LABOR IN NEW ZEALAND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3297, 16 August 1911, Page 2

LABOR IN NEW ZEALAND.

DEPARTMENT’S ANNUAL .REPORT

THE OFFICE OR THE FACTORY?

SHORTAGE OF LABOR DEPLORED

[SPECIAL TO TIMES.} WELLINGTON, August 15. The annual report of the Department of Labor, which, .by the way, to be an unneoessarily expensive publication, states that in. factories there, has been a continued dearth of labor, especially of girls and boys, and nuumfacturers have represented over and over again to the Department how greatly they have been handicapped through the want of hands. _ It has been suggested that the position could be met only by bringing immigrants to New Zealand, as it is quite apparent to even a casual observer that sufficient labor is not available in New Zealand itself. As to whether there is much chance of getting hands in Great Britain to come to New Zealand, the secretary states:—“l have very grave doubts. I. know that several New Zealand manufacturers have tried advertising in Great Britain for hands without any apparent success, and no doubt the severance of family ties is a factor against young women workers immigrating to New Zealand. Again, the employees in the textile industries are able to earn fairly good money in the factories of Great Britain, and do not desire to come to New Zealand as long as they are making a comfortable living at Home. The official reports received by the Department from Great Britain bear out this statement; in fact some of the more skilled workers receive wages in excess of those paid in New Zealand, and when the difference in the cost of living is taken into account the skilled factory worker at Home lias little to induce her to leave England unless it be the better working conditions ruling in the Dominion as to hours and holidays.”

There is a continued falling off in the number of employees between the ages of 14 and 21 years; a decrease of 787 in tlie year. “This continued falling off of hands must,” says the report, “be viewed with grave concern. Orders for local work have been refused over and over again in the textile factories, owing to there not being sufficient labor available to tend the machines, whilst the fruit trade and biscuit and confectionery trades as well as others cannot, at certain seasons, cope with the work.” “As to the conditions of work, the pay, the hours and surroundings, they .must he described as very satisfactory. The factory legislation of New Zealand is looked upon as safeguarding the interests of the workers to a greater extent than in any otlier part of the world, and quite apart from tlie strict requirements of the Factories Act the employees, especially the boys and giris, receive special consideration. In regard to wages, for years pusr there has been a. tendency to pay 8s to 15s a week for a start to both hoys and girls, and it is not a rare occurrence for one factory owner to md against liis neighbor in the same town to attract such labor to his factory. It would appear, therefore, that, at all events at present, the prosperity of our manufacturing industries is not so much dependent on the state of trade as upon the possibility of securing labor. The trade is assured ; the labor is not, 'and undoubtedly the tendency of the boy and girl of to-day is to avoid the factory and seek -work in offices.”

“The skilled trades are suffering likewise. There are comparatively few apprentices offering, and the whole position calls for immediate review. Hundreds of girls, ranging in age from 17 to 25 years, are co-workers with youths and men in offices, and the tendency of parents is to give the daughters, equally with the sons, a training to enable them to take up office work in preference to any other. This is one of the chief causes of . the dearth of labor in both domestic and factory work, and when the point is reached that wages in offices will be lower than those in factories, then and only then can a turn in the tide be expected.”