SHORTAGE OF LABOUR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 22 September 1911, Page 6

SHORTAGE OF LABOUR

MORE IMMIGRANTS WANTED. The short supply of workers—."killoil and unskilled — lor •employment in the- industries of New Zealand wa.< .lemarkid upon as follow* in the annua'! report presented to the annual mooting of the New Zealand Employers' Federation at Wellington on Wednesday : ••The question of the .-hortage of labour is out" that, requires immediate attention, both hy (JovcriuiX'iit and employers of Labour. The Chief Inspector of Labour in this year's report deals with tlie matter .and expresses i;r;iv<> doubts as to possibility of securing suitable hands for our factories from Great Briiain. Even though that has to be admitted. y.,ur executive of the opinion that one of the Dominion's greatest needs ut a progressive imniigratiou policy. and although it may take the form of inducing and assisting families to come to New' Zealand for tho purpose of going on the lanil. the result in a eomparativelv short time will be that more workers will be av.iihi.blo K>r work in 'our trades and industries. If is certainly inimical to the best interests of the Dominion to fc some of our products, such as those handled in our jam and prtvcrvin.tr factories, going to waste, and to realise that ma.nv thousands of pounds worth of good* have to In- imported owin-.' to the fact that workers are not available to enable manufacturers to nieet the de • maud for'local productions." Nor does it appear that the snort Mip- [ ply is tho only <liiTiculty b; setting em j plovers wishing lo employ labour, as the following paragraph in The same report seeks t-f) show : "The increasing liabilities of employers of labour regarding the employment of apprentices and the unsatisfactoiy nmdition of the law in this connection have received the. serious consideration of vour executive during the past year. Emp'overs are rapidlv becoming loss inclined to \imlertake the responsibilities pertAiniiKT to the employment and train inn ,'of voiuW people, with tho result that this *i« om of the "causes of the short supply of skilled- workmen in the Dominion. Ber-eafcd requests having been made for a model-deed of apprenticeship, your executive has had one prepared for sub-mi--<=ion to the annual meeting, which, it adopted, will, it i* believed, protect employers so far as it is possible ur.dev the law" as it now stand?.