RECORD NUMBER ON PUBLIC WORKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 91, 8 July 1927, Page 1

RECORD NUMBER ON PUBLIC WORKS

EFFECT OF RELIEF WORK (THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter A WELLINGTON, Thursday. With the return to work of the men at Arapuni, and with the labourers being absorbed for the relief of unemployment, the number of employees on the pay roll of the Public Works Department has risen to the 12,000 mark—a figure never previously reached, and indeed never dreamed of by the authorities a few years ago. A perusal of the graph showing the staff movement in this department convinces one of the steady growth of the numbers in work at the various camps since pre-war years.

One interesting feature of the graph is the violent movement of the indicator at times of depression. Immediately there is a slump, the number rises rapidly, showing increased staff on relief works, but when normal conditions are resumed it is invariably found that the list does not return to the point where it was before the relief work was offered.