WORKERS FROM: SOUTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21100, 6 February 1932, Page 11

WORKERS FROM: SOUTH.

PARTY OF 200 SINGLE MEN. EMPLOYMENT NEAR AUCKLAND. LAND DRAINAGE SCHEME. It tvas learned in Auckland yesterday Ihat 200 single unemployed men from Welling'on are shortly to be transferred to the Auckland district to be employed on drainage improvement works in the South -Auckland area. These men are to be accommodated in a single men's camp at Aka Aka, near Pukekohe. and will be employed widening and deepening drains in the Aka Aka Drainage Board's area with the object of improving the capacity of the farms in the locality. On Thursday the chairman of the Franklin Comity Council, ]Mr. J. N. Massey. M.P.. a.-companied by the county engineer, Mr. J. F. McArthur, and an -engineer of the Public Works Department, Wellington, inspected the locality and chose the site for the camp. Arrangements for the quartering of the Wellington men have now been concluded and it is expected the workers will arrive shortly. The drainage improvements will be carried out by the Aka Aka Drainage Board under the supervision of the Public Works Department. The camp will be conducted on the lines of the existing single men's camps in the Auckland district and the men vrill be paid 10s a week ia addition to their keep. They will be housed in Public Works tents—two men to a tent—and cooks will be provided.

It is estimated that the work to be undertaken mil improve from 50 to 30 farms. The task will occupy about three months and will cost approximately £3OOO, of which £IOOO will be refunded by the Aka Aka Drainage Board in payments spread over a period. There are already over 500 Auckland unemployed in single men's camps, carrying oat work much on the lines of that intended for the Wellington men. Representative labour men were frankly amazed when ihev were informed of the proposal t,o bring Wellington unemployed to the Auckland district. "It is a surprising thing to do, particularly in view of the difficulty we have in finding work for our ouu unemployed in Auckland," said Mr. T. Bloodworth. "It certainly seems strange to me that the Unemployment Beard should be bringing Wellington men north to do work that our own men could very well be engaged upon." The difficulty of finding work for all who were registered in Auckland had been acute during the past two years and Mr. Bloodworth said that any works in the district capable of absorbing a portion of these men should have been restored for them. The cost of bringing 200 men from Wellington to the Aka Aka district should be sufficient to condemn the scheme, according to Mr. E. J. Phelan, who thought that from an economic point of view it would hare been better to find work for these men nearer their homes. It could only be assumed that an end ear our had been made to set men in Auckland for the work, but without sue cess, or that no suitable work was available in the Wellington district. As it was. there were hundreds of men in Auckland who were anxious to obtain employment, but who were bow dependent, upon the Hospital Board for sustenance. SEASON FOE ACTIOS. "NEED GREATER EN* SOUTH." [BY TTXEGHAI'H. —OWN COJUTESPOXDENT. ] •WELLINGTON, Friday. The reason for Wellington unemployed b£tng sent to the Aka Aka drainage works is that the need for finding employment for single men is greater in Wellington than in Auckland. Wellington has 2500 single men registered as unemployed, but only one camp. Auckland ts stated to have been well catered for in ihe direction of camps for single men.