THE UNEMPLOYED.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1260, 23 April 1896, Page 30

THE UNEMPLOYED.

A deputation of the unemployed waited on the Premier last week. Air A. D. McLaren, who acted as spokesman, said tho present deputation was the outcome of tho meeting held on the previous ovening in the Forward Movement Hall. Through the assistance of the Government and private employers, the number of the unemployed had now been reduced. They were there to ask if tho Premier would find some work for these. They believed the Premier was in thorough sympathy with them. Ho had also a list of man who were willing to go on the land on tho alternate system. Air Free suggested that a block of land should bo selected and the men put upon it under the alternate system.

Air K. AlcLaren voiced tho claims of singlo men to receiving aid. Air Alackay asked McLaren if he was not offered a job the previous day. Air McLaren said yes, but he believed he had made a mistake. He was told it was ballasting, and refused it because be did not think he could do the work. Mr Stott complained that on his refusing to work as a sandwich man rations were discontinued. He thought it was a great shame that because he refused to malic ail exhibition of himsoli his children should he deprived ot the mouthiiil of food they were getting. Other members of the deputation having spoken, The Premier, in replying, said that as to permanently settling the question of tho unemployed, that was impossible, although it might be mitigated to some extent. The causo of that was that men came from the other colonies to New Zealand, which they knew was in a fairly prosperous condition, and also because they were aware that in this Colony the Government were grappling with this question energetically and in a fairly satisfactory manner. Again, many of those new arrivals, being in a more destitute condition, were more, pushing than the. New Zealanders themselves, and were willing to take anythin': they could get hold of. Of course it had been said the Government and some of their .supported* were responsible for bringing those people here, but that was simply nonsense, and it was only dared for political purposes. He greatly deprecated i he position of the unemployed being used for pulitical purposes, and for bringing pressure to bear against tho Government. It was a two-edged bword, and if it was used

against this Government it might equally be used against another Government, and he for one held in a much higher estimation the unfortunate men who were out- of work in this country than to put them in tho degrading position of being used to at.ack or support the Government. The public works would bo put in hand as quickly as possible, up to the extent that the appropriations of Parliament allowed them to go, but it would take far more money than Parliament had voted to enable them to employ all the men physically capable of working at it. The only way to meet tho difficulty was by getting tho people on to the land, and tho more men they put in that position the bettor it would be for the men themselves, tho Government and t’lo Colony. The Government were doing that as far as possible, but what stood in the way was that they had not got the lands to put the people on. They had bought 1,000,000 acres since they came iuto power, hut wherever they made a road the Native and private owners wanted such high prices for their lands as to make it absolutely prohibitive, and if men had to pay too high rents it only tended to pauperise them. It they had a tract of country on which they could put men to fell the bush and construct roads he would be quite prepared to putmen on to it on tho alternate system, and he believed himself that Parliament would do that. He would have the names of those who wished to take up land on this alternate system taken down, and would see the Commissioner of Crown Lands here, and through the Minister of Lands find out if there was any such woik available. As to tho destitute persons and those physically incapable of going on the land or of doing heavy labour, they all sympathised with them, and he regretted they should ho put in a degrading position. Their position was bad enough without being asked to degrade themselves by becoming sandwich men. If ho had his way he would make it an offence against the law for a man to bo asked to act in such a capacity—(Hear, hear) and with every sense of responsibility, ho said to the man who had refused to do such work, that it was better his children should starve than that it should bo said afterwards their father was a sandwich man, and that when he went to work again his fellow-workmen should cast it m his face. Tho Colony provided fully half ot the money disbursed by the Charitable Aid Boards, and it was never intended it should be used as a means of degrading men, nor wore the boards intended to be a means of finding cheap advertisements for tradesmen, and he would go further, and say that if Charitable Aid money was to he used for such a purpose, it was a question whether the State should not step in and prevent it. With regard to the rato of wages paid on relief works, Ac,, he thought tho better way would be to fix a fair price for tho work required to be done and then give it out at that price, although if he had his own way he would like to banish the phrase “relief works” from tho country altogether. As to workmen’s villages, in his opinion that was tho solution to a very great extent of tho unemployed difficulty as iar as the men who got intermittent employment were concerned. If possible, he would like to seo 200 or so acres purchased along the railway line and cut up into sections, and tho men placed upon it. Ho was satisfied if that was dono tho men would bo able to make a living during tho time they were out of employment, and they would not have to pay half their present rents. The deputation might, therefore, take it that what the Government would do for them was: —(l) Employment on co-opera-tive works, which would be carried out as far as tho appropriations would allow. (2) Tho alternate system of putting people on the land, and getting as many as they could to go on the land under the various systems of tenure. He intended to discuss the question of whether they could not put men to falling hush on some of tho Crown lands during the winter, and then to put the land in tho market or to place the men on it. (3) Workmen’s villages. When tliis matter was before Parliament, they asked that tho Government should bo

allowed to select tho people who should be put on the land under this system, but it was refused, the consequence being that the land was put up to ballot, and cases had occurred in which clerks and persons in permanent employment had got on to tho sections. But that state of things would have to be altered, and it would have to be arranged that men in intermittent employment or tho unemployed only would get the land. (4.) Destitute persons. This evil might be minimised by an alteration that was being carried out in respect to co-operative works, by which old men would work by themselves and younger and more ablo men by themselves, so as to make the earnings more in accordance with tho amount of work done. Tho remainder, of course, rested with tho local authorities, and if they did not do their duty as by law provided they would find themselves in a very unfortunate position. If the whole matter was to bo thrown on tho Government, then the Government would not he afraid to face the situation. Ho wanted it to be clearly understood that this was a question of too great moment to be made a Party machine to be used either for or against any Government; tho necessities of the working men should not bo traded upon, and ho hoped would not he, and ho was very glad tho men had waited on him themselves, as there was no necessity for tho intervention of anyone in the matter. The deputation, after further conversation, I hanked the Premier for the courteous hearing he had given them and withdrew.