UNEMPLOYMENT

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12458, 28 May 1926, Page 4

UNEMPLOYMENT

GOVERNMENT SHOULD ACT At the meeting of the Wellington Hospital Board yesterday the social welfare committee reported having received a deputation from the New Zealand Labour Party, introduced by Messrs Fraser and McKeen, Al.P.’s, the members of which informed the committee that the demand for labour in Wellington and also throughout the Dominion had undergone a sudden and serious shrinkage, and that in consequence there was a quite abnormal number of wage-earners of both sexes out of employment and destitute of the means of subsistence. These statements appeared to the committee to indicate that action by the Government was necessary, and it therefore recommended that suitable representations in that direction be made to the Hon. the Prim© Minister. Mr G. Petherick stated that there were 17 cases before the committee due to unemployment, which was 100 per cent, more than they had had for some months past.- With regard to the body of men who attended upon tho committee, they were provided with two meals a day and a bed, and tho applications were to be renewed from day to day. There was some criticism as to the way in which the relief was sought, but the chairman said the committee was to be commended for what it had done, and would have been open to a charge of callousness had they not done so * The committee’s report and recommendation were adopted. Mr C. H. Chapman said it was not a? much relief that was wanted a? work.