THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9304, 3 August 1908, Page 3

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

FROM THE OrilEß END. ACCOMMODATING THE UNEMPLOYED. Ever since the question of unemployment became acute in Chrietckurck, nearly a fortnight ago, men have been sent up in larger or smaller companies to take work on the Midland railway construction works at Broken River. The Department despatched stated numbers, giving the men tickets authorising a 25 per cent discount from their fares, and, except that some of the men were reported not to havo gone, nothing official has since been heard of them, by the public. Statements are now being made, however, that, whatever the- efficacy of the arrangements made for despatching the men, those for their reception at Broken River wei*e not favourable to comfort or the retention of equanimity. The chief complaints have been that the Department's arrangements for giving the new arrivals accommodation at the works were not adequate to the rush of men ; that the workers had misrepresented to them the manner in which they would be provided with tools and other necessaries, and that the work, which was stated to be ample for all comers, was not provided at once. The officer in charge of the Labour Department's Bureau at Christ-church told a reporter to-day that it was not unlikely the sudden arrival of a large number of men had taxed tho resources somewhat at Broken River; but the largest number of m<m sent by the Bureau on any one day was thirty-four, seven out of the forty-one provided with tickets having stayed away. Tho erection of the tents for the men was quite a new thing. Ordinarily tho newly arrived workers were given a tent, which they could put up in any sheltered corner they favoured. He had, as far as he could remember, always made it clear to the men applying for work that the tents would be lent to them, the pick lent, and other tools, like the railway fare, advanced. It had always been an xmderstood thing on co-opera-tive works that the shovels and other tools were advanced to be paid for afterwards. He had been asked by one man what the cost of living was likely to be, and replied, having in view a slight enhancement in prices owing to the extra risks, that it would be but little more than in Christchurch. The man suggested 2os or 30s, but he had replied that it would be nearer 10s. He saw no other grounds than that remark for the statement in a recent letter to the" " Lyttelton Times " that he had assessed the probable cost of " baching" at 10s at the most; and it was obvious he did not mean that. The actual cost, i oviir the minimum, would depend upon i what the man regarded as necessaries, : and it was, of course, unfair to take < into the first week's " keep *' the cost 1 of cooking utensils, or to add on boots i from time to time, and call the mereas- j i ed total the cost of living.