THE UNEMPLOYED.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 933, 17 January 1890, Page 29

THE UNEMPLOYED.

According to the Government returns the number of unemployed in the

Colony during the week ending on the 6th of this month Avas 40, of whom 23 were employed on the Otago Central Railway, and 17 on the Catlins River road. The number for the w'eek ending the 7th January £ 1889, was 333. Thus there is a decrease for the year of 293, and it is expected that by the end of this month there Avill be no unemployed at all on the list. These figures afford a very satisfactory indication of the improvement Ave made during the year 1889, and melancholy pessimists who are ahvays telling us that the bone and sinew of the Colony are leaving it may study this simple statistical proposition with advantage to their understanding. In a country like New Zealand, where the unemployed have in very recent times involved questions of considerable difficulty, a decrease in their number in an unmistakable sign, of prosperity because it means scarcity of labour. For the most part, the men who leave the Colony in search of more remunerative employment are glad to return home, like so many new-world prodigal sons, when they have spent their money in finding out that they have been pursuing an illusive hope. There is Avork in New Zealand for all the bone and sinew that is open for engagement.