THE UNEMPLOYED.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 546, 29 June 1909, Page 6

THE UNEMPLOYED.

IHBTUESS HORB^ACUTE. TOO-SHOEDSAND MEN OUT-OF ,TOBK. , Unemployed, 'distress in Wellington is still acute—more-ecoto than it has over been, t , ' according to the union secretaries. Thcso compote that there aro at least 2000 unemployed in Wellington. An advertisement, summoning workioaa painters to a meeting, , produced a gathering of 61, and the number <or''carpenters out of work in the city is, lat the lowest computation, over 100. It is expected that tho painting of the present Parliamentary Builduigs, and tho . Mental 'l v Hospital at Porirua, will provide work for , I about 24 of tho painters. Seven vessels, of a single shipping company, aro stated to bo laid ,up at present, causing about 70 peoplo to bo unemployed. > , Sarcastic references ore made to tho "nominated" immigrants, with work guaranteed for them to come to, whoso passages , tho Government is assisting. It is complained that local, men are frequently dismissed to make room for thoso nominated ' • Btrangers, who are biought, out on a guaranteo of relatives who have influence over some employer. The unions say that they 1 ore -very ,muoh dependent on the ability of tho GoVoramcnt to provide employment, but whilo tho Government might relievo the prosont position, they agree that it. could '.not possibly provido works to absorb tho i total numbor of unemployed. A faster pro- ' gress with local contracts, such as tho dock, and Melroso drainage schomo, is urged. It is stated that tho best men are still leaving tho country. , Tho Labour Department states ' that it j. wanted ten married men for railway works in tho Nelson provraco, and could'only got four. It also wanted twenty married men _ _ for work at Waitotora, and could only get sevon These facts might eeem to indicate that tho unemployed distress is not so great as is 'suggested in labour v quarters. It is probable, however, that as tho City Council and other local bodies have undertaken to commonco uorks near at hand, tho married men prefer to tako their chance of getting employment on these, gather than to go to a distance, and bo at the expense of two homes. A largo number of ✓ singlo men, some of whom aro known to bo hard pushed, have been applying to the Labour Department for work, but tho systom is ito give married men tho preference, oven 'whenthis entails gotting married men from other centres, winks thore aro singlo men out of work in Wellington. Tho Department sent nineteen men from Wellington and one ' from.Wanganni to tho bush work at Waitotara yesterday, and will send ten more next Saturday. Ten men 1 will bo sent on Friday next to tho railway 'norks at Stratford, anil 1 ten more men this week to the Nelson railway works, whither seven have already gone from Wellington One hundred from all , • pits of the Dominion will bo sent to bush- , felling at Waitotara. t , The Stratford railway ' works will eventually absorb ono hundred of i 5 the unemployed, and they will be sent at the v ' rato of twenty overy week aftor tho present week. . , \ t ' i Relief Works In Othsr Places. , i The Labour Department is sending , one hundred men from Auckland to the GisborneKaraka railway extension, twelve from Invercargill to tho Catlms railway, and ouo htm--1 dred from Canterbury to the Midland railway at Broken Kivct. s ' TROUBLE BREWING IN CHRIST- ' • ' - CHURCH. . AWABD BATES AND "RELIEF" PaY I i \ Telegraph.—Special Correspondent) , , s Chrlstchurch, June 28. Tiooble is' apparently brewing over the unemployed diihculty hero, 'i'heio is a strong ■ feeling among tho unemployed themselves, the Ueaeral .Labourers' • Union, and unionists generally, that the men should be paid ,full wages, Us. a day, for relief work. Tho City Surveyor 'reports that the number ot - men. to whom work^has'been, ottered,, is 88. Of these, Soi responded 'to tho- otter, and were at work last week. Tho wagee-sheet for, tho week (37 men at full rates, and 13 men at tho reduced rate) amounted to ±.112 4s. Tlua was oxclusive of th« cost of horses and carts—a considerable item—and tho gangers' wages. The-gangers had reported that there wero thirteen men on tho works who wero not laboiuers, and who should receive a smaller wage than the com,petent<hands. The City Surveyor sajs that i i he has been assured by an officer'of tho , General .Labourers' Union, that they would not, under tho special circumstances, put anjr obstacles in tho Tvay of permits being granted. ( Amongst tho men who might requiro howovcr, there might, peiliaps, bo painters, or carpenters, and the Painters'. or Cardites' Union could not , very well grant permits for general labouring i work. Then the Goneral Labourers' Union would say: "Oh, wo can't give these men permits, they do not belong to our union." At present, there were quite as many men engaged as thoro was work for. Speaking at" the Trades and Labour Council s meeting on Saturday night, tho council 8 delegates on the Unemployed Committee that, in his opinion, tho whole thing was being manoeuvred by ibo City Council for the purpose, oi reducing wages. ' The Secretary of'tho General Labourers' Union stated that several speakers had been ■barkiug up the wrong trco in endeavouring to place all the blame on tho City Survoyoi ihero ivoio several very cute business men on the City Council, and it was perfectly certain that local bodies would, when the > general labourers' caso cams beforo tho Aibitration Court, apply for exemption on re- _ net works, so far as decent wages ucro concerned. r The unemployed at a meeting on Saturday passed a resolution requesting tho General >, Labourers Executive* to refuse to giant any . pernnts whatever. If this is acted upon, it will cortamly debar aged and infirm men from securing, work-on tho iehef works. iho. secretary of the unemployed told a s nnEn *'f ft whethor emplojment s could not bo found for a number of men at rough-digging in private that ,ainong all tho two hundred odd men who had placed their names upon Ins list, there was act one gardener A good many people had coaio ,to him with offers to provide gardening work at Bs. per day, but L had not been able to recommend men to thorn. I —— i COMPETENT FARM HANDS SCARCE. * , ' Chrlstchurcli, Juno 2&. At a meeting of the Ashburton branch of tho .Now Zealand Farmers' Union, the question ot unemployment was referred to by tho chairman, who said that it was dimcult, oven in tho picsent state of tho market to obtain competout larm Hands. Referring to casual labour, ho said thai it was dilhcult at present to got the men to go into tho countiy, unleis they were guaranteed rogular employment Mr. Harding remarked that farmers would have less traublo in retaining men were small ..sections of land obtainable at a fair price. Ho knew of one section, of hvo acres, with a house upon it, for which £60 an acre wat. . asked, whilst the adjoining land was" valued at £30 per acre. It some system could bo adopted by which a man could have about four or five acres of land to work dnrmg his leisure hours, or whon out of employment, there would be loss difficulty in keeping men in tho country. • i I i i "A SHILLINC AN HOUfl OR NOTHINC." , ' Ghristctiureh, Juno 28. The principal development to-day has been , tho almost unanimous decision of those who , * had been notified to obtain permits to work at Jess than the union rate, to refuse to work for less than tlut rato. As a consequence only those receiving a-shilling in hour resumed work this morning. The general trend of tbo opinions of some of tbo otames is that they would rather starve than accept less than a shilling an hour. Thoso who took this oxtrcme viow do not appear to havo any dependents. Amongst others who woro looking out for work, and who had families depending on them, tho opposito' view Mas' expressed. They were willing to take work , et almost any rate of wage.

. .DEPOTHTTON TO CITY COUHCIt. ~V. ■'■■;.-. (Bj iWfigiaßlfc-J'roM ABaodatkmJ H "'-.■ -- ';'v.'\; ; ChristohUMh, June 28. A. dcpntatioii it»-the , Tuienmloyod difficult? waited on the; City. 'OotmcUito-ißght,, and protested'.against the payment of less than a rate'of Ba.a day.; The council decided to employ 50 men for the next fortnight,/whan the question would' be further considered. It yas; also resolved if— ,. That each man, after completing eix days' work, should bo> discharged to mate room for another." .The city surveyor's action ro payment of the men wae approved. ■;/■•■. .. ■ :';.- .-'.■'.'". •".;: ' ~ position Vat petone; : ■'-.'■ It .was 'inevitable that the ■prevailing unemployment ~ difficulty ; would 'be folt •in a inahuiacturing centre, such as a DoliiMON representative made inquiries as to tho.-oxtcnt to. which it' is felt. . : N- ■ . 'i'ho.-Mayor (Mr. J.' AV.' M'Kwan) said that the .Borough Council had about thirty names on its ■employment: books, mostly, labourers prepared to undertake any labouring work. Some of them ;wore men who were recently 'discharged from .the railway -duplication works.'-! He "thought, 'however, that 'the**, was. very littlo/real;distress .in Potone. -.The amount of charitable aid" dispensed was very little above normal,' but', ho did not know what', the/benevolent societies, in connection with'; churches,; or private individuals, were doing.,. The actual amount disbursed ;in charitable aid, in May and June, ,1908, was at,the' rate.of, £32 a month; this year; for the same months, the iiguro waa £36.' One peculiarity: in. connection'".with the disposition of charitablo aid in Petone, is that.there ■are a very largo nuumber of widows. ' The dearth ;of employment .was principally felt in-connection with tho building trades; There had ■';been, a ; very big. falling-pif ■in the number of buildings erected in the borough,- and, as a .consequence, ;a' number of carpenters, painters, :etc, had'been thrown out of employment. '■_ 'i'iio retail, trade 'Buffered 'as a further corisoquerice. The fact .that' Government bad,' during the past: two. or three; months, discharged a number of hands from the llailway Workshops, had accentuated the difficulty.:. A number of these; men, after.; having ,vainly tried. , , to ■ 'obtain work, left for Sydney. :■ The council! had :dono nothing specially to relieve unemployment, but works in progress enabled it to employ. GO or 70 men, in addition/to the ordinary ': niiin;ber;giveii -work ,'at this, time'.'of }Ao .year. As. the ' spring; advanced, men now. out ' of : employment, .might bo absorbed by tho now .bridge over the Huttßiver,!'and it was>quito ■possible that the. council might bo ablo to employ. a- /hands at tho eastern drainage if the weather got better. Speiikingias, a -.business man,, Mr.. M'Ewan said that, ;in : his opinion, business; in Petotle was fairly good, i considering the > financial stress/that existed'generally' throughout the Dominion."-;; •'> i' , . , ■':.':■.;/ - - ' '. ; . ..Councillor 'B. -W. .Short,-'when spoken' to on a'; rather", different •n0te.'. , ..1j(3-:said;:thats,the position'had never Jtefore. | be^n i 'as;,.actite.as it; was .'to-day'. , ' as an ; agentVcoliecting'-, from 'over 140 premises weeHy,; he foiind that many of;the tenants, who -had never, been in' arrears for-years, had had.io -crave- indulgence during ■• the present stress..; The Petone; Borough Council ;was doing - all ■,it/ppasibly .'could to' alleviate the distress,'.as : was; evidenced. by : the fact that last week's wages-sheet .was the highest borough's inception. The amount^was'qverj£2ool. As a , -remedial mearsure,;; he'suggested; "that ; 'the' 'Government should hast-en.the , completion of the dnplicaA tion; works,-, rather than 'sending men to outlying Cdistriotß/ ; X ■'• .". '.'.•■:■ '■■'.-.i','i ■■''■■"- ;: -, r THE SCHEME. .•■ .Arrangements have now' been completed by officors'pf.tho Lands, and Labour Departments .for,.the , ';reception of the Bushmen "at-the fiangita'tau,;Bl6ckj':-AVaitotara. : The-.-'Welling-tqn;men,,whp proceed by road arid ■rivor;.track;;;to..the lower end' of'tho Wocky/spm©';seven; -miles ;.-from' Waitoiara. This trackrhaS;bo6n. indicated by guide flags. Stores', arc;-alsp Vreadiy 'on ,iho ground,/ and teuts , 'and;;the iecessaiy tools 'wSI:b,o distributed.:to(';. th« :meii ,by;,the: Department's , storekeeper ;on^the; bloctii '-: About ■ 100»'men -have already ; )been''j selflcledifrom various '.towns in tho. North,;;lsland,. and ako;i from .Christ-: 'church, to proceed there this week,'-and ar•.rangemonts will ..also be'made. to. send, another,;ipo'.lnen'next\week to anotier :part of the same-block;,vThe,;bußh.itself m considered by,expert bushmen to;be.on. the light eido, and the price offeredMS ohw considered ;to ■-;;;.;",. ~:' '.--,)■■ :-\ 1 ;An;officer of tie;Department,'who're!runied ifrppi/Waitotara'yesterday, stated that \ho thought from present that tho scheme .would; proye.'successful. ■ The 'only '■thing :t>hat.- might -.'possibly, '-'.militate against success., would ;• be the; sending.' to the settlement *of nion :who were ' not bushmon—tho kind who'a-re always complaining-^ , like one man,'?; said'the officer, "that I had.to,help me.whilel was'.ai Waitotaral When, I paid him,;,:he, \complaiu_ed■-.;that; he 'hadf to ■ walk back;".tb:.the ; station in ,the rain..' Then , I ■ heard;a'.complaint .from.some montnat,'if brca'd oiit' , twice' a .week, 'it would'.get-stale.;; A .proper, bnshnian would. , usovjiisvcamp' oven, 'and not" trouble about buying bread." .;;• - ..,;■.." *\ '■■'.'■'.',. .->:■'.,';.- : - ;;.:In regard .to provisions, a.satisfactory .contract, has,beon. made for:the supply, of stores :and the men will get tho best;meat'at;an-all-tp-thel settlomon^ia, good. :The mon 'Will' stop at Waitotarafor'-tho. night, .the accbmmodation'i .havine ;been arranged tor. them Vat a price of lOd.. per-head for each bed or meal. In the 'morning; they will 'have. to walk. about I seven/miles: along a good road pf- papa formation, and they '. should .arrive, , at thei r' destinato;.'nave : .all their, preparations made.on the first/inorning.-,,;"; .!,' ; ..'-..-'