BLIND-ALLEY JOBS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3809, 16 September 1936, Page 2

BLIND-ALLEY JOBS

TEMPORARY EXPEDIENTS. PLACEMENT SCHEME'S WAY OUT. (From Our Own Correspondent) Wellington, Tuesday. One of the chief objects for which the Labour Department's Placement Scheme was inaugurated was the reinstatement of tradesmen in the trades for which they had been trained, but which, because ol excessive slackness of business, were no longer able to employ them. The operations of the Scheme have been responsible for the permanent •placement, ol more than 3,000 men, of a total of 6,761, a great many of. whom arj- skilled artisans, with (.lie result that at the present time there is an actual shortage of men trained in certain trades, while in several others the margin between supply and demand is sometimes very small. DOMINION-WIDE ENQUIRY. A Departmental enquiry regarding this phase of rehabilitation has covered the whole of the Dominion, and it is hoped that as a result many hundreds of tradesmen now engaged in labouring jobs will be established in their pre-depression callings. The Placement figures testify to the gratifying fact that their reinstatement to full-time private work at normal rates of wages is proceeding very satisfactorily. Almost invariably it was found that absence from their trades had not adversely affected their craftsmanship, a fact probably due to the thoroughness of their training and their natural intelligence. MAKES GOOD AFTER 20 YEARS. A remarkable example of this retention of experience is recorded in a southern Placement. Office. Twenty years ago a highly-qualified iron and steel worker arrived in New Zealand. Being unable to secure employment at his trade, lie accepted the first available job which happened to be connected with tlie confectionery trade. For 17 years he was thus engaged, when the business could no longer employ him, and he had to depend on relist for the next, three years. When he enrolled under the Placement Scheme he declared his original trade and two weeks later a position in a foundry was found for him. During a. month’s trial his work was carefully watched, and the decision of the proprietor of the foundry was that it had proved to be eminently satisfactory. Only an expert, tradesman can hold a position as a motor car painter and clueo worker, and it was in a rather doubtful mood because ol a belief that artisans who had been away from their trades for several years had lost their skill, that the manager of a South Island firm mentioned to a Placement Officer its need for such ?. man. The officer also was dubious, because only two of the men registered had given their principal occu pat ion that ol’ motor car painting, and they had been on relief for several years. Eventually a man with a record of four years on relief was recommended and engaged, and lie appears to have proved that his claim to be a first-class tradesman was not an idle boast, and that he was as skilful as of yore. After being over 12 months on relief a fireman witli a fine record of service at sea and a clean discharge became somewhat despondent when his repeated applications for work were unsuccessful. He had a wife 1 and two children and it was for their sake he had left the sea. He discussed the position with the local Placement Officer, after having registered under the Placement Scheme, and was surprised when informed shortly afterwards that there was a prospect of immediate employment. His state of mind may be imagined when he found himself engaged as a fireman at a brickworks, where the qua!lifications for holding a job were capability, reliability, and sobriety—three virtues that his sea-going- references indicated that he possessed. BUTCHERS REINSTATED. There are 309 butchers enrolled at the 22 Dominion Placement Offices, many of them during recent years having had to make a living at varvious strange occupations. Four notable placements of men of this trade were made this month by the Christchurch office. One of these men had been on relief for five years, another tor three years, and a third for two years, and the fourth for fifteen months. One was sent to South Westland, and the others to Hokitika, Blenheim, and Oamaru respectively, placements that indicate the extreme mobility of the Scheme. In some districts there is a scarcity of upholsterers, but on a South Island city register a man of that trade aged 62, who had been receiving relief for four years, was offered a position with an important firm of furniture manufacturers. He promptly accepted the offer, and the manager of the firm has stated that he is perfectly satisfied with the man’s work. Another instance of a fortunate call at the Placement Office was that of a youth who had served four years of his apprenticeship as an upholsterer. He had worked at odd jobs and on relief for five years, but through the kindly co-operation of an employer, arrangements were made for the young man to finish his last year of apprenticeship with a local firm. IRON-MOULDER IN BISCUIT FACTORY. Surely no more diverse occupations can be imagined than iron-moulding and biscuit making-, yet a man who recently registered under the Placement Scheme at Dunedin, and stated that he had been making biscuits for seven years, gave as his major occupation that of a moulder, but had not worked at that trade for sixteen years. As there has for some time been an urgent demand from ail parts of the Dominion for moulders, the Placement Officer got into touch with a local foundry, and, regardless of the worker’s long absence from the trade, tlie manager gave him a trial. The trial period is now over, and the latest report on the man’s work is that “it is more than satisfactory."