THE UNEMPLOYED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2009, 25 August 1892, Page 20

THE UNEMPLOYED.

About 100 men waited upon his Worship the Mayor at the Town Hall on the morning of the 17th to ask him for assistance in obtaining employment. They represented that altogether there were some 300 men in Dunedin waiting anxiously for work, and that most of them were married. It was stated that several of the men had been working in the Catlius district road making, but the wages they earned there were not sufficient to keep them and provide for their families. The storekeepers refused to give them further credit unless they got a Government guarantee for the payment of their accounts. The price they wore paid, l4s to 17s a chain for felling, logging, and stacking, was too little to pay for food for themselves, and they could send nothing to their families. There were about 250 men at roadmaking at one time, but only 30 or 40 remained now. The Christchurch men had also gone away. They suggested that possibly work might be obtained for them on the Otago Central railway. His Worship informed the men that he would do all in his power to obtain work for them. His Worship then waited on Mr Farnie at the Labour Bureau. Mr Farnie said ho could give no hope of being able to employ more than 20 of the mon. The men at Catlins were doing as well as those on the Obago Central, and would do better if the weather was not so bad. He had inteuded sending 20 men to Catlins that day, but he had received a telegram from Dabinett and Young saying that on account of the heavy losses incurred through men leaving the works without payiug their stores account, they would not supply stores unless they had a Government guarantee. Mr Farnie stopped the men and telegraphed to Mr Tregear, Wellington, for instructions. The Mayor then telegraphed to the Minister for Public Works, who promised to communicate with Mr Ussher with a view to having 25 of the worst cases employed.

Mr Farnie, of the local labour bureau, communicated with the Wellington office last week the fact that Messrs Dabinett and Young, storekeepers, of Owake, would supply no more provisions to the men on the relief works there unless they received a guarantee from the Government against a recurrence of the heavy losses they had sustained through men leaving the district without paying for the supplies they had received. A reply has been received to the effect that the opinion of the law officers was being obtained as to whether such a guarantee could be given without interfering with the provisions of the Truck Act. Mr Farnie states that he could have found employment for some of the men at bush-felling on Mr John M'Coll Smith's land, Glenomaru ; but as no one seemed inclined to take advantage of this opportunity to get work, he was forced to obtain 10 men from Oamaru to supply the necessary labour.

About 100 of the unemployed assembled in the vicinity of the local labour bureau on Monday morning with the view of ascertaining who had been selected for work on the Otago Central railway. Mr Farnie announced the names of 28 men who had been chosen for the work, and stated that a preference had been given to married men with large families, or men with relatives dependent on them for support. He hoped in about a fortnight to be able to send away all who desired to obtain work.

Mr Farnie is of opinion that there are not more than 100 men out of employment in Dunedin at the present time. Some of those who are now looking for work here have been engaged in felling bush at Catlins. According to the last week's report from that locality 125 men are now at work there. Since the works were initiated for the unemployed at Catlins some 38 men have returned. Some of these being unsuited to the work could not make it pay, and were consequently not satisfied to remain there. There are, however, some who have been making good wages in the district. For instance, one man who recently left owing to an accident to his foot, was earning from 8s to 10s a day. Again a man who returned to town last week to attend the funeral of his wife, is so satisfied with the wages that he was making that he is desirous of going back again. One man among the unemployed who waited on Mr Farnie on Monday, and was formerly at Catlins, is of opinion that it would be better if the work were divided into earthworks and bushfelling, as some men are unable to engage in the latter kind of work, who could make good wages if employed on earthworks. Over 60 men had their names entered on the books at the local labour bureau on Tuesday. Some of them state that they have been out of employment for six months. Two men who had been selected on Monday to go to Middlemarch on Wednesday morning turned up at the bureau on Tuesday and stated that they were not going. One of them had found employment here, and the other one had injured his hand so that he was not able to work. Two other men who had been selected on Monday did not put in an appearance on Tuesday. Mr Farnie consequently decided to fill up their places and also the places of the two previously referred to. The question of who should go in their stead was determined by ballot, about 50 men engaging in the operation of balloting. Some 15 men of the unemployed came down from Oamaru on Tuesday, having been sent down by the bureau agent there in order that they might proceed to the works on the Otago Central railway. They left Dunedin for Middlemarch on Tuesday afternoon by the 4-.20 train.