WORK! AND STILL MORE WORK

Evening Star, Issue 21889, 28 November 1934, Page 2

WORK! AND STILL MORE WORK

[Written by L. H. Fnums for the ‘ Evening Star.’] Real human sympathy towards the unemployed and desire to assist them have been evidenced in many ways during the past several years. Dunedin has been careful to ensure that families were given work as well as food and shelter, and precautions have been taken to see that their independence and their self-respect was not in any way injured. Two of the greatest problems that have grown out of the past are the unemployed in the mass and tradesmen who have experienced a long, nerveracking period through lack of work. These two types of needs concern all of ns; they are related and are equally important, but until the advent of the Dunedin More Work Campaign the second (tradesmen) received too little emphasis. Any country that refuses to give close, attention to the question of keeping skilled labour employed at living wages stands a grave chance of having a legacy of human wreckage comparable 'only to, if not greater than, that which has resulted from war.

Those citizens who have already subscribed to the “ More Work ” appeal have proved that courage, sympathy, and wisdom effectively tackle any problem. When plans for the Dunedin Move Work campaign were being formulated there were those who considered that they were impracticable. But “ the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” and the £43,000 worth of work now in hand and arranged for is sufficient proof that the campaign has materially helped the unemployed in creating work for tradesmen at standard rates of pay. Tt is amazing the number of worthwhile and, incidentally, necessary jobs that householders have found around their own homes. In city and suburbs there is a “More Work ” atmosphere that in itself is having a desirable effect in that it is creating confidence and loosening strings of wellfilled purses. Nothing will bring back normal conditions quicker than money put to work. Our ‘ More Work ” campaign has put into circulation not only money to the tune of £43,000, hut man-power—carpenters, painters, upholsterers, cabinetmakers, and allied tradesmen, who in turn spend the wages thus earned, and make things easier for everybody. The effect is far-reaching. The wonderful way in which ijie citizens of Dunedin have accepted the challenge is still anoth'er example of the practical and thorough way Dunedin does that which it sets out to do. But we must not rest on our laurels, desnitc the excellence of our efforts to date. An additional £7,000 worth of work is still to be authorised before the end of the year. True, that is not a difficult task, but the committee asks citizens who have not yet done so to fill in registration cards now and send them to the Town Hall, or hand them to the canvassers in their district, thereby ensuring that the matter is not allowed to drift or to be pigeonholed amongst things forgotten.