THE UNEMPLOYED.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2581, 6 August 1895, Page 2

THE UNEMPLOYED.

RELIEF WORKS TO BE STARTED. A RECREATION GROUND FOE THORNDQN. ... A meeting of subscribers to Hie Unemployed Relief Fund was held in,the Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of considering what form the proposod relief works shall take and other matters in connection with the scheme. ; Mr J. Ross was,voted to the chair, and, in opening tho proceedings, said it was, unfortunately,, only too true that there are a large number of unemployed in our midst and much distress, and help was urgently needed. They hold that relief in the form of works was infinitely preferable to charity, and was far;Hiotjo acceptable, to tho working mon themselves ns, helping them to maintain tlieir.nelf-rospeot. ■ Tho best proof they had of this. fact was tho grateful acknowledgment .which they received from the men who wore employed on the Queen’s Drive. The subscribers also had the 'satisfaction of knowing that their money, while helping to . relieve . distress, also effected improvements in. the city. As they had.already seeniu tho newspapers, they liad already received subscriptions to the extent of some £560, which had been further supplemented. That was good evidence. of 1 tho sympathy and largoheartednoss of a. few—a, very few—of the citizens. They also looked to sob those subscriptions very, largely,, augmented by all classes , of tho. community, and they should Topic, to see;.■those- .who were in employment contributing their mite to aid those' who were in.distress. (Hear, .hoar.) He should, therefore^(like .to see subscription lists sent to . all the offices 'and the 'places where labour~was employed. The City : Council, without t a jdigsontieut voice, asmarking their ApjiWivnl fef ’the 'scheme, voted, £soo—a handsome Contribution on behalf of tho oitizensl ’ That money, together with what- had been subscribbdj And the Government subsidy, would give thorn the bommand of: about £2400. Of bourilAtliat Uiouoymdst *go -through tho - hand? of the Trusteesuof othe .Benevolent l Institution, in order that , they might get the | Goverrimbnt i’subsidy: rj Jle was sorty his ’oblleaghe - Mif( Gale; »who ' had been ' most Indefatigable‘in his bfforts : in collecting was not proVontj: but hb would call uponhMihl’llmmec to move thb first resolution. l - T. T ’.IU-nHiiL T .'. a

’ Mr; J..Plimmer.moyfed,d“ That a’commit■tbo/consisting;ofMbssts .i J,.Rosb,'. T.-'.'J., Gale.iJJ MeLollah, E.: W.; Mills and -J. 1 Saunders, three ifibmborS’of the-City Coutasoil; and three mbmbers of the Benevolent Trubtiees, be appointed .-to "carry out the -work ifor ithe rrelief.of ItUe’. ’unemployed" He hopqd - the -money available would bo used in ehiployihg moniin making a reoroa-tiong-round for tho-Tliorndou Ward. If it ■was carried . out. inoa'iproper .manner >it would bo of-, use nit only, to--the men who wore thusiprovided with work, but to all tho city:for .future time, and would bo a great-benefit to everyone. If it were used in making, fresh roads round tho rocks he should v disapprovfe of .it, , because only a few people could haiofit by such work. - If the work was-carried out Sand ho should 1 live to aea it. ho should have no objection to further assisting it.’•• ,r- ■ - Councillor -L. L. Harris • seconded the motion. Which;was carried. ~i i.-n: ’ '

.'"‘Mr; A. B. Exloy, who said ho was in' hearty sympathy withJ the movement, proposed, " That the committee be authorised "to pay such ■ sums of ’ money as 'had been and might be collectdd for the relief of the ; unemployed'to. the Benevolent Institution, ■ for the purpose of'obtaining the Qovoruvment subsidy thereon." 1 i The'motion;''was seconded by Mr J. ■ Plimmer, and.carried. ■ ; * ■ MrO-. E, Tolhurst said one of the un- • fortunate features; of-our hill-bound city .was'that it was so difficult to got out Of it, i; and anything they could do in the diredi tion of reading through picturesque parts of the ‘country,; orJ'.within walking dr ! driving distance; would bo very acceptable. He did not think they coaid raise enough ; money to; carry 'out . an-idea of reading ’ which was 1 first mooted; but ho bad reason 5. to believe 'that the sum available might bo i sufficient to give them a recreation t groiindia short distance from ! the city. The ' spot seleoted.was only a few, minutes’ walk i .fromithePoit JOfflcei; iit 1 belonged to the > i • city, and would not have ti be bought at a i cost of some'thousands of pounds, the >' - position wasin fine one, the roads to it were i. ' good, and ho behoved that with the fund attheir 'disposal' they- WOuld be able to K make n, recreation ground of about 10 or U i acres; of which something like seven acres

■ would be flat Mud. He; therefore moved, !• .“.That (permission bo obtained from' tho i City Council’to employ; those requiring .. employment in'making; so far as the funds 1 will; permit, 'tt. recreation grbarid on the 1 Town. Bolt,Mount street, Wellington.” •; : Mr|E.:W; ;Millstseobnded'; the proposi- - tibn. 1 It was.ihe said,; very- agreeable to i. him ;to seel that mbriey . was being raised for the double purpose of .aiding the un- . employed and • of ■ providing a recreation ground, whichrwas: urgently; needed. •Ho remerriborod with safisfriotion thtirosrilt of thoir formor labours iu making the Queen’s Drive., ,It had been:; suggested : that that drive was only used by a certain class,, but. on several occasions lie had seen hundreds of people enjoying- .themselves; there,. and, • he was satisfied that all.classes of the community, had taken'advantage of the road being made. He was quite certain that, although,:his name was attached .to the committee, •• those-.who...would ■< have the ; management of this present expenditure • would, when the work.was completed, fool that they had expended it'as satisfactorily as they expendodltho' fund entrusted to them on a. former occasion, •The. resolution was carried. . The Mayor of Wellington (Mr C. M. Luke) ..said the, impression that had got abroad that, the ’ Mayor of , the city had been inactive in this matter was scarcely a icorrect one. . (Hear, hoar.) Ho bad in-; terosted himself somewhat in the question, and had approached tho Premier in relation to it, and had received from him a reply that tho Government would bo willing tohelp them as.heretofore, but he (the Mayor) was waiting. for Messrs Rosa and Gale to put this matter more actively in hand, and contemplated working in unison with them.. His .absence from tho office last week, precluded any opportunity ha might have had of knowing how they were working, and to' what; extent they had accomplished their ends. Ho was very pleased, however, to read in tho paper that they had accomplished so much in what anpeared to bo so' -short a time. Ho made those remarks because it was not true that tho Mayor had "beenvinactive or, unmindful of this question. No one in Wellington, perhaps, was belter able to. judge -of the 'condition of the unemployed . than ’himself. . Tho question had been pressing upon him for some’ tima past; and during tho last two or throe months ho had met many scores of ablebodied, deserving men who cried out for work, and when they told the condition of their homes and the necessities that they experienced' it had been painful to listen totheir talc of trouble. But it did not seem wise to move other than in the direction they had moved, and he thought a very great deal of -good would be accomplished. Personally, ,ho was very grateful for what had been done. Ho agreed with the chairman that thosein work should extend consideration to their unfortunate fellows who wore out of work. He moved, “ That it be an instruction to tho committee to send lists to every office,' warehouse, factory, shipping office, wharf and other places, where those employed should be asked to make a contribution of not less than Is per each • employee to assist those out of employment." ‘ . The motion was; seconded, by Mr G. H. Baylis. The Chairman said the Mayor's remarks in regard- to his want of interest in this matter were the first ho' had heard of it. He had hoard, that His Worship had had some ■ correspondence -with.the Premier on the subject of the unemployed, and that lie was desirous some steps should bo taken to relieve, them. He (Mr Ross) had received a letter from the chairman of the Trustees of the Benevolent Institution (Rev H. Van Staveren), which was really one of tho causes which induced, him to take up this q uestion ■ in conjunction with Mr _ Gqle. Mr Van Staveren wrote: —" I beg- to assure you that there is- at present more genuine distress in tho city. than' anyone is aware of, and, in my opinion,; greater than last year, ; and I tmly| believejthatlif work could be found much of, the distress could.be largely • alleviated.” He trusted the Mayor would

not think ho had boon in any way overlooked in this matter. ■ Tin resolution was carried. Councillor Harris then moved, “ '['hat, to prevent an influx of unemployed from the neighbouring colonies, pr. elsewhere, it, bo an instruction to the committee to employ those men who have resided in 'Wellington for three months at least, preference being given to married men.” . Ho thought that was u very wise resolution, because if it was known in tho other colonics that they were providing work hero, even though at a small rate of pay, it would cause an influx of population of an undesirable class. Tho resolution was secondod by Mr E. W. Mills, and carried. Mr H. M. Hayward moved "That Mr 'J. McLellan, who acted in tho same capacity on tho Unemployed Belief Committee last yoar, bo appointed treasurer and secretary pl'o Mr A. E. Exloy seconded tho motion, and said ho did not think they could find a better officer for that position than Mr MeLellun. . The Chairman remarked that no doubt when the general committee was appointed they would appoint some permanent secretary. na the labours would bo pretty heavy. Tho motion was agreed to, and Mr McLellan promised to curry on tho duties until matters wore put in order. Tho Chairman said,tho committee would tako tho necessary stops, to put the work in hand as soon as possible, and also send out tho ;-minscription lists.! He was sure subscriptions would Q9gu3j in readily as soon as people knew what was gdihg tobo done. 'Some small-minded men on the hist occasion said no doubt Messrs Boas and dale hiid a little uxo of their own to grind; but they could afford to pass over'retnarks of 'that sort/ as such people were more' to■ ho pitied than condemned. He had no axe to grind in tho matter at all. (Hear, hear,} Tho Mayor handed £7 3s to the treasurer, tho proceeds of an entertainment given by tho Salvation Army Band. On tho motion of Mr McLellan, seconded by Mr Harris, a vote of thunks was passed to tho Salvation A rmy for their generous contribution. Mr McLellan said hd thought it would be no hardship if those in employment wore to subscribe la a Week to the fund during the winter, Mr G, E. Tolbnrst moved a hearty veto of thanks to' the chairman and Ids Colleagues who >'bod so ably initiated this movement. The motion was carried by acclamation. Tho Chairman,'in replying, [Said that all men seeking employment on these relief works would have to go to Mr A. G: Johnson, secretary of ‘ the ■ Benevolent Institution, who ronderod'aneh exceedingly valuable services ib connection with the Queen’s Drive. They might bo certain that whatever men ’ he;' engaged would be ' men thoroughly ' deserving "of -work.;-' In _ fact,' Mr Johnson deserved very great Credit for tho manner in which be’dealt with that questionJart year. *, '(Applause.) 1 Mr Johnson said'he was glad to' do any- 1 thing ''.ho l could; - with,the 'consent of-his Trustees, ■: There had been a lot of applications far relief already, and. ho would bo' glad to commence work as soon as they got. /natters under way. (Hear, hoar.) Tho mooting then concluded. ■