LABOUR PROBLEMS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 17

LABOUR PROBLEMS

Shortage Of Domestics In Hawke’s Bay PLACEMENT SERVICE CRITICISED Dominion Special Service. Hastings, March 25. The labour position, especially with regard to the shortage of domestic labour, is a serious one in the Hawke's Buy district, according to the head of one of Napier’s oldest private employment bureaux. The head of this bureau stated today that indications were that the. shortage would be even mere acute in the future. The most pressing shortage in the district appeared , to be for domestics, and there was no doubt that shortage presented a serious problem. Farmers were finding it impossible to obtain domestics for their stations in spite of the fact that they offered wages of up to £2 a week with good conditions and living accommodation. It was quite apparent that a number of women who had been employed as domestics or would have taken such a position were attracted by the high wages and short hours obtaining in the towns. Many of these women would never return to domestic work. Criticism of the Government in setting up a State Placement Service was voiced by the head of this bureau, which has been carried on in Napier for about 30 years. She complained that an annual licence fee had to be paid the Government to carry on her bureau, and it was expected that this fee would provide some measure of protection for private firms. Instead the Government had set up its own' bureau in competition with private enterprise, and had sent leaflets to farmers in the district asking them to make use of the bureau, which was-free. Although 'many of the farmers still made use of the private bureau the position had become so bad that she had decided -to let her house and go away.