CO-OPERATION IS URGED

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 22998, 15 September 1944, Page 4

CO-OPERATION IS URGED

Unemployed In Timaru Fear Of Direction To North Mentioned

An appeal to persons desiring work to complete the forms that have been printed was made by a number of speakers at a meeting of ' unemployed In Timaru last night. The secretary of the unemployed movement (Mr o. J. F. McKee) said that he had already received a number of completed forms, but before any action could be taken full information was necessary. Hie chairman (Mr A. Morris) also mentioned the necessity for the early completion of the forms. “I hope the call for co-operation will be heard by all,” said Mr J. Cooke, a member of the district Trades Council, who was present by invitation. “No one hates unemployment more than I. It is a blot on the home, on the wife and family,” he continued. “The Trades Council will do its utmost and declarations of a desire to obtain work by unemployed will greatly assist.” At their last meeting they had made a conservative estimate that there were 100 unemployed in Timaru, said Mr Morris, but in the following week they had counted 147 men who were looking for work. There were many men eking out a bare existence as non-Union labourers on the waterfront sooner than be directed to Wellington away from their homes and families.

“When men are directed to work in Wellington, the greater part of their spending power goes there too,” continued Mi- Morris. “The small businessman and the shopkeeper in Timaru should fight to retain these men and their spending power in the town. In the busy periods on the waterfront at Timaru these men are needed. If they are directed away then it follows that shipping must also be diverted because of the resultant shortage of labour.”

Tributes to the efficiency of the District Manpower Officer (Mr T. A. McDonnell) were paid by speakers. Mr Morris said that he had had many dealings with Mr McDonnell and had always found him eager to help find employment. Mr Cooke said he was pleased to hear the tribute paid Mr McDonnell. The manpower officer was sincere in his desire to assist all that he could, and he deserved the cooperation of the unemployed. Mr McDonnell was concerned at the position in Timaru and the sooner he knew the extent of those desiring work the better.

Mayor and M.P. Criticised Reporting on the business he had carried out since the last meeting, Mr McKee commented on the action of the Mayor of Timaru (Mi- A. E. S. Hanan) in sending a telegram to Wellington stating that there was no unemployed in Timaru. "When Mr Hanan can cram three inaccuracies into one telegram he is not interested in the problem,” said Mr McKee.

“We certainly do not condone his action,” remarked Mr Morris. The Rev. Clyde Carr, M.P., also came in for criticism for his reference to the meeting of unemployed as being a "disgruntled minority.” “Mr Carr is very much at fault,” said Mr Morris. "At the present it suits him to kick the underdog. Once he was glad to lead their procession. Time has wrought changes.” Justification for combining the unemployed in Timaru with the returned soldier looking for work was claimed by Mr Morris. “Must we debar a man from our meetings and from our movement because he has been at the war?” he asked. He had been criticised but he would not apologise for trying to help the returned man who was seeking work. Mi- Morris added. The case of a man sent to work for a local body in Timaru by the man-

power officer was related by Mr Morris. The worker understood that the job would last three months. He had been warned that he was unpopular because of his political opinions but he had never been told that his work was unsatisfactory in any respect. He was told at midday that day that he-was finishing the job that night “because the work was being curtailed.” The days of “hire and fire” had returned. The local body apparently thought that that would be the end of the matter, but Mr Morris could assure tnem that it was only the beginning After the recent wide publicity and criticism resulting from the report of the first meeting of unemployed in Timaru, the meeting last evening carried a motion of thanks to the newspapers for their “honest, comprehensive and truthful" reports.