UNEMPLOYMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 545, 28 June 1909, Page 6

UNEMPLOYMENT.

"WANTED, A CARETAKER." .!/.'; APATHETIC! STORY.. • (By,Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.) .•-'.■; , \ Auckland, June 26. ' In connection with the unemployed difficulty at present existing m AucMandj it Js pathotio to learn tfoat. for tine position." of caretaker of the Auckland .Museum—a.. salabout £130," including a free house---no fewer, than 178 applications were received. .WJiether tihe majority of these,are. ■out of work 'is not known. Between 40 and-. 50 of the. applicants gave, their: calling:,:,as carpenters, while more than 20 were-paint-ers, and nearly an equal number were engineers or engine-drivers; Plumbers,: bricklayers, . wheelwrights,.mill .hands,'storemen, and general: labourers .were abo well, represented. There were over.2o clerks, and there was a sprinkling of. educated people who had known better days.. Among t&ose latter was a Finlander, who claimed tobe. a graduate of the University of Heteingfors, and who'' gave as one reason why he should, bo appointed, ifha fact tiiat he was cwrvorsajrt.with at least five modem, languages. ..,.;• ;'.'■':■>■ . "SOME ATmiPTS TO CttPEWTTH IT. ■i ' .;;.;.", Christchurch, June 26. The Mayor told a reporter yesterday' that he was afraid that the statements that there was work in the country for the unemployed •wore. by no means .true: He had had hnn-; ,'dreds of people to see him and all had stated .that they could find no work 'in the country. Outside the Woolston Borough Council there was no .public, body that had arranged,'for work for the unemployed, but the,Woolston body had put ton'men on. Tho City Council had (reran work to a number of painters in painting park fences, lamp posts, and other odd jobs, and Mr. Allkon paid a high tribute to the Painters' Union, which had come forward with of £ for £ up to £25. The men wonld.be given'six hours': work each day. Notices of employment have been sent, to .83 men, and of that number 48 have been accounted for. Of these, 43 are working, and the others, it is supposed, have gone to other work. A number of the men employed by the City Oouncil are engaged under gangers in filling up a swamp near the cemetery. AN AWARD RATE DIFFICULTY. "', Christchurch, June 26. There is some speoulation (says' a Christchurch paper) as to what will happen when the City Surveyor; Mr. Dobsori, carries out his intention to give less than Bs. a day to all men"who are not believed to.be worth that wage. The gangers, of course, ,will obtain a clear idea of the work of each man. They will report to Mr. Dobson, and on Monday Mr. DoDson will inform some of the men that they cannot be paid the standard rate. The president of the General Labourers' Union said that ho felt sure that the union would not favour a lower rate than Is. per hour.' The permits for less than Bs. a day had to bo signed by the president and secretary of the union, and a number of them had;:been granted to old men, but the executive would probably bo unanimous in opposing anything lower for young men just going 'on. A shilling an hour was not too much to pay< men for work in the winter when there was so much broken time. No permits had been given yet, and, personally, ho was opposed to anything less t&an Is. por hour.