WANTED, WORK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, 5 February 1909, Page 3

WANTED, WORK.

BRITISH? APPL I CANfSi NEW .ARRIiWLS WARNED. STAlli OF 'tMvLAiiOtft JIAKKiSI A VISIT (TO THE lONIC. . f;nbuur men in Wellington, iii fact of the Dominion as "a whole, view witi alarm the heavy • drafts til worker" arriving almost weekly from' the tJiiited Kingdom. "If we cannot absorb all our own labour at the present moment, what are we to do with ttiese?" tyas the remark wade by a promnierii Labour man to an '^Evening Post" trotter yesterday. The time was afternoon, tli c place the Queen's WhaTf, and the occasion the berthing of the lonic. As the ship came alongside, the hundreds of immigrants were lined up at ih. n rail looking at the unusually large v.'.yd ftairrliiu .1M Hit wJiarf. Tiit new cr.!>m< were not greeted with that cordiality and open-heart-uduoss that they had probably read about at Home in books and pnmphiets on emigration. Tlie idea that there is a hearty . colonial welcome awaiting the Britisher, across the seas dies nard ; but, however sarrguins the lonic's un migrant* were yesterday as to their future in the lie.v .land, it cannot be said that their welcome yesterday wj excessively fervent. '■ There was a great deal too much coaisn banter— ftai. ill-timed jolting. . "\Yhat 'a yer come out for;" some one shoiit.:d from Urn. wharf up at the ; immigrants leaning c ,er the lofty fide of the shio. "To get a jub.' , • What do \ou think?" 7 . "You'd ' better tjo back where you come from." was another discouraging 'comment. "We'll bo all right," wns the hopeful expression' of a new-comer standing under th? bridge..'.' And this kind of thing, varied by : Ivomait,. hamate Ka era — all they knew on tfe wharf — went on until the •hums holding back the crowd were dropped, anU then there was a wild- rush -.for th c gangway. Among the crowd" on the wharf were local rrprcfehtalives of various trades unions. They were—Messrs. Lightfoot (carpenters, tintl. .joiners), Bodell (bricklayers), Keariton, (WHci'ai labourers), Reyling (painter?), - Aluir (tailors), ami D. M'Laren, iI.P. . (wharf labourers). There gjntliel'nota were unanimous in expressing thoir strong disapproval of any aotion on the part of the Govern--mont whirh is calculated to induce cmiK;.ints_ coming to New Zealand insufficierttiy informed of the actual state of •tli-ri ■ labour ihfiikef. ' .. ■ MR M'LAEEN, M.P. "They should know to what they ftra coming. They should have the fullest trustworthy information of how ■no stand, with regard to work," said Mr M'Laren. Mr Lightfoot had twi'iiiy unemployed carpenters with hini. "All good tradesmen," he said, ui.ji. "J'ojl" reporter. "We are going {o do cur best to let immigrant fellow-irade.smen know what the actual trades conditions are. It is uifflcu't to t^H tlie immigrants together whey they arrive, but they certainly should be fully informed' by the High Commissioner of the actual state of the labour market, and then if they ekvt to come out, they do so at their own' risk.' Mr Light foot and the carpenters then went ill and out amonp- their fel-low-lrduNsmoi newly arrived ,-md told th'.-iil sll t,.?j- knew, "COULD NOT BBWOR.SJG HERE." When asked why "they had come oiit, all the new arrivals said things wore co bad, so wretchedly bad. at Home, that they cou.d not !>•-■ worse in N, w Zealand. 11 was a venture, and they were prepared to fare it. At that moineut a man ct middl?-age was leaning on' a post watching the stream if immigrants leaving the chip. "See that man" said Mr Lightfoot to a "Post" reporter, "that man leaning.on the post. Well; he's been four months in New Zealand. Came- from South Africa; excellent tradesman— he's done four and a half days' work in Wellington— no more." Mr Lightfoot t!i;n interviewed more imi.grants. Mr. Muir said all he wished to say would bo found in his letter to the British press, a copy of which had been published in that-day "s issue of the "Post." "WILL DO ANYTHING." Mr Reardon was tfoton to i<-e the 1 immigrants who came out "prepared to take anything." "You see," he explained to. the "Post" representative, "when a man finds he can do nothing at his trade, he is 'prepared to do anything. ' Now anything means 'gcnjral labourer.' It'is, therefore, of the utmost importance that tiiese mon should know Che actual js(ate of the labour market. Now, loojc lat this," and Mr Reardon produced tetters from men travelling in the South Island — New Zealanders, who knew the rope, who were far better able to do New Zealand faim work than men with purely British agricultural experience could hope at first to do. "Cook at these letters and you'll see that these general labourers,! white they are prepareiMo do anything,' are tramping many miles without finding anything to do. Tlie Government must take steps to see {hat immigrants to. ihis country are not officially dazzled with tEe prospects of abundant highlyp.aid employment which... does not exist. These arrivals an "such heavy SJ niunbers swamp the general' labour market"' Other unicn repre^yitatives are doing all they can .to inform newly -arrived tradesm n whom they -meet of the state oF tin? murk?! beu!,.djiri particularly with a \ic\v to inducing! ■them, to write Home to 1 heir friends, expressing, in their own term-, th? actual .ta?ts of tb* liibouw situ lltlOH. ,-•.;• - ■ ... N0 T . IK ' D;ABK N EUS. ln.|uir : cj from jmmigniut? thvin bolvps s-llow -tliiit'tkoy nre nol (fiuicrally i-o ignorant of ..labour couditions in-Kcw Zealand as sonic may believe them to "bo.v'An Ayrshire ploughman, for exampltjj-.was very well informed. His reason fpr coming wus the shortening of 'farm hauds in Scotland _resuiting from the .abandonment of general furuiiDg for sheep and cattle raising. There. was, it was gathered, groat S(gU(City of work in the country in various parts of Scotland as wCI) as asutft,. distress in the cities. In London, it was learned, the distress I was unusually appalling. Coming to NW jiealand might be out of the fry-ir/g-pasi.jnto the fire; but at any rate ther,e:ftß'as just a chance of hopping out jinto a less trying environment. J < HOPEFUL IMMIGRANTS. Iw>pe i.luuiined the breasts o* all, aUidtit seemed a pity that there "vras iijOtja moro i>romisiTig talo . to tell th£m> than. ibat of slaeknoEs'ol work tlir^rfghout the: 'i)ominion. All in'" relative to the Labour Bureau an d ;ta £onetions was given, to tic fimfnigi ants by jofficers from that branch of tko public service who boaVded the lonic in the stream. The Hon. G. Fowlds, as MinisteT for Immigration,- himself took a trip out to ;.thc ship, and while the medical' examination was going on had a most interesting tinie>. He was favourably :imj)T&s.vcd with the sturdy and self?rcliai}t character of the now arrivals.