MARKING TIME

Evening Star, Issue 19326, 12 August 1926, Page 4

MARKING TIME

UNEMPLOYED NUMBER 271 Marking time is how the. unemployment situation might bo described at the moment, but works which are contemplated sliould ease the position very considerably. Work was found for twelve men tliis morning, ten being placed by the Town Hall authorities, and two by the Labor Department. Six married men were placed from the Town Hall bureau in corporation works, three married men in private employment, and one single man in a. light job. There is still a great necessity for light employment, as there are many men fit only for this class of work. Two men were privately placed by the Labor Department. A number of distressing cases are still being brought under the notice of the Town Hall authorities, and these are being relived as far as is possible.

Among the skilled tradesmen ont of work painters appear to be in the majority. The Town Hall bureau had had an application from an intelligent boy, with two years’ secondary school education for work in the electrical engineering trade, hut so far it has not been possible to place him. Since yesterday morning fifteen men have enrolled at the Labor Department’s bureau, the total now standing at 271.

Several tradesmen have enrolled, and it is a significant fact that several of them are immigrants, who have been in the dominion only a few days. The twelve men selected to go to irrigation works in Central Otago left this morning. The Government officials state, however, that they have experienced a good deal of difficulty in getting married men to take this work, and the Public Works Department will, not engage single men. A Trades Hall official stated this morning that there were some objections to the proposal to employ men for light works at a reduced scale of wages, and he stated that it would bo necessary to secure an under-rate worker's permit for any class of work covered by an award.