THE NEW ZEALAND LABOUR MARKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9401, 6 January 1894, Page 5

THE NEW ZEALAND LABOUR MARKET.

♦ ' ■■ ■■ ■ ' INFLUX OF WORKMEN FROM AUSTRALIA. [be telegraph.—own correspondent.3 ' . Weilwgtok, Friday. .' The applications for employ men b at the Bureau are» I am, told, rather, numerous. r According to the Registrar-General's • return, the increase to this population for the past month, on a comparison of the departures and arrivals by steamers, is 2036. The gain on the returns for the year is 10,522. A very large proportion of these arrivals are working men, and the moment they arrive they make for the Labour, Bureau but they are not all strangers. A considerable number of them are former Now Zealand workmen, who went to Australia within the past year or two, and could not get employment there owing to the regulation in some of the principal cities that " a man must be a resident in the colony for sir months before he can be entitled to employment." But the numerical balance is still very considerable, and the working men here, more especially those who • are waiting for work, look at the new comers with a doubtful welcome in their eyes. Working men tell me thab the Australasians are engaged on the various works to the exclusion of the working man who has spenb his life and labour in this colony. They are sensible that the authorities canpot entirely prevent this happening, and even if the authorities could, it might be asked whether they would be acting with fairness to strangers who sought work, in the absence of any legal direction. Those working people whom I have spoken bo strongly urge that the same regulation should be made here as in Australia, viz., that a man should not be entitled to work until he had resided for six months'in the colony. They recognise the difficulty which arises in connection with this subject, and they perceive, very plainly that wages mast sooner or later be affected by this influx of labour. Some of these men are old Auckland hands, who had gone to Australia bo better their oondition, and some of them are old Thames miners. They brought money to Australia with them, which they placed in the Australian banks which have since failed. In one case the amount was as much as £1500. The owner last ib all, and now ab the age of 60 has to buckle to again and earn his daily bread. -