THE UNEMPLOYED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5280, 10 June 1895, Page 1

THE UNEMPLOYED.

DEPUTATION TO THE PEEMIEE.

The deputation of representatives of local bodice, appointed at the meeting held last Tuesday evening, waited upon the Premier at the Provincial Council Chamber on Saturday morning. The deputation was headed by the Mayor of Chnstohurob, and amongst those present were the Mayor of Lyttelton, the Hon W. Montgomery, M.L.C., Mr <3. Humphreys (president of the Chamber of Commerce), Mr H. B. Kirk (president of the Industrial Aesociation), Messrs G. J. Smith, W. W. Collinp, 6. W. Russell, John Joyce, and D. Buddo, M.H.B.'s. The following are the resolutions that were brought before the Premier: — "That his Worship the Mayor and other representives of local bodies form a deputation to wait upon the Premier on his visit to Christchurch this week, and urge him to open a section of the Midland Railway to give immediate work to the unemployed, and to provide work upon lands now being purchased by the Government." " That this meeting of representatives of local bodies around Christohuroh, urges the Government to place a sum of money in the hands of such local bodies as are willing to subsidise it and'ppend it for the benefit of the unemployed."

The following is a full report of the Premier's raply: —

The Hon E J. Seddon said he was somewhat disappointed with the remarks thab had fallen from the various speakers. He had received an invitation by telegram to meet representatives- of local Bodies and labour organisations who, he understood, would lay matters before him in connection with the unemployed difficulty. He thought at least that they would have come prepared to submit some practicable scheme for dealing with the question, and that he would, after going into the matter with them, have been able to give them a reply at once as to how far the Government was prepared to meet them in the matter. The position, however, appeared to be a unique one. The Mayor of Cbriatchuroh had told them that flome of the representatives of local bodies present were not in a position to pledge the Boards which they represented in any • way,, and that they had attended the meeting the other night without being properly accredited to do bo. j If the matter was of so mnoh moment as he had been led to believe, surely the least that might have been expected was that special meetings of the local bodies would have been held to consider what could be done, for those bodies had a great deal of responsibility in the matter. Some of these bodieß did not appear to understand their position or functions. If they would look at the Act and see what duties were imposed upon them they, would find that they had a great deal to do with the unemployed question. What did they levy hoapital and charitable aid rates for, if not to assist the people in their immediate districts? The Legislature had laid down certain duties which the local bodies were to perform, and if the members did not understand their functions and carry out the duties imposed upon them, theyhad no right to be where they were. The representatives of these, bodies were not authorised to tell him that they would grant subsidies for finding work in their own districts. If they had been able to cay that they would put work in hand, if JB for £ were contributed through the Charitable Aid Board, aa waß done last year, there would have been something feasiblo before him. The deputation proposed absolutely nothing, but attempted to throw the whole onus of the position on the shoulders of the Government. The local bodies having distinctly said they would do nothing : what was the use of coming to him that day ? It was merely playing with the matter. He wished to point out that the Government could only Bpend money as approved by Parliament, and in the proper coarse of law. It could only grant subsidies if Bpeoially ear-marked in the Estimates. The only way in which subsidies could be granted was through the Charitable Aid Boards, as was done last year. Local bodies were bound by law aa to their expenditure, and. tbe General Government was equally bound. If the Government granted a subsidy without the authority of Parliament, the voucher would not be passed by the Auditor-General, any more than illegal expenditure would be allowed by auditors of lcctl bodies. There could be no doubt as to the responsibility that rested with local bodies in the matter of assisting the people in their own immediate districts. The Legislature had provided for this in fixing the subsidy to be paid on rates raised by local bodies. They were direstly interested in the matter, and had a voice in the management of the Charitable Aid and Hospital Boards and Benevolent Trustees. The am to be contributed by the State as Bui.o.J/ to these bodies had already been ! paid as required by law. la this, as j -well as in other respects, the State had done its duty. If the looal bodies claimed thatthey had no obligation in the matter, why did they take the money from the taxpayers in the shape of rates? If they were not prepared to assist in case of emergency, they should not be allowed to exist. T hig winter the unemployed difficulty seemed to be more acute than in previous years, and instead of deciding, as they appeared to hive done, to do nothing in the matter, it was

obviously the duty of the local bodies to have taken the Bubjeot into consideration brfore the winter set in, and to have decided in what form they could beat assist. A difficulty met was more than half overcome, and the local authorities, had they taken the lead in the matter, would, he waß sure, hare received the support of the people of Chriatchurch a ■ surrounding districts. He could not believe that the people here wished each a state of things as he had been told existed, to continue. He thought it did not redound to the credit of the leading citizens to stand idly by and allow the question to become a dispute aa to whose dnty it was to find work, while, he was told, there were people absolutely starving in their midst. He* contended it was the dnty of every man to ccc that his fellow beinga did not want for bread. He referred to the way the difficulty was met in Wellington last year, when the oitizens put their hands into their pooketa to the extent of £500, which was supplemented by a like ! amount from the City Council. This money was to be spent solely for benevolent purposes, and therefore the Government was enabled to pay the £ for £ subsidy on it* As for Dnneiin, he had just received a telesram from Mr Chisbolm there, stating that the citizens were willing to raise .£IOOO for charitable aid work, and asking what the Government was prepared to do in the matter. He had replied that the Government if in keeping with the law, would subsidise that amount, as was done last year. The Mayor of Christchurch had stated the same thing had been done here last winter, and surely now that the case was worse than it was then, there was more reason why this course should be adopted again this winter. The Government had paid the subsidy upon that amount, and Christohurch and district had had the benefit of the work. He hoped this meeting would have the result of the Mayor being allowed to do what had been done by his predecessor in this matter. He would then be able to do honour to himself and credit to the city. Now, as to what the Government had done. They had foreseen that the difficulty would arise, and had plaoed upon the estimates the sum of £20,000 for the co-operative works, but this amount had all been expended, and in addition three months' unauthorised expenditure had been incurred, and still the difficulty existed. During the last fourteen months nearly 2000 men had been taken from the three centres— Wellington, Christchurch and Danedin, and given employment through the Labour Bureau. This should strike anybody as a stupendous work for the Government to have done in the time, and, in addition, numbers of men had been taken from other places. The General Government had done this, and the local bodies had stood aloof and not helped them in any way. It had been stated through the papers, and he was constantly being told, that persons with means absolutely refused to give employment, in order to make matters more difficult for the Government. As a general rule he would not believe that Buch was the case, and he would ask the labourers not to credit this. It might be done in a few instances for politioal purposes, but he had a better opinion of the capitalists as a class than to think they would be guilty of such a thing. It was but fair to point out that these people were not in bo good a poßitioQ now to employ labour on account of the fall in the value of their products. Prices for wool and grain during the year had been very low, and many who had drawn extensively against their shipments of wool now found themselves in the position of having to make good a deficiency instead of receiving any money, and were therefore not in a position to find employment. He had been told by men in search of employment that they had been told '• Oh, go to the Government." He could quite understand that people who were con-, stantly badgered for work, and were unable to give it, might, when irritated, say something of the kind. To these, under the circumstances, they- should rather extend their sympathies, and he was perfectly satisfied that the stoppage of employment for political purposes was not widespread. He maintained that the Government deserved commendation for having grappled with the question of the unemployed, as far as its means would allow, but he might tell them that he did not intend to allow that or any other question to force the Government to go beyond what its finances would admit. For the credit of the colony it must and would keep within bounds in the matter of expenditure. Discredit had been brought on the colony and on the party to which he belonged, in the past, by allowing such to be done, and, therefore, his Government had determined not to fall into the same error. In reply to Mr Collins' s question, as to whether the men who were leaving here now for co-operative works were only going to half time, he would like to point out that the number oh co-operative works had more 'than doubled during the year, and with the limited amount at the disposal oC the Department, it was advisable to make the money go as far as possible. With this object in view, the working time had been reduced by one-fifth, and this allowed of an additional '500 men being taken on. As the men were making fair wages, and this was the principle laid down by labour organisations, they were doing right in following it. In this reepect, he might mention that in Wei-

lington the printers bad themselves suggested that they should work a fortnight about, bo as to give all a share of what was going. Since May 4, fifty men had been taken away from Chriatchurch alone, thus relieving the congestion in the labour market, and as the local authorities had done nothing he conld not possibly see what light they had to blame the Government for the acute stage arrived at in the unemployed question. Mr Burgess had stated that there were

twenty miles of roads to makt in the Avon district. He was very glad tc hear him say 80, and they should immediately proceed to have them made. The Board had power to raiae the money, nndei the Loans to Local Bodies Act, for the purpose, and this was a splendid opportunity for thorn to Bet an example to others. If there were any other bodies who had roads to make, they had only to send in their applications to the Colonial Treasurer who had the money in hand, and then they wonld be able to put a number of men to work. The Government, was endeavouring to purchase lands in Canterbury to open for settlement, and employment could be found in roading these estates. The lands were in the hands of too few, and therefore did not employ the- amount of labour that they would do in Btnajler blocks. Great difficulty was experienced in getting land, as many of the owners had purchased at inflated values, and .therefore could net afford to sell at a reasonable piice, A number of offers had been referred by the Land Purchase Board to the Cabinet, and he would see when in Wellington what could be done ; but he was afraid the prices would still be too high to allow of the Government putting men on them at a price that would enable them to make a living. Government, however, would do its beat in the matter of acquiring lands and Bottling the people on them. He thought Canterbury would , do far better if she would assist ia finding work for the people here than by allowing the population to be drafted away to other places. He found that they were sending their aged and infirm men away, and this resulted in the long run in shunting the responsibility on to other communities. He had always laid down a rule, while in office, that as long as there was reproductive work to do, he would ask Parliament for money for it. The co-operative system had been of considerable benefit to the country ac a whole, but the trouble was that when men once went on to these works they expected to be continually kept going. Another thing was that many of the men who earned fair wages on these works spent it as fast as they made it. A great deal of the misery was the result of want of thrift in the past*. The question of planting trees along the railway was one for the Railway authorities. The question had been raised of town voraus country. Well, he wbb aware that ' some of the country bodies here had large sums of money on deposit, and now was the time to employ them for the benefit of the district;, as a change of local government was about to be introduced, and this might result in all these' funds being absorbed into the general account. With regard to the Midland Eailway, he had no heei-

tation in saying that the original contract had been " determined, and had the Government had the plans it would have immediately gone on with the work, and trusted to Parliament ratifying ita action. The Government never had, and never would, shirk its duty either in respect to this or the unemployed difficulty. He would not allow the unemployed question to be made a class one, and the Government, though anxious to do its best, would cot go outside the law. He had been asked to hand over moneys to the local bodies for them to spend as they thought fit. This was ridiculous, as these bodies could then hold any work over till the winter, and then get it done at starvation rates. The land settlement scheme would be gone on with without any delay as soon as suitable land could be procured. He asked the local bodies to meet the present difficulty in a fair way as New Zealanders, and not in a petty manner, and do their duty to each other. Things would then soon be all right. Too much was made of the unemployed cry, and the agitations by those who did not want work themselves should be condemned. If the question were grappled with in a broad manner by the local bodies, Government would also do its best to see that an opportunity was given to everyone to make a living.

After farther discussion, in reply to a question, the Premier said that if there were twenty men here prepared to go, and who were in necessitous circumstances, he would arrange for them to be Bent to cooperative works (tt once.

The Mayor, having thanked the Premier for receiving the deputation the meeting closed.