TRADESMEN IN DEMAND

Southland Times, Issue 23310, 21 September 1937, Page 8

TRADESMEN IN DEMAND

Erection Of Public Buildings MINISTER SEES END OF PROBLEM UNEMPLOYMENT EXISTING IN CITIES (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, September 20. “Quite definitely the unemployment problem in New Zealand has its back broken and if we can get sufficient skilled men it will not be long before we have employment for every man capable of accepting it,” said the acting Minister of Labour and Employment (the Hon. P. C. Webb) tonight. The Minister said the scheme of training young men from 18 to 25 years of age who had missed their opportunity during the depression was well under way and a considerable number of apprenticeships had already been registered. The Government would spare no efforts to have these young men trained. “We are badly in need of more carpenters and builders,” the Minister added. “In fact, the work we have planned out will require at least 10,000 additional tradesmen. We have dozens

of big public buildings ready to be built if labour can be found. There are contracts let for the building of houses in over 40 towns and in many instances a shortage of skilled men has impeded operations. “Unless we can get skilled tradesmen it will be very much more difficult to solve the unemployment problem,” said the Minister. “Given sufficient skilled artisans the unemployment problem will soon disappear and all that will be left of the unemployed army will be those who are unemployable.” The Minister added that in many parts of New Zealand at the present time there were no Unemployed who were able to work. It was only in the cities and big towns that the problem, was still in evidence.