LACK OF WORK

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 109, 1 February 1930, Page 12

LACK OF WORK

CONFERENCE TO BE CALLED IN CHRISTCHURCH " WIDE REPRESENTATION MEN MARCH TO LABOUR OFFICE Dominion Special Service. Christchurch, January 31. As the outcome of a resolution arrived at by a meeting of the unemployed to-day, the Mayor (the Rev. J. K. Archer) lias complied with the request that a conference be convened representative of the primary and secondary industries, of merchants and retailors, of the Chamber of Commerce, of the Manufacturers’ Association, of the churches, of the Trades Hall, of the Burgesses’ Associations and of women’s organisations as the Mayor may think fit. The Deputy Mayor (Dr. H. T. J. Thacker) addressed the meeting of unemployed and moved a resolution asking the Mayor to call the conference. Mr F. R. Cooke suggested that representatives of the financial world and bankers should be included. Money was the key to the situation. They had the machinery, the men and the work requiring to be done. If they had £lO,OOO or £20,000 the work could be done. The unemployment problem would be solved if a million pounds were put in circulation. The motion was agreed to, and Dr. Thacker said that he would bring it before the Mayor right away, and tell him that there was immediate necessity tor assistance for people who were hungry. In an address to the meeting. Professor J Shelley, of Canterbury College, said that he was an academic person, who knew very little about finance or economies, studying things from an academic point of view. It was a damn poor world” when they could not feed so many of their copulation that were present.’ (Applause.) He saw things merely from the human point of view. He referred to the psychological effect of unemployment, and remarked that bodily sickness was nothing compared with mental sickness, which resulted m men losing their self-respect. He urged that the conference should consider the problem as it affected the individual as well as the mass. Public Works Department Criticised. Mr. Cooke suggested' that at the close of the meeting all present should form a procession to the Labour Department and submit their case, and ask that the Government should put the work on tne« Main Trunk line at Parnassus tn hand immediately. (Applause.) Mr. H. T. Armstrong, M.P., referring to the railway, said that he had made a special trip to Wellington on that account, and had met the Minister of Public Works and the Acting-Prime Minister ' (Hon. G. A. Forbes). Although he had been assured that there would be no further delay, and if not in a position to proceed immediately with the railway, they would at once put some other work in hand, so tar absolutely nothing had been done. On Tuesday he had telegraphed to Mr. Forbes: “Position of many workers becoming desperate as result of unemployment. No use in quibbling further about reasons for delay in starting the Main Trunk railway. Can you shake up that Public Works Department to put some work in hand right away, for heaven’s sake.” Mr. Armstrong said that he was still awaiting a reply, to that telegram. It was very near time that drastic action was taken to shake up the dry bones of “this obsolete Public Works Department.” It seemed to him that there was one man in that Department who was not' only dictating the policy of the Government but was also deciding ' for himself whether or not anything was going to be done. Procession to Labour Office. The procession duly arrived at the office of the Labour Department, and Mr. R. T. Bailey, the officer in charge, was interviewed. Mr. Bailey undertook „to send an urgent telegram to Wellington and to place the position before the heads of the Department. He would let Mr. Armstrong know as soon as he got a reply afterward. Dr, Thacker conferred with the Mayor and announced that the Mayor had agreed to call the conference and had left to him the nomination of the representative citizens who will constitute it. D?. Thacker said that one of those he would ask would be Mr. J. Macgibboji, manager of the Bank of New Zealand. The conference is to be held early next week.

YOUNG TEACHERS’ PLIGHT . SHORTAGE OF POSITIONS IN AUCKLAND Dominion Special Service. Auckland, January 31. Faced with the prospect of having to accept temporary relieving work or of being out of employment altogether, many young teachers in the Auckland district who have completed their period of training will be in an unenviable position during the coming year, according to officials of the Auckland Education Board. There is reason to believe that the present year will be the worst yet experienced with regard to the placing of these teachers. The task of allotting positions to those seeking work is now proceeding, and as yet it is impossible to say exactly how many teachers will not be placed ■ when the schools resume on Monday. It is certain that a considerable number will not be in employment and these will have to wait their turn to take relieving work. A few of those who have completed their probationary period have succeeded in obtaining permanent positions. There are only a limited number of relieving positions available and it is feared that there will be no work at all for some applicants. Women teachers will be the ones mainly affected by the shortage of positions. The service offers good opportunities to men willing to do their share of work in the country. Such positions, as at many sole-charge schools in the country, are open to men teachers, but are not suitable for women. It is practically certain that positions, either permanent or temporary, will be found for all the young men offering. A continual stream of applicants for work has been entering the board’s offices during the past few days and it is noticeable that the vast majority of these are women or really young girls. It is not a happy prospect for these girls who have given four years to their training and have practically unsuited themselves for any other business occupation. On the whole they realise that the board is doing everything in its power to place them and they accept the position philosophically. To many it seems a far cry to the days when teaching was considered a very suitable profession for girls nnd when the service could be entered with an assurance that continued employment would be offering.