UNEMPLOYMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 532, 12 June 1909, Page 8

UNEMPLOYMENT.

;; .THE POSITION IN CHItISTCHURCH. -', . (Bi TJSLEcuii'a.—si'tscui. ooiittEsiioMDairM / ; '- . Chrlstchuroh, June 11. . Mr.' L. E. Wilson, Secretary to tho Un- ;;': employed.-Committee, stated last night that ho had tho names of.: 199 men on his unein- /. ployed; list, .and more than half, of them .were married. One of the';men' had a family ,;brfourteen,'nine of whom were entirely dc- : pondent upon him, whilo the other five earned sufficient only to partly ' Probably the worst case of which he knew .was'that of a widower with fivo. children, -Ho had been dismissed from the Addingto; ..■Workshops T/heri the first batch of men wm> :..■turned '; off,' and he then went to Broken . River, and worked. there for some timei He ikopt his home together as long as possible, tut he had to dispose of his furniture, an. .: to send/ his children; to an institution. Ho ..'was supposed to pay £1 a week for them, ■but ho. had not .Is. for a meal. Hβ had tried hard to obtain work, but" had- failed. Mr. WilEon wae of the opinion that nothing Jess than Is. per hour shonld be paid -the. mon, for, if the Government subsidy . of.'£l.'for £1 asked for were granted, the ...ratepayers would bo getting a far; larger re."turn :for .the' money. spent than under ordiilary circumstances. ', The statement made : by many of> the .delegates at th» conference yesterday that, if Bs, , per day wero paid the men, the town would be flooded with unemployed from all parts of the country, . •only .provocl how.necessary, it was that work for tho unemployed should ho found in tho ; Dctuntry districts. as well as in the towns, - and tho great need thero was for both town : and country to. co-operate in order to cope - effectively with the problem.' .■■' ■