PLACEMENT SCHEME

Grey River Argus, 23 September 1936, Page 5

PLACEMENT SCHEME

DEMAND FOR WORKERS. WELLINGTON,. September 22. The inauguration of a 40-hour week has created a demand by many business concerns for extra ass.stance, and the officers administering the Labour Department’s Placement Scheme report that they have supplied from their registers many workers for hotels and restaurants. Cheese ami butter factory executives also made aj> plications for extra assistants, and in all cases suitable workers have beer orovided. Builders and haviei also made enquiries for gooi men. and a notable placement with : firm of that kind in a -southern town was that, of a man who had been on the local unemployment register sine April, 1931. A “Trade Mark”:

An iron-moulder who had been in roimint of sustenance for a considerable period naturally wotVd no.t beat tlrei usual smoke mark of the trade when he returned home from h.' quest for work, and that fact would hardlj' escape tho notice of his chil dren. One such tradesman enrolled under the Placement Scheme and was quickly provided with a job in ■ foundry, and on hbs return home after hi- 3 first dav’s work, his little girl exc£:iimed: “Qh, Mum! It’s lovely to Dad with Iris face black again!

Service appreciated: The selection of three married couples for employment on one farm was the experience of an official administering the Labour Department jPlacement Scheme. This unusuial dupii cation of appointments was the re suit of peculiarly fortuitous circum<tancs The first couple proved to be capable, but domestic wrangling rented in their departure from the farm. The owner made another appeal to the Placement Officer, and a second couple were appointed, but on the day they wene to proceed to the farm the husband was involved in a motorcar accident and was killed. Once more the office provided a married couple, and the farmer, who appears to be impressed with the resourcefulness of the. officers and the completeness of the organisation of the Scheme), has stated his opinio,n in the following letter to the Placement Of fleer: “I am writing to thank yoi for the trouble you went to in sccur ing a satisfactory farm hand for me and to tell you how pleased and >at.s fled I am with the man you sen. along. ’ ’

Enquiries from Overseas: The New Zealand Government’s la! est method of dealing with the unem nlovment problem has been noted m other parts of the world, the latest enquiry having come from Suva, Fij \ responsible e'ectrical engineerin' film in that tropic city has asked th' Employment Division of the Laboui Department to assist it in the seleet;on of a thoroughly competent e. ee trician, with a knowledge of armature winding.

Diversified Trades: Thirty-six different trades and ocm pations' were represented by the 92 men who 'were placed in private employment by the Wellington incut 1 Office during the week ende>. 12th September. The list included bar men, blacksmiths, bakers] butchcis carpenters, chainmen, cleiks, moto drivers an egg pulper, a factory hand miners, electricians, gardeners, labourers. a printer’s maeluncst, nics sengerq. painters, a panel heater, poi ler.s, plasterers, sail-makers, salesmen seamen, storemen, a. tramway confine ion a, waiter, warehoir~emen, a wm dow cleaner, and a wood-cutter. Sev erail youths were placed as faim hands,' and the work found for otherwas as a clerk, a delivery an engineer’s assistant, a ' hand, a liftmanj. a message boy. and storeman.

A Mother’s Thanks: A particularly fine stamp of youth was employed at a southern motor garaoe. at a‘wage of less than 20s per week Perhaps for a reason not unconnected with the fact that he was due for an increase in pay, the boy yas dismissed, but on reporting to the Placement Office was engaged by an important firm of general merchants, who are paying him a commencing wage ot 35s weekly. The youth’s mother has personally' expressed to the Placement Officer her fervent thanks. Moulders in Demand:

Proprietors of iron foundries are experiencing some difficulty in engaging moulders. There are only nine men registered as such in the 22 Placement Offices of the Dominion, but it has already been found that many men, when enrolling under the Placement Scheme, omit to state their real trade, apparently being of opinion that employers would not want to engage them after their long absence from skilled work. That this is not the case has been shown on several occasions during the past few weeks, and the fact was further demonstrated a few days ago when a middle-aged man called at a Placement Office. He had been in a soldiers’ camp for five years, but being anxious to get back to lucrative work volunteered the information that he

was a moulder by trade. Naturally, he was cordially welcomed by the staff of the Placement Office, and by a leading iron-founder to whom he was ■ recommended. Be was engaged on the spot, and quickly overcame his initial awkwardness with the tools he had not handled for such a long period.