Unemployed on Public Works.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XIX, Issue 6049, 14 September 1894, Page 1

Unemployed on Public Works.

(BY TELEGRAPH.) (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Wellington, September' 13. Replying to questions put by " Marsden " Thompson this afternoon, the Minister for Labor said it was the caso that unemployed men had been sent from Christchurch to the railway works at Hikurangi, but he was not aware that there wore a nuumber of men in that district who were requiring employment. He defended the practice of sending men from one district to another to go on public works. Mr Thompson moved the adjournment of the House in order to comment on tho subject. He accused tho Minister for Labor of having overlooked the unemployed in the northern districts of Auckland, and of having, through labor agents in the north, insulted the inhabitants of the north when applying for employment by asking them improper questions respecting their wive:? and families. Pie referred to tho wages earned by the unemployed, which, ho said, averaged 2s 7d per day, which was barely enough to pay for their tucker. Every possible obstacle had boen placed in the way of the employment cf local men. A contingent of unemployed from Christchurch had been sent up, and had taken the work from a large number of local men who had been thrown out of work owing to the fall in the price of gum. It was unfortunate that the gonuino workers of the colony should bo treated as paupers. If this was a specimen of tho work of the Labor Department tho sooner its existence ceased the better. He asked whether it was right for tho Minister of Labor to take advantage of his position to relieve the unemployed in his own district. The Minister was to a large oxtcnt responsible for the existence of theso unemployed. If the men he had sent north ever returned to Canterbury they would have a diflerent opinion of the Minister for Labor. He hoped that the Minister, in future, before shipping his constituents to the north would consider those who have an equal claim to employment. The Hon. Mr Reeves said they had listened to a characteristic haranguo from the last speaker, delivered in his usual grateful, gracious, and polite manner. His whole speech was a pandering for political support, and had been an ontirely unprovoked attack on himself. Ho pointed out that public works wero paid for by the ratepayers of tho colony, and not by local ratepayers, and that districts in which 110 public works wero in course of construction were entitled to have 'heir unemployed employed on public works in other parts of the colony. He considered it was an utterly unfair, wrong, and shameful principle that tho unemployed should bo treated as outcasts and "publicans." If such a principle were recognised, all hope of tackling tho unemployed difficulty must bo abandoned. In dealing with the unemployed, the department had to take into consideration the degree of necessity, and in the caso referred to by Mr Thompson tho needs of certain married men in the south wero considered keener than others. In regard to the wages earned by the men on the works, he said that tho average wage per day for the last week had boen 7s. Referring to what Mr Thompson called the insulting questions put by labor agents, the Minister said that they were questions asked in all cases, and were necessary if the department was not to be imposed on. Mr Houston said that he could not agree with the Minister's remarks to tho effect that local public works should be open to the unemployed from all parts of the colony. Mr Collins said that Mr Thompson was endeavoring to set one district against another. Mr Stevens thought Mr Thompson should have gone to tho Minister for Labor and put tho matter practically before him, which he considered a better manner of dealing with tho matter. After some further discussion, tho amendment to adjourn tho House was negatived, and tho business was gono on with.