THE UNEMPLOYED.

Evening Star, Issue 13091, 26 October 1908, Page 2

THE UNEMPLOYED.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In your report of a correspondence between Mr A. R. Barclay and the Minister of Works, the member for Dunedin North states that complaints have been made to him that Australians and others have been employed on railway construction work, while our own men walk about idle. It would be interesting to' know who made these complaints. The reply of the Minister was manly and to the point. I have been a colonist of close on fifty years, over forty of which were spent in Australia, and never saw any distinction made there between New Zealanders, Australians, or those from the Old Country. For months the labor agents in Dunedin were advertising for navvies, and offering 9s per day, so there was no excuse for New Zealanders or Australians to walk about idle. How would New Zealanders like to be treated as if they were foreigners in Australia? From what I have seen of the New Zealand workers, and I have worked at railway construction, shearing, wood -chopping, and other work with them, I have found them genuine men, and not of the type of Mr Barclay’s complaints. I certainly hold, and always have done so, that preference should be given to married men, although I have not the honor to belong to their ranks.—l am, etc., G. G. Macau. October 26.