UNEMPLOYED AND RATES OF PAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 10

UNEMPLOYED AND RATES OF PAY.

.Sir,—As I was .reading your paper ro the unemployed in Wellington aud other places it occurred to ino that if the General-Labour-ers Award wages were grvon for; relief works it would only serve to aggravate tho position; in the first plac6,if you gave tho men. full pay for such time as they work you would have : men flocking to your town : men who previously had the couxago to go seeking for work with, aswag on their back would, as soon "as thoy heard ;of .your bountiful offer, -return to towtn . and clamour to bo put on* ajod so help to swell tlio. ranks and increase the burden;on their follow, workers and taxpayers; for, of 1 course, if the Government subsidy '.were, taken 'advantage 0f,., it . must mean.'. : increased which would jineaii that tie'capable, man would. not .be getting, as. nnich as .the'man who .is employed ou relief-\yorks. .' •

'■j_Now, every employer of labour is bound by the law to pay the minimum wage, and when tho eraployor gets slack he generally put off tho i-nferiorniaii, who of course are not capable of earning so milch -as tho good man, and consequently in bad times tho maximum wage paid is no more than tho minimum award wago. .. These men have as much.jight to bo' allowed to work as their more lusty or skilful fellow- workor,; . but, the law of Ne.w Zealand must be appealed before these men are':/allowed to work for. less : than award wages. Labour, like everything else,' has its market value, and'in my opinion it would be- tho hoight of absurdity to put. men on relief works; say,' tailors, tinsmiths," bank clerks, and- all- and sundry, and whoso only qualification is that thoy are out of work, many of whom- probably have never handled a pick and shovel in their lives. To give these men the' same wage as' a contractor of a ballast pit would givo his men would practically mean that the contractor's men would .bo. applying for :a job-on til© relief works next morning, as they would only have to :do as much as, the moH inferior .man on the-job could do. If tho City Council gave tho General Labourers' Award wago to all and sundry who applied for work, they would bo giving in some cases a rise in wages, as somo' of tho awards aro lower than tho Labourers' Award. - -

."Now, I would suggest as a solution to tho' difficulty that all money, raised bv subscriptions, concerts, etc., bo handed to'tho Ministor for Labour, who would also add tlie Government subsidy of '245.:-to every 20s. collected, and that ho should be asked to start immediately relief works, and as the Government are not.bound by awards,'they cbuld either givo so much' a day or work on cooperative works principle. This would alleviato immediate distress and also give tho genuine worker a chance to tido over until tilings aro better. Mind you, no privnto pcrsoii or local bodies should have the right ; to lower i&a-lqpU. wacsa. Whoa better oamo

would gradually absorb all superfluous-labour until thoro would bo no necessity for relief wo r lew. This would also check men from fl°o»ing to the towns, as tbo rato of wages nnid'by tho Government should not be too largo; and I would also suggest tliat the work undertaken by tho Government should bo useful, such as, say, filling up tho Thonldon Bight, which I believe forms part of'tho! duplication scheme. This would employ a largo number of mon and tho land reclaimed would pay tho wages. ' If tho Government can't see their way to undertake these works, then - they Bliould repeal tho Awards Act and allow ' peoplo to givo employment Bueh as digging gardens, otc., at what,they can afford. Now. sir,, I am a largo employer of labour, arid nave always paid tho highest w*go, but I think that in liard times working men (should be allowed to soli their labour at market rates, rather than walk about; and my experience goes to provo -that the genuine worker is just the. man you can trust to get as much as lie. is worth.—l am, etc.," . . P. H. GOSSE; Lower Hutt, July 6.