THE DEPUTATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 262, 29 July 1908, Page 7

THE DEPUTATION.

.! 1— ' ' REPLY BY THE PREMIER. WHAT THE OOVEItNMRXT IS DOING. The' crowd entered,,, tho Parliamentary grounds : by the ;,main gatoway, but were checked at 'tho portico of tho building by tho officials, who asked them to select tfrfnty of their number for the potnosea o£ deputation. _

"Comride" Campbell ■ harangued them from! the steps asking them to be orderly and to remember* that they wanted work, and would take any work the Premier offered them. The twenty men were speedily selected, and their interview with the Premier began almost immediately in tho tea-room.-, '' SPEECHES BY THE DEPUTATION. V Comrade Dowdall said that they recognised when industry was carried our for' profit there must bo some'unemployed, but things had gono beyond that stage/and in Wellington now there were conditions that could not be equalled in the vilest slums of Lon- ™' H° thtin read tho resolutions passed at tho Queen's Statue. Ho stated that within the last eight days eleven , plasterers, who \ lately came from England with a small ' amount of money, having sold up their homes, arrived here. Most of them had sought work at their trades in all parts of tho Dominion, and now foUr of them had gone to co-operative works/ Personally, ho had found co-operative .Work a failure, for ■ after some weeks of pick and shovel work, three years ago, ho received no payment, and had not got tho money yet. The Premier took down tho speaker's nama and said enquiries would bo made. He pre-' setited a list of about 300 2n6u out of work'' v m Wellington. K A Tunnel and Workmen's Homes. ; Hogg, of the Socialist "party, suggested' tlitit tho Govornaoiit, in conjunction with the City Council, should make a tuwiel through the lulls to theOhariu Valley. This would provide Work for tho unemployed, and homes for .workers., could then be 'built in the V alley; If 1000 dwellings were built there, the .problem of rents Would be eased. ;J L)>'M'Lareh, secretary of the Watering s : Union, said there were about ,IoUU nantes oft tbafc tirtiott's but only about 1000 could fhid work enough on the wharves to enable them to live. Ho had neon ituich ill contact lately with men dut of. work .or whose 'employment was of the most meagre description, and bad heard the most harrowing—and true—storks of what - they, and their- wives and families had; to Buiier. Though, there were'3oo names oh tho, list that had b'cflti submitted* ho behoved that if they could have added the ■ nanios of those who could not get work onoUgh to keep themselves and those depen-, dent on them,, the number Would have been twice as large. ■ ' He: contended that small temporary relief. Works would not meet the! situation, but; therO'jshould be State farms to> which men cduld be drafted from th« cities.. -He; believed unemployment , had iti sources deep down in the present economic .conditions)'' and it,;was only ;by tho State .owning'the land and employing* the people on it 1 that any;permanent solution could ba t'ouhd. v . . -Nearly Starving. Mr.'H; A. Campbell said that many men had come to him almost with tears in their eyes asking for food. One told him ho had' ■ had'. nothing to. eat., for twenty-four hours. Twelve," or fifteen-said they wero only having | one meal it day, and others, wero only ■' having two. meals a day. He did Hot See how moil without money';.CoUld go to Work far away up, tho country/ ■■■'•■- '; •; MrJ • M'Laren; said he understood ,assisted immigration \vas supposed to' be ■ limited to : agricultural.labourers, but he was informed' that tradesmen of all kind! were coming out in < the guise of . agricultural labourers, and. were'ovor-siipplying : the different trades and y pushing out men who were thus forced to compete with the general labourers. , THE PREMIER IN REPLY. Sir Josbph Ward, in reply, said that ho waa very, glad to meet the deputation and hear their, views. Their representations Would! be . fully considered by himself and his.colleagues. Not only the Government, but cvefy member of Parliament was. in Very, keen sympathy with people ill distress, and those who wero desirous of obtaining work and had (difficulty in'.securing" it;! 'He would not discuss the larger issue suggested by Mr. M'Laren and to Some extent by Mr. Hogg in regard to a great.broadening of the economic system ofthe .country, for ho felt it ;'Would be better to deal.with immediate!troubles thanrto at-; tempt a-solution of problems,that wero very far-reaching,/ and that the world at: large had 'not yet solved. Hp wished first to put before them, olio or tWo ( matters that had been-misunderstood Or misrepresented. -- . . . Immigration. - Ho Was not in favour of such immigration ' ,as would dislocate the laboiir market. He had . always been against .that, and if it, could be' Shown : that ; the people who wote-coming in were not being legitimately absorbed, the Government, would immediately take the necessary stops to have it, stopped, as far as it was possible for them to do so;- Thei'o had been forborne years no change jn the system , of assisting-people to coirie here from beyond Australasia." If thoro had.-bebn any.aggrava- ! : of: t • the' v 'unemployed : difficulty through ■' i emigration, they would find; that it,-had. come from Australia; where, according to Mr. Tom Mann, there were from 20,000 to 20,000 unemployed. "Vfo will not put ourselves, out to . find employment for thorn or bring them, into'the, country," said tho Premier, "to the detriment of New Zea-' _ laiidors. Wo are not going to take!the. Unemployed from othor countries, where , their ' own people have failed to find employment for thorn.! Proceeding, the Premier gave ' • some figures ' as.: to immigration;'in' recent years. .He,stated that of those,jvho had como into; tho country since 1904, 1883 wore farmers, and went on the land. These 1883 men brought''with them capital'- to the ex-" tent "of £300,000. Jvouody could say that they had added to the difficulty of employment in Now Zealand. The figures ho had given wore : corfcified by tho High Commissioner's office, and he Was not allowed to give . assistance to any who had not' some means. In the sarno poriotl 1660 navvies and domestic servants were brought in. At one time, the Government could;riot get navviea to carry on its 'works.:.: .-, y A Statement Challenged. ! . Mr. Dowdall: I challenge that statement. Sir' Joseph Ward: At one time that was the • departmental experienco, all over, tho colony, ' j but it is..not so now. , :.i : . Mr. Dowdall stated that, in 1905, the; late Mr. Seddon made a similar statement at a meeting at Port Chalmers, and ,ho (Mr. Dowdall) then told him',that ho could find him 400 mon willing to work and unable' 1 to get it. Crowds of men woro looking for employment, though' tho ■-' Government ? were sending for men for tho co-operative works. \ Sir Joseph Ward said lie had his statement on tho authority of - officers who '■ had never been asked by tho Government to make an untrue statement, and wild would not do so if they were asked.," Ho had learnt yesterday that a; man, jwliose : liame Ko ; would-- not mention, as ho did not wish to give anybody away, had sent a telegram ,to Dunedin asking that all tho unemployed should be J hunted ' " • ; up, 'and he-gijt.tho answer that it was very diffifcult to find any unemployed. He agreed With Mr.!.Hogg 'that if they could get tho ' excess-of workers on to tho land, many of tho troubles Which they find in Wellington and clsewhcro would be greatly diminished. Last yoar tho Govornment put 2233 men on the land. Tho total number of peoplo who had: como to tho country since 1004, ■who could m any senso bo said to-interforo with the labour market, was 1967, and they comprised chiefly farm labourers, but some of thom were artisans. Within the last three months, tho Govornment wanted a number of m'en for a certain _ work, and itiv officbr was sent on board an immigrant steamer to engage men, but lie could not get, one, al- ■ though he offered Bs. a day and free' tranoport to the locality of tho work. Tho total amount of money brought'into tho country by'tho 1967 labourers and artisans sinco' 1904 was £89,600.