DEPUTATION TO MINISTER FOR LABOUR

North Canterbury Gazette, Volume 8, Issue 36, 1 September 1938, Page 5

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER FOR LABOUR

ASHLEY RIVER WORKERS' POSITION EXPLAINED A deputation consisting of Messrs J. Ryley, D. Graham, J. A. Miles, H. E. Denton, W. Keir and J. M. Fraser, headed by the Mayor of Rangiora (Mr C. W. Tyler) waited on the Minister for Labour (the Hon. H> T. Armstrong) on Tuesday afternoon, concerning the question of men being put off the Ashley River Control Scheme. The deputation sought work -for the married men who have been discharged and urged upon the Minister the need for the Government to undertake some comprehensive scheme in the district to absorb the men. The Minister was informed that plenty,of work was available in the Rangiora district and this work was as - important as the scheme at Ashburton to which the men had been asked to go.

Mr Armstrong i-eceived the deputation sympathetically, and he arranged for the certifying officer to visit the Borough yesterday and confer with the local bodies with a view to placing the men in fresh work in the district.

Accordingly Mr Ross, the Canterbury district employment' officer, visited the Borough yesterday, and conferred with the local bodies. He assured the meeting that work for 100 men who would finish their work at the Ashley river as their contracts expired would be found work with local bodies, the Government paying the wages. The Mayor said that no provision had been made by the local bodies to provide the men with work indefinitely. The object was to give them temporary work until they can find seasonal work, or more suitable conditions than those offered them by the Public Works Department at the present. He hoped that the proposed afforestation scheme for the Loburn foothills would be taken up by the Government, as in his opinion it would absorb l many of the men who wished to stay in the district. Many Already Found Work

Previous to this conference local bodies had co-operated in finding work for the 60 odd men who finished at the Ashley river last Friday. The Rangiora Borough Council took on 15 of the men on Monday, and they are now engaged in clearing reserves, tree-planting and improving streets. A further 12 men were engaged by the Rangiora-County "Council on Tuesday, and one man was placed in work by the Rangiora-Waikuku Beach Domains Board. Only one of the men who left is receiving sustenance. , : Several of the men, most of them single, accepted the work offered them by the Public Works Department in Ashburton and surrounding districts on irrigation schenies. s "'" ' : _