A CANADIAN SCHEME

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 147, 19 December 1933, Page 10

A CANADIAN SCHEME

' (Td thft Editor.) Sir,^-i'he following schenlb for employment was ill force in Cafidda ia 1928< and should be applicable to New Zealand. The larger stations Of the O.P.fi. WeMi kfept fully informed of the feqttirefflents of employers ift smaller centres lying OH their rail fdutes by means of local resident agents of the company.

A prospective employee would approach the employment bureau of the central station and be told by the officer in charge that ifleii Were Wanted in such and such a town to dd sUcli and such a job. The prospective efiijtloytje would purchase his ticket to the town atid be given a letter of introduction to the local agent, who wotlld negotiate Oii his behalf with the employer. The schenie was a. source of revenue to the! GiP.fi/ afld also oiiei of beadflt to the unemployed. To give a concrete instance:—ln tktf year in/question I was unfortunate enough to find myself very nearly destitute in Montreal. Having lieafd of the above scheme, I approached the unemployment officer (C.P.R.) at Windsor Station. When I.had made known my requirements lie opened :i Jarge bound book with the names oi' many ol the C.P.Tt. stations written therein. Alongside them uere written the class of 1101k and (lie number of Men required. lie "aid: •'Where do you wnlit to go?" aurl called out half a dozen towns where the}' wanted labour. I said I was interested ill d.ill.ving. He turned over a few leave? ami paid they wanted six men in Cheslei-ville, Ontario— would that stiit? It tlid. su 1 left by train next morning at 7 O'clock, niilviiig at, ttbeill 10 » l ih, I lire&euled my k'tter of iiitrodudtioa to McEtroy, the local agent, and at 12 noon I avbb bttzrtlng out into the cotintty by cdr, ortgdged as a dairy hand at .'JO dollars a motlih. Why could hot thd Keu Zealnud Hallways adopt a similar whcitio? It would be a. ltd tiler inducement to .travel by train, a dilecl means Of letting the Unemployed know wheic work wa? to be toilnd, and, finally, whether its nature* was suited lc> their abilities.—l amj etc,

■Nbte-—I liave no -Contttictibii whatever with the (XP.TL :■-: v-: '■;,/ '■:■■