LABOUR’S SCARCITY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 97, 14 June 1911, Page 4

LABOUR’S SCARCITY.

A prominent British tweed manufacturing house recently sent a ropiesentative to Australia in connection with a scheme for the establishment of factories in the Commonwealth, it has now gone forth that after a eaieful investigation ho has had to report adversely on the proposal, on the ..■round that the necessary labour was not available. The Sydney Telegraph,” commenting on this regrettable state of affairs, remarks ‘that it is only necessary to consider the daily complaints of local manufacturers in every branch of industry on the same score to realise at otme the inovitablonoss of that conchis-on. All over the Commonwealth there is a dearth of employable labour, cwing to which the volume of our vraue is prevented from assuming the proportions that otherwise the conditions of fne country would warrant. And especially is this the case with regard to artisan labour, the scarcity as a ndo being greatest in the trades where tbc nature of the work rennires tne most highly skilled hands. Different causes may contribute to tins, but one m them is plain beyond doubt. That is the restriction which latter-day unionism, with the sanction of law, places upon the training of artisans hy limiting the number of apprentices who are allowed tire right to learn trades. Ifv this curtailment of liberty, youths who would gladly qualify for tne higher walks of mechanical industry arc condemned to join tho army of nopdoscrints who, having no specialised ability, are forced to take whatever employment they can got. The abnormal prosper ity now prevailing in the Commonwealth through the bountiful,ness of the seasons fortunately creates a demand for all kinds of labour, so that no able-bodied titan need be without work. But once let tho pendulum swing back again as it lias ■i wov of doing, and there is nowhere for rnairv of tho unskilled but in the rinks of tiro unemployed clamouring for (Jovernmont relief. Tho skilled ."err arc not here to start fresh indrift'i's on any largo scale, as the i'li'glif.h tweed maker,*: have just discovered, arc! while we are not allowin'.' our youths to become skilled, rv itber arc cithiens invited fo come to the country under engagements which secure their future and thus provide, an inducement to the better types of m ui who have steady employment in the Old Country. What it means is

•/.ir.b ’.vt' :ir.' c amying tho gvwt.i cl tiie infant nulu.’ In s of tho Cominon.vo.iltb in tae same way that Chinese mothers cramp the growth of then girl children's feet. And in due tiu.e no may expect to see a general analogous result.”