STILL UNEMPLOYMENT

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 54, 27 November 1929, Page 11

STILL UNEMPLOYMENT

REMARK OF MINISTER LITTLE WORK IN PALMERSTON Dominion Special Service. Palmerston North, November 26. “It is to be hoped,” said the Minister of Lands (Hon. G. W. Forbes) to a deputation which waited upon him from the Makerua Drainage Board last night, “that, now summer is coming on, things will ease off in regard to unemployment and that work will be available in other directions than those provided by relief employment. It seems strange to me that unemployment is so persistent. Ido not know whether we may attribute it to the increased use of machines.” The opinion has been expressed here that, while Sir Joseph Ward endeavoured to solve the unemployment problems by means of relief works the words of the Minister of Lands rather contradict those of the Prime Minister. No Work at Palmerston. Inquiries made at the labour bureau at Palmerston North to-day showed that men willing to work are not yet in a position to obtain employment. A labour bureau official stated that there was no work at present available in the vicinity of Palmerston North. Palmerston North, like many other places, has been faced with the problem of unemployed, and despite the Prime Minister’s assurance that employment would be available in five weeks the district is still regarding the unemployment problem as a difficulty to be overcome. Works were organised, some of them immature, which only lasted from six to seven weeks, and a number of these men are now in Palmerston North again seeking work. The hospital and charitable aid institutions are, naturally diffident about giving assistance to meh whom . the Government has stated would be given and have been given employment.

The Fourteen Shillings. One workman called at “The Dominion” office at Palmerston North and stated that, whilst Sir Joseph V> ard s promises were true to a certain extent, they did not deal in any sense with unemployment for the very simple reason that while men were actually given a inh in many cases the work did not last more than Your weeks. For instance no fewer than twenty men were sent from the labour bureau at ellington to le Uri in order to complete the approximate twi miles and a ha, L?.V Oa ThTYn™aker Te Uri from Dannevirke. The speakei stated that the men not only had to pay their fares from Wellington out of their first month’s wages, but also when they arrived' on the job found that they would be put on contract, not on fourteen shillings a day, as Sir Joseph had said. The contract rates were such .wr" h£ur reallv good navvy to earn 1/9 per hour. “This really means,” said the informant, “that Sir Joseph "had established 14/- pel day as the maximum as well as the minimum for workers in New Zealand. When wet weather and keeping of two homes is taken into consideration, the net .results to the employee himself are either Inquiries* made at the Government labour bureau at Palmerston North tofiay showed that there were no positions available for the average man. the Department also declined to give the number of applications for employment received. ®