THE UNEMPLOYED.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15704, 25 August 1911, Page 6

THE UNEMPLOYED.

The statement that ” two or three hundred ” men are out of employment in Christchurch has not been confirmed by the inquiries that have been made locally. Only a few workers havo responded to the suggestion of the Mayor that persons unemployed should make known their needs to him, and the local engineer of tlio Public Works Department states that “ probably not fifty men are out of work.” His Department requires two gangs each of twenty-five hands for railway construction, but the Labour Bureau reports that the men “ want work in town. A preference for the easier conditions of town life is not unnatural, but the ablebodied worker who will remain idle rather than use a pick and shovel at Mina or Cass, cannot reasonably appeal for public sympathy. There aro men, of course, who are physically unfitted for the heavy tasks of the railway camps, but tho numbor of these out of work in Christchurch at the present time cannot bo sufficiently large to warrant any appeal to the Government. The city is concluding a winter that has produced less unemployment than any previous season for some years back, and it should bo easily capable of absorbing all tho genuine workers now in its midst. We would like again to urge upon the citizens the desirableness of using the machinery of the municipal employment bureau in order to assist the families on which the winter has always a tendency to press hardly. There are few gardens and orchards that do not need some attention at the present time, and a telephone message or a note to the City Council offices will secure the services of a man. A little general effort during the next few weeks will clear away all the difficulties that the situation may be presenting to the casual labourer and his dependents.