PLACEMENT SCHEME.

Wairarapa Age, 14 August 1936, Page 4

PLACEMENT SCHEME.

ADDRESS BY MASTERTON OFFICER. APPEAL TO EMPLOYERS. POSITIONS NEEDED FOB YOUTHS & YOUNG MEN. Speaking over the air from Station 2ZD last evening, on the subject of the Government Placement Scheme, the Masterton Placement Officer (Mr. J. G. Hanaghan )said it had been highly gratifying to meet such a wonderful response from employers, though there might still be some who had not yet realised the full significance of the scheme. "I find,” he continued, "that there are some who are more or less marking time pending the application of new legislation, and consequently there may be some employers who will find themselves caught in a mild trade boom with their staffing problems unsolved. There are employers who may not yet have realised that the Government Employment Bureau has on its books a large number of men, classified according to their industrial capabilities, and whose testimonials have been completely verified. Employers can rest assured that as far as they could reasonably expect, any man sent to them from the bureau would be those whose integrity and suitability for employment have been established. I should also like to stress the fact that the services of the bureau are entirely free, a condition that obtains throughout the Dominion, and that my Department will be only too glad to relieve any firm or business man of the perplexing task of selecting hands.

“The types of workers on my books,” Mr. Hanaghan continued, “include general gardeners, boot repairers, storemen, dairy factory workers, motor trimmers, grocers 4 assistants, drapertf’ assistants, general labourers, skilled labourers, lorry drivers, tractor drivers, scrub cutters, fencers, and shearers, and although many of these men have not followed their normal occupations regularly for a number of years, those who have so far been placed have shown that they have not lost any of their inherent skill; and I want to appeal to those employers who are waiting developments of improved Government policy to engage some labour in at least a casual capacity, as the indications seem to be that good labour will soon be difficult to obtain. As I see it, prosperity will come to the Dominion according to the spending power of the people, and if every employer will do his utmost to help into fulltime employment as many workers as possible, the effects of their action, both to the worker who has had such a lean time, and also in a national sense, will be inestimable. I would much appreciate help too, from private citizens. Now is the time for vegetable gardens to be turned over, and I have quite a number of men on my books who are skilled in the work of trenching, ready to take on casual gardening at a moments notice. There are any amount of jobs that could be tackled, particularly repair of fences, and if every citizen who could afford it were to give only one day’s work to an unemployed man, the result would be incalculable. I am deeply concerned with the problem of youths, of whom I have several enrolled under the scheme. As you know, many youths were denied in the years of the depression the opportunity of employment or of suitable training, and they now find themselves at an age when it is difficult to get a footing on the ladder of life. Most of these youths have attractive educational qualifications, and all are of a keen and energetic type. I know it is going to be hard to ask an employer to take on a young man of twenty who has had no vocational training, but I must make a strong appeal to employers to explore every chance of a possible opening until such time as some plan in formulated for the absorption of these young fellows. We owe it to them, to the nation, and to ourselves, to see that our youths are not left to drift aimlessly through life. Finally, I appeal to all classes of the community who may require labour of any kind, whether casual or permanent, to make use of the Government Employment Bureau. If you ring number 1214, I can promise that your enquiries will meet with prompt attentiori.”