A GOOD YEAR. LABOUR IN AUCKLAND.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 9, 11 January 1912, Page 3

A GOOD YEAR. LABOUR IN AUCKLAND.

[bx telegbaph— special- xo the post/) AUCKLAND, This Day The past year, generally epeaking, has been a good one for all classes of labour in Auckland. In many departments of' employment • the demand for competent hand 3, as has been the case for several years past, has exceeded the supply. This is particularly the caee in regard to farm labourers, factory hands, and domestic servants. . In the building and allied trades the past year ranks as the busiest that has yet been experienced in Auckland. This is accounted for by the fact that while the construction of many big buildings, . costing upwards of £420,000, was continued, and in some cases completed during the year, new construction, involving the record outlay of fully a million sterling, was undertaken during tho same period. ,With such a large quantity of work on hand, the demand for artisans frequently exceeded the supply, and attempts to get men from elsewhere usually proved resultlese. The completion of a number of the larger buildings wae thus delayed. The same difficulty in getting hands still continues. General labourers are not at all scarce at the present time, but several employers report that good men are not always available 'when required. Cases have been experienced, during the past two or three months in whicE the more reliable men left and took up other classes of work. t Thero is, however, [ generally a sufficient number of men about to ensure' contracts being completed within the specified time. There ie a marked shortage of milkerti, i farm hands, and ploughmen in the I Auckland province. Farmers find it ; hard to fill vacancies, and consequently necessary work has often been delayed I with more or lees serious result*. There is no rush to seek employment in the country. Milkers are now being offered better wages than have' been offered them before, and yet they are slow in coming forward. The men " have plenty of situations to pick and choose from, and seldom stay long in on© place if they find it to their advantage to go somewhere eke. There is still a great scarcity of factory hands in Auckland, girls being especially scarce. For the' past twelve months th© demand for girls has continued to be greater than the supply, and in a number of . clothing factories machines are idle, and tho output from factories has consequently decreased. The manager of a local firm, in conversation with a Herald reporter, said the scarcity of girls hampered industry and manufacture, for if tho factories could get full staffs of girls they could produce, more good* than they were able to do with small staffs. He said the came position existed in other cities of tho Dominion, and he suggested that some scheme of immigration should be. introduced whereby an adequate supply of girls for factories could be obtained. The large number- of girls employed as chop and office assistants, of couree,' ha 6 much to do with the unsatisfied demand of factory managers for more help. There is also, as usual, an unsatisfied demand for domestic servants. For some considerable time paat the supply of domestics has been smaller than the demand, and house wivce <ue experiencing much difficulty in procuring assistance. The tiamo trouble ie being experienced by hotolkcepere, many of whom aro unable to get full staffs.