EMPLOYMENT IN TIMARU

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13654, 24 July 1908, Page 6

EMPLOYMENT IN TIMARU

To tb* Editor of the " Timaru Herald." Sir, —A -word or two about employment in Timaru- I would like io know if the man who signs himself as one who knows, does know what he is talking about. I ■wonder if he is a man in steady work. If he is is should be the last one to speak, but if be is not, why does he not. go to tihe job gorse grubbing afc 30s and find himself. Suppose be is a man with a, wife and children. Say hi 6 keep comes to 15s a week, 10s for house rent, 5s for fire. How much is left for food? Say he goes to the Mackenzie Country with a gang of men, which I hare been myself on piecework, sent by the labour agent. The men are tol-J off in gangs, No. 1, 2, 3, 4. No. 1 and 2 is not l a very good gang; they only make 3s or 4s a day. No. 3 and 4 make 10s and 12s a day and their nioney i* brought back so as to make each gang's money alike. That is what is done on the Government works in Timaru or has been done. I would like to know if your correspondent would like to be in the good zanz or the bad gang?—l am, etc., * * LABOUR.

Sir, —It giT«3 me great pleasure to find "One who Knows" coming forward with so much valuable information. If he had given his name and addrttss, I have no doubt a good few of us would have called upon him to-day. But like many of the people with knowledge, he prefers to air it—just a little—to give us some idea of b% vast, resources. I have some little idea what the Mackenzie Country is like afc this time of year. I have seen snow, and I have seen a goise grubber, bufc 1 do not presume to have the experience of " One who Knows." However, I would not have believed thafc " a sheep farmer in the Mackenzie Country*' wouid be so generous—l might almost say so prodigal—as to offer men "30s per week and find themselves" "gorse-gmbbing," unk*s "One who Knows" had explicitly stated "I "have it on good authority." Still, I can scarcely credit it. (The unemployed will have at least one unselfietsh man, tho-. i-oughly in sympathy with them.) 1 presume he would prefer expending Ids bounty on married men with large families. What an opportunity! Would "One who Knows" not let us have the name of the sheep farmer, in the Mackenzie Country, to whom he refers? New Zealand has few monuments in honour of its philanthropists, but I feel confident that I could collect a few shillings, even from the unemployed, to erect a monument in honour of this 6heep-farmer's unbounded philanthropy. Something ought to be done to have Ms name and his memory handed down to posterity. I would hive liked to touch en the otiwr points, but " 30s per week and find themselves, in the Mackenzie Country," seems to be the centre point in the letter. Like " One who Knows," I believe it is a good thing for some folks that their fathers carved out the country, and also that there is plenty of work for * 'those who are willing." Surety it i» "not unreasonable to ask " One who Knows' to publish the names of all such eniployeis of labour as the worthy farmer, and the unemployed will know where not to gf» in search of watk. I am, etc.,

ONE "WHO WISHES TO KNOW. Sir, —I noticed a letter in this morning's issue of the " Herald" signed " One who Knows," commenting on the unemployed in this town, and also the casual labour employed about- the wharf. I have been about eleven or twelve years working in the shipping line, at the wharf, and I think I ought to know about what tlie average man earns there. Your correspondent "One who Knows" (nothing) says that for the majority of months in the year, a wharf labourer ean:s one pound per day. I say that that is a distinct falsehood. I will challenge any man employed on the wharf to say that he has earned one pound per day for one month in the year, let alone seven months in the year. Your correspondent also" asserts that work is no n-lacker at. this time this year than at this time any other year. The proof of that is •easily found in that the freezing works are practically' finished for the season, and they have' had a- .worse season -this year by a third than last year, and we on the wharf have to depend on the shipment of mutton for one half of our living. The freezing works generally keep going up till fc'eptember in ordinary years, so that you can see that we will have a very slack time till next wool season. Yonr correspon--dent " who knows everything" iays that a Mackenizc Country sheep farmer informed one of the agents here that he would employ six or more men that were unemployed, at goree-grubbing, at the large sum of 30s per week and find tl emselves. I think I am right in saying that at the Arbitration Court a sheep farmer complained that he could not feed bis men under sixteen shillings per week, to that you can see at a glance what a man with a'linme to keep in town°"and pay his fare, buy hi» took, tent and cooking utensils, and buy his food, would make at 30s per week in the Mackenzie Country. "One who Knows'' aivo states that living is not'abnormally hijh. ( ;;n ho inform me when living was higher than it » at the present time? Of r«Mii<=e I can quite understand his attitude in this matter. He does not want the town and district shown in its true light. It would be better for him if we always cracked it up, as being prosperous, and plenty of work for emigrants, etc., but we who Lave to earn our living by the sweat of our brow know;

otherwise, although we are given credit for being "too eolt in the hands " In tackle pick and shovel work. It only shows the ignorance of "One who knows" (nothing) to say that wharf lumpers are soft in the hands. Perhaps if he tackled something harder than he is doing to-day, his hands -would be all the better for it, and that seems to be all that he is -worrying about*, being afraid that things will not improve and he will have to make one more of the casual workers. If " One who knows" will meet me afc the crossing I -will take him to my place and prove to him that I have not made one pound per day for two consecutive weeks in one year this last ten years, and I think I can claim about the average.—l am, etc., DAVID McKENZIE, Wharf Labourer.

ON RELIEF WORKS. l'tr Trees Association. CHRISTCHURCH, July 23. The weather conditions which, obtained to-day were favourable to those ruling the previous day and all who wero on relief works in the city were able to putl in full time. That the number of men who are genuinely out of work is decreasing seems l airly apparent. The list submitted to <lie City Council on Monday evening by the secretary of the General Labourers Union contained 157 names ; the next day 89 men registered their names afc the labour bureau and yesterday 54 registered afc the City Council to date. Railway passes have bean issued by the Labour Department to 27 men who accepted work on the Midland Railway beyond Broken River. Six men have accepted work on. the West Coast and to date the City Council has employed 33 men, 22 of whom wero taken on this morning. In addition a number of men have llaken odd jobs offered by residents in and about- the city. The 38 men taken on by the City Council up to date are either married men or men with dependents and the larger proportion of tihem expect to get into work as soon as the weather clears, xhe majority of the men are not dependent or navvying bufc are carpenters, butchers, slaughtermen and gardeners. The city surveyor informed a Press representative that the Council had put on every man who had presented himself at the Council Office who had dependents and' who was not in a position to take work on the Midland Railway—men who were cither too old for that class of work or men who haYe a number of dependents and are so situated thafc 'they could not leave town, such as men who bad a large number of children. These men required some temporary assistance to tide them over till the weather becomes more settled. At another meeting of unemployed held to-day, it was decided to meet to-morrow, morning and go round with a spring cart to beg for food and necessaries for the unemployed.

NAPIER, July 23. The unemployed difficulty experienced in other centres has noli yet reached Napier. Mr Gohus, officer in charge of the local branch of the Labour Department, states that all applicants for work are being satisfactorily placed, although the positions are not sufficiently rosy to warrant an influx of unemployed workers.