DUNEDIN LABOUR MARKET.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 231, 14 April 1874, Page 5

DUNEDIN LABOUR MARKET.

Mr John Skene, of the Dunedin Labour Agency, reports as follows for the week ending April 2: — “ There has been a good deal of discontent among employers of labour for a few days back on account of the difficulty in getting anything like qualified servants, especially for farm work. The good old stamp of ploughman is not to be got, even at tempting wages. It is vexing to see the uselessness of many late arrivals. It is difficult to know what to do with many who apply for work, when they have no trade or particular calling, and often they can neither read nor write. They may get broken in to Colonial life, but that will never make up for the lack of a little education. The writer thought that all classes in Merry England could at least read or write. Germans must all have a trade, and a little hit of learning.—There is a great scarcity of masons, and I may say the same of bred carpenters. Tradesmen of all kinds are fully employed, and pretty certain to be so for a long time to come. Railway contractors are short of the ‘ real article’ in their line. I have placed several at the following figures —Farm servants, L.52, L.55, up to L.63 per year, and found ; if married, L.70 and L.75. Female servants get as follows : if general, L.30, L.35, and L.40 ; if with special qualifications, housekeepers or cooks, L.52 per year and upwards. Tradesj men do not vary much, and if of the right sort, employers do not hesitate at good wages. Youngsters of all kinds are picked up the | minute they leave school. Too many parents ; look to their little ones’ earnings far too much. | But as I have only to do with surrounding I and daily occurring facts, moralising is sup- ' posed to be out of my line,”