UNEMPLOYMENT SERIOUS

Evening Star, Issue 19454, 12 January 1927, Page 2

UNEMPLOYMENT SERIOUS

LATE HARVEST COMPLICATIONS [Special to the ‘ Stab. ’] CHRISTCHURCH, January 11. _ The seriousness of the unemployed situation is made manifest in the weekly return compiled by the Government Labor Bureau. For the week ended last evening the total number of applications amounted to 141, as against only sixty-six the previous week. There are now on the books 181 unemployed, and of these ninetyseven are laborers. During the week only two were found Government employment, and seven were placed in private employ. To-day thirteen new applications were received, eleven' of these being_ married. ’Three were placed in private employ this morning. A meeting of the Citizens’ Committee, which wound up its business for the year in November, has been called for Thursday, when the position will again be reviewed. The situation just now is an extraordinary one, but there is no doubt that it has been made more acute by the lateness of the harvest. The dull weather at Christmas time kept the oat and wheat crops from ripening, and it has not been until the last week or so that the grain has progressed. In most cases the oats have been reaped, but the stocking is being done _by the yearly farm hands. The reaping of the wheat and the stacking of the oats will not be put in hand until probably another fortnight. From the Peninsula come reports that the grass seed crops have scarcely passed their flowering stage, thus making the cocksfoot season late also. Many men _ have given up ordinary farm work in anticipation of the harvest cheque, but the work is not available yet, consequently there is an oversupply of harvesters at the present time, and jobs are eagerly rushed.