LOCAL LABOUR CONDITIONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 May 1910, Page 5

LOCAL LABOUR CONDITIONS

THE LATEST REPORT

Inspector Moston reports as follows n the local labor conditions: —

“The state of trade during,the past month is considered to be fairly satisfactory. Building operations are still busy, though towards the end of (he period the bad weather was against outdoor work. Engineering trades are steady. Tailoring and dressmaking have slackened off somewhat, but may bo considered satisfactory for this period of the year. On the other hand, retailers’ reports are of a quieter nature, due to a very great extent to the run of wot weather. The timber industry has revived a little during the period, but unfortunately there is nothing to indicate that this will be maintained. Coal mining is busy, practical miners being still in demand. “Building trades.—Bricklaying busy; (he brickwork on several large contracts is nearly completed, but the outlook in this trade is good. Carpentry and joinery busy; house carpenters have been in demand during the period; ; no men idle at present. Painting fair; the bad weather has militated against outdoor work. Plastering busy ; plenty of work in hand to keep all men fully employed. “Woodworking trades.—Cabinetmaking and upholstering fair; in some cases factories are making up stock ; there are, however, no men reported idle. Sash and door factories fair; regular hands kept fully occupied. Sawmilling shows slight improvement; there has been a demand for sawyers; output increased by one-halt over the previous month. “Alining.-—Coal mining busy; there is a demand for practical miners. Gold mining active. “Engineering trades. —“Boilcrmaking fair; no men idle. Brass and cop-per-smithing fair. Fitting and turning—Steady work offering for regular hands. Iron and brass moulding fairly busy.

“Leather trades.-—Bootmaking (factories) busy; all hands fully employed. Bootmaking (repair-shops) busy; plenty of work on hand. Saddlery and harnossmaking fairly good ; employers express themselves as satisfied with the amount of trade doing. “Clothing trades. —Dressmaking and millinery quiet; a falling-away of tra.de during the latter part of the period was noticeable. Tailoring (factories) busy ; full time being worked in factories. Tailoring (order) busy ;' plenty of orders on hand. “Retail trades.—Clothing—An average amount of trade has been done during the month. Boots—Business compares favourably with that of the corresponding month of last year. Drapery quiet; there has been a decrease in sales over those of the previous month. Groceries normal. “Printing trade. —Bookbinding and printing—Ordinary business doing. “Meat-freezing, etc. —Fellmongering busy; all hands fully employed. Slaughtering, freezing, and preserving busy. “Coachbuilding trades. —Blacksmithing—Repairs busy. Coach and carriage building fair; no men. idle. “Cycle and motor trades. —The season is practically ended, and business has fallen away. “Agricultural operations.—Farming, dairying, etc. —There has been no demand for farm hands. Dairying continues brisk. “Miscellaneous. —Brickmaking busy ; good demand for locally made bricks. “Unskilled labour.—The conditions affecting unskilled labour have not improved during the month. At present there is a surplus of labour on the Coast. The outlook is not very honeful, as with the exception of the Otira Tunnel works there is very little offering for unskilled men. During the month thirty-one men have been assisted to employment, of whom sixteen \yere married, with forty-seven dependants, -and fifteen were single men; twenty-one of the number were assisted to Government works and ten to private j employment.