UNEMPLOYMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 536, 17 June 1909, Page 2

UNEMPLOYMENT.

DEPUTATION TO THE GOVERNMENT.

ASSISTANCE PROMISED. A deputation representing tho working mea of Christchuroh and Wellington waited on tin Premier yesterday to urge upon the Govern' ment the necessity of acting promptly to ro> liovo tho unemployed difficulty. Mr. Ell, who introduced tho deputation, said that tho posi. tion i 9 very acute, and there were several ir.arried men out of employment. Mr. 1 M'Laren, M.P., said that in Wellington tho unemployed had been moeting daily in a body, and they wanted .to march up to Parliament on masso to put their position befora the Premier. They had, howover, been persuaded from doing so. Mr. L. It. Wilson, of Christchuich, stated tho case in so far as unemployment in that city was concomed. On making inquiries ho hail found tho distress was' yrors; than was at first supposed. Tho .Christchuich City Corporation had refused to give work unless the Government gave £ for JJ, because it. was held that there were so many immigrants out'of work that tho Government should assist. Many of thoso people had hot boen in Iho country for more than two or three months, and had not done any work. He estimated that thero wero ICOO men in Christchuroh unemployed. He had got his wife to go round, and sho found that there was a great deal of very real distress—in short, that tho cases reported to hira were oven worse than had been described. He sevorely condemned tho private labour bureaux m Christchuroh. Th men who controlled some of thoso bureaux, h© said, held out baits to men when there was no work that they could undertake, simply in thchopo that they might, make something out of tho men by fending them to unsuitablo work. :

Mr. W. Atkinson, a recent arrival from England, stated that tho conditions of labour in ■ the Old Country were Just as good as thoj wore in New Zealand. He for one felt' that he had been taken in and done for. There wero many others in the same i position, 'and h« for one was 6orry tliat ho had ever come hero. Steps should lie taken to prevent tho poopk at Home being, fooled in' regai-d to New Zea- 1 ' land. " t. . •. Mr. M'Laren, M.P., said the state of affaiit ' was worse in Wellington than 'jin any. other city in tho Dominion. The position of tho . men on the wharves bad not been so bad for' • fifteen years; it was so serious the'men > were meeting, in large concourse, and they would have marched to Parliament yesterday if they had not been iiersuaded to make representations by deputations. Immigration should be discontinued. The privato registry offices ■ were a nuisance; he endorsed every word thathad been said about'thorn.. Exact records; of ' the number of men applying for work shonld'.. be kept. Tho matter was really much mora- 1 serious than he had represented to the Houso \ the other day. ' .' Mr. Robert Hogg said ho had recently inadi • a tour up to Auckland, and he found men idlo ' , all over tho place. The.Government should do something immediately,'but the men 'did not' ''■■■ want a repetition of what had occurred. at ! Broken River. Sir Joseph Ward, ho said, wai.. • reaping tho harvest of his predecessor in offipo.u ''

Reply by* tho Prime Minister, , ; i Tho Prime Minister, in reply, said thera v was a diiiiculfy iu obtaining reliable information as to tho number of unemployed, and if .» system of' Government bureaux ivoald do any . good in this respect ho would seo that they were arranged for. . The statement of the number of men out of work ill Christchurch \yas at variance.with his.own estimate. In a telegram which he had received' from tho Mayor' of Christchurch tho number was estimated at 180. Mr. Taylor: I estimated it'at SOO .to., 400when speaking in tho House. Sir Jqseph, went on to say that a suggestion had been made/in the telegram ho had received from tho Mayor of Christchurch that the Government should contribute a subsidy of XI for Jll, and that the relief should bo dispersed by the Charitable Aid Board. He was not ready to initiate such a system in New Zealand at. tho present, juncture. In any case this would bo only' a temporary remedy. (Hear, hear.)'An appropriation had already been made by the Houso of lteprcsentatives, and through this tho Government would bo able to-find work for a 'considerable number of tho unemployed. . on reproductive works. In regard to immigration, Sir Joseph said tho Government had not at any time adopted a general immigration scheme, though small farmers and domestic' servants had been assisted to como out. .Some of tlio people \vho were coming to Now Zealand did not get tho benefit of reduced fares, and were neither directly, nor indirectly assisted. Tho 6teamship companies induced immigration for business, reasons.. If the traffic were interfered with there would naturally be a lessening of trado to our exports, and tho volume of work oa the wharves would be reduced in consequent. The shipping' companies could not bo interfered with.

Sir Joseph declared that the Government would do its best to meet the accentuated position. He anticipated that the appropriations inado by the Hon bo would mean employment during tile winter on reproductive works for an additional 1000 men—(Jlcar, hear)—ana ho wa6 prepared to give tho necessary authority to have'that done. Ho- referred to tho difficulty that aroso through tho disinclination, of some men (with families in tho towns) to go into.tho country. That only helped to increase the difficulties which beset the position. . At the present time the Government had 5000 men employed on 'reproductive works. The High Commissioner hod dono-everything ho could to prevent tho dissemination at Homo of misleading .information' concerning New Zealand. In conclusion, Sir Joseph said that his sympathies were with the .unemployed, and ho would do everything ho could to meet tho; case. As to tho statement tho labour conditions here were no better ,than they wore in England, it had been authoritatively stated, ovor and over again that there were several ■ millions of people out of work at Homo. Mr. Davey remarked that bush-felling work should, not be-Undertaken without duo care, and new chums should bo assisted by experts, otherwise, they might bo seriously, injured or killed. Mr. Witty: Tho work should only be conducted under an insurance scheme. ■

Sir Joseph said he would endeavour to arrange that some expert bush'iien should be enRaged on the areas which the Government proposed to deal with, so that the Uninitiated would have a chance of learning the "art." _ Ail .officer had been dispatched on the previous 'day from Wellington to one of the areas to:make all necessary arrangements.