British Unemployed.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6899, 10 February 1894, Page 2

British Unemployed.

INTERVIEW WITH MR GLADSTONE. A deputation from the unemployed was introduced to Mr Gladstone on 28bh December, at his official residence, by Professor James Stuart. The deputation urged that light railways, similar to those m use and m course of construction m Ireland, be built by the Government m order to give employment to many people now badly m need of work ; and that the vestries be furnished with sufficient financial assistance to enable them to deal with the unemployed people of the city. Mr Gladstone said he had the fullest sympathy for the unemployed. The distress caused by want of work was not confined to London or Great Britain, but existed with greater intensity m other countries. The deputation appeared sanguine of almost omnipotence on the part of the Government, but the latter could not go beyond certain limits. He was m favour of the Government becoming proprietors of the railways m order to control the rates, but the Commission which had the matter m charge had decided against it, regarding the suggestion as useless, and thereby finding no work for the unemployed. The experiments already made m the direction had not proved a success, but the Government would further consider the question. Ministers, however, could promise nothing beyond the usual enquiry into all practical suggestions.