WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9640, 15 January 1903, Page 2

WORK IN SOUTH AFRICA.

" — ■ A .New Zealand carpenter, who emigrated to South Africa soiriefmontlw a<ro writing from Pretoria to a Wellington resident (Mr J. Stevens, of the . r Native Lands Office), emphasises the; oft-repeated-axiom that to ,gd to South ' Africa without motley, is madness. He found 150 carpenters out' of employment m Durbanwhen ho landed there, aiid .therefore decided to go U) the Transvaal, where he succeeded, m getting work, m the Public Works Department at £24 per month at Pretona'l suppose," He- write* 'you -would, like to know what I' 'think of bouth Africa, so I will just tell you straight wliat I do think, and that is not uiu,cb t I would sooner be -working m New Zealand at £3 a week than I would here at £6, shut up m the IVuiwriutl hundreds of miles from any 'seaport at the nearest point. It is nothing buMvujfiU and sleep, m this country}, and not^nielK' fun for the money you pay for it. Drinks cost Is a glass" and whisky and soda Is 6d,* shandy Is 6d, while a box of rt b ??,'3«4i«g 3 «f ,New, Zealand Id is 3d' here; ■ Board- J anti. .Jloagings cost £8 a month (paid m advance), and it costs you 6s a dozen for your washing, which runs you hitri- toother £1 a month, so you can see that with all the big wage^ a man gets it does pot go far when v«a ■g-j m for any am\>'i«ment. Fof a yboricfellow wiUr»- l^ade/who ia singlev vow cannot beat j,tj for saviiio m6i»r— thab •- is. if you. get stead}^ woric aid lost m» tune; bj>. t if you get out of work for any leiigtli of time the. money you luive savjiu fioou goes. For a married nutn it >3 iiw placer at present. The rent he pays is from £14 t0. £16 a month for a five or six-^i-oomed house, m Johannesburg or Pretoria, and. I ' the. further north one goes the dearer it gets. Of course^ it will all depend on circumstances, but I do not think I will stop m Africa more than a couple of years, if all goes well, and I get a couple of, hundreds together."