The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1908. EMPLOYMENT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13653, 23 July 1908, Page 4

The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1908. EMPLOYMENT.

We aii in entire agreement with the corespondent who write, to us this inning, in his opinion-that", it to." a moral wrong ~o 'raise a .hue-and cry ahonb the scarcity of employmenb in Timarn ab the present, time/ but ii'w'nnite- useless" to' erfient* responsibility fr.mt tlioite who have shown in a variety of ways "thpti. they have never possessed it. and, neve .*.ll -peases? " ; it. ' The most that, ran lolloped lor-, is .that their, irresponsibility• \v& been "w fiVlly demonstrated on''more thto brie occasion that the results 'of their ■sensational 'statements now will be less /nnforinnhte than would otherwise! be the...case. For onreelves, w ; e 'see-' no reason, id believe that any-Able-bodied man is ; in danger of destitution or -starvation, either in this district or elsewhere in (he eolnay. When we. say that:, we do not mean that, eVeryone. can bo lucky enough to fi«ji- the. employment. ■ which is most- congenial to him, right! at; his own door, -but. we co say that if "he is willing to turn his hand to honest labour that needs doing in different parts of the country, he, will soon rpmove. the occupation of (h«tt V wlio are manufacturing (lie cry of unemployment. Our correspondent!, who, we may assure' (tie public, is in a position to know what, he is writing about, declares that previous to the recent) break in the weather, men could nob be obtained for country work, wMle casual labourers were hanging about tihe town apparently unemployed-. We daresay these are ttie sort of'men who met, iti... Christchurch yesterday afternoon, and decided to black list the colony in the newspapers of Great Britain so as' to deter, further emigration to these shores. . It is; to be hoped that these lamp-post agitators of Cathedral Square will nob have:the free run of the Home papers that; they,} imagine (hey will have, bub we'.daresay'that in England as here there..are only too many prints ready and eager, to seize upon any sensational exaggeration ;-■ regatdlesi. of jta accuracy Or of its effect upon the'welfare of the country. But in case sijch an attempt should be .seriously made to damage the reputation of, thiv colony,: wa hope that the Government will see io it that the labourers-of; the Uniled 1 Kingdom are also made acquainted with Ihi amount of employment now offering to those who are genuinely desirous of b*ing at work. Excuses will of course, .be '■' made try those to whom the Premier, in h\> telegram to the Mayor yesterday, ofl'etvd engagements on the railway construction works now in progress. mey will li.iv.> Io leave their families behind, or they will lint, be aecustomed to the work or something. else will be wrong. We. quiki understand, as everyone, must, thenatural preivfince.iif a labourer for the particular oecipalMn to which he is used, and we do not, blame luniiat. all for refusing oilier employment when he is able to keep going at his own line. Wo are all "one job Jnen" as long as ib is possible for us to remain so, but times come when it is' necessarv for the mnjority of workers to become "handy men" unless they are. con lent to raise the cry of the unemployed. • Suchi- a tiime seeron to b? with us now, bub it is evidenb that there is no need for men to |w actually idle. They must, be prepare.} to sell tl.cir labour » ifle points jit whioli labour is in demand by the Government, by rnnbol'ders, and by fanners, jusli;' as many good men before them have done in the earlier hislory of New Zealand,, with solid! .benefit to fihempelv.es'and to the ; country* So long as these opeuiiigs are available, 'there is no necessity.' for ah unemployed, scare, and we trust that <he prompt publicnlion of ,the work; that is to be had will bring even tlh« .iSensation-ninngers t<j their senses.