UNEMPLOYMENT AND BUSINESS.

Evening Star, Issue 21785, 30 July 1934, Page 12

UNEMPLOYMENT AND BUSINESS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l think you will agree with me that the unemployment problem is one which should be studied by everyone, no matter the position held in life. A few months ago 1 noticed letters in your columns which I am sure were written by business men on the above subject. When one gets down to bed rock the business man is the person vv.;o can make the prob.em eas.er to sett.e. tie is the one who decides toe increase or decrease of staffs. In these times oi camps, etc., does he realise that the wages of these men are not going to be “ spent ’’ in his shop or factory, nor m many cases is he going to get the rent for his house? lie men going to camp are getting their stores from the country, and although they need the turnover very badly, still it is taking a lot of trade from Dunedin.- One has only to tally the number in camps at the present time and calculate just how much is lost to the storekeeper in, say, bread alone. Take tobacco as a luxury item; how many men in the camps buy less than, say, a tin of tobacco a week? it is time the business men in Dunedin clubbed .together and formulated a scheme whereby men out of work were given every available opportunity to get back to work. Out of vacant positions advertised in the newspapers, now many are filled by unemployed men ? One hears on all sides of the disappointments of those who have written in and have not _ even received a reply. The question is this; Do the business men know who is unemployed and whether he can be satisfied out of their ranks? Why not apply direct to the men’s bureau, or it this is not thought advisable, why not start an agency for this class of work controlled by the business men apart from the workers altogether, but for . their real benefit, in that they can be interviewed and given the chance they deserve. There is no doubt about the fact that there are good men and qualified men out of work who deserve better than they are getting, but in many cases these men have given up hope because they realise they cannot fill the bill owing to the fact that they have no respectable clothes to work in. They are so disappointed with the non-replies to other jobs that they let things slide rather than suffer further, ami waste money on paper and stamps. If there was a central bureau where these men could be interviewed I am quite sure that many more men would be signing off relief. It only wants a start and 1 am certain that there are men in business to-day who would be pleased to set the ball rolling. If they could only realise what an uu'employed man, in hundreds of cases, has to go through, they would give him the chance to show his appreciation of a steady Job. 1 trust that an abler pen than mine may find time to take this up, as I fully believe there is a hope in it.—l- am, etc., One. July 30. '