----eau when discussing the position with report or of "The Press" yesterday The great amount of constructional rork 'now being undertaken has provided permanent employment for nanv builders, painters, carpenters, ilasl'erers. bricklayers, electricians, ind other tradesmen." The Unregistered Workless Another important point, however, nust not be lost sight of. he said. ,'lanv tradesmen, not regularly in cmiloyment. had not gone on relief cither lecause they preferred, of their own niliative. to Unci enough work to keep , hem going, or because their means j irecludcd ' their being given relief ] I vork. From his personal observaion he could say that many of these, is well as many registered unemployed, had found permanent employment. He emphasised that the uncm)loymenl registration figures alone ■ould not convey a true idea of the iiluation, because of the large numjer of workers in the position he menioned. . Mr A. R. Galbraith, city engineer, said that the tt-ndency toward an ibsorption of relief workers in permanent employment was noticeable in :he jobs controlled by the City Council. He mentioned that about 30 men had recently left the causeway job to take up permanent work, and this had assisted his department to make a reduction in the numbers of men required on the work as it nears com- . plelion. Most of the men concerned were tradesmen. Activity "A great deal of the improvement is due to the Government building subsidy, and f certainly hope that Ihe subsidy will be continued." said Mr galbraith. Ho said that the activity in the building trade undoubtedly ex)laincd the position to a considerable ,'xtent, and pointed out that there were three cinema theatres under construction in the city, as well as a great many private residences and alterations to large buildings. There was io doubt that the employment position in Christehurch had shown a welcome improvemen'. j In no district has the improvement be< n so marked as in ihe Heathcote I'ountv. Mr J. P. E. Veale, county j ■jlerk. told the reporter that :«i men j iiad been put on in the last two weeks ; Iho majorilv to replace relief wort:- ; ers who had' left their jobs, presum- : ably to take up permanent positions. ) There seemed to be plenty of evidence ; that many relief workers were find- j ing themselves able to get back to ; their trades. Mr Veale said it had j struck him as a possibility that some j men formerly employed on relief in j Christehurch were 1 returning lo lake ' up permanent positions in their own • district--, which \\vy had left becai:■: • J of the smaller amount of relief work [ nlfcring there. At this time last year j the council had 240 relief workers cm its books: now the number was 1<!0. The pay roll of the county, of course, was correspondingly reduced. Fewer Applications Although there has been no reduction in the iiumbti's of rebel worker;; employed by the Waimairi County j Council in the last i\\v months, the j county clerk <Mr G. S. Cowper) said that there were certainly fewer new applications for jobs. The comity was employing about 250 men en relief work. Mi- H. Serjeant, town clerk of Hie- ' carton, said that there had not at any lime been very many relief workers in the borough, and the council had not had any work available for a short time. He"believed, however, that the unemployed in the district were being absorbed cither in industry or on the works of other local bodies, because o r the steady decrease in the number of applications for work, and because the I'm mplm-nu nt Board had not re- j eently asked the council to f<:u\ work for lite men. j "The unemployment situation in i .Sumner has certainly shown a big improvement in the last few weeks." stated the Sumner borough engineer <Mi- G. K. Harperi. "About 22 men. | nave gone oil' relief in the last fort-„! night, nearly all of them finding wort: j at their own trades. 11 j "I think there is n definite improve- | men) in Ihe position." said Mr E. 11. < Andrews, chairman of the Christehurch- ; Unemployment Committee. "We have j definite evidence- that many relief workers are finding permanent employment, although the registrations ure not reducing very fast. For a long time, in spite of a steady transfer of men into regular work the registrations continued to rise. Now there is a definite downward tendency." The chief avenues of permanent employment, of course, wen; the building and allied trades, but there was also a slight improvement in other directions.