UNEMPLOYMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18352, 16 September 1921, Page 7

UNEMPLOYMENT.

STEADY WORK REQUIRED. Inquiries made yesterday show that there is a real need for the provision of steady work locally for married men out of employment, or at anyrate out of definite employment ensuring the means of keeping their families. Figures are very deceptive. For instance, Mr Browett, of the local Labour Office, states that ho has at present on his hooks only 23 men fit. for heavy work and two fit for light work. He sent forward nobody last week to the Government relief works in the country, and he has none so far to send forward next week. This might seem to indicate that the unemployment question is solving itself, as a few weeks ago he had over 100 applications. That, however, is not the fact. There is roally no work now offering here, a circumstance daily attested by numerous men seeking it. There is a certain amount of casual work, and some of the men applying for employment are already engaged in such a manner. But this work is of little real value to the family man. What ho wants is an assured job with assured pay, and there is a feeling of real concern that the Harbour Board and Government should have decided against proceeding with the suggested work on the foreshore. It is oiisy for parents in their homes without fear of anything untoward happening to say that men should go out into, the country and work, but the fact remains that a father desires to be with his family, and that it is desirable, and, indeed, essential that he should be so if possible. _ Only mi Wednesday Mr Widowson, S.M., in the Juvenile Court, had to take cognisance of the fact that a mother’s authority is not always sufficient, and on that ground alone a cquntrv should see to it in the interests of its future citizens that the homes are kept intact. Single men are on quite a ■different footing, thouglv such a man, met a few days ago, complained that work of any sort was exceedingly difficult to get, and that the days spent seeking it meant a big hole in the monev he had been able to lay by. It is to be hoped that the Mayor’s appeal, which was published yesterday, will meet a ready response, as it seems quite evident that the figures he gives of men asking for work fall far short of the men actually desirous of securing steady employment that will ensure their family life through the coming months. It may be added,that a distinct drop is noticeable in activity on the waterfront, a fact that bodes no good for those in other occupations.