TRADE AND LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1623, 14 December 1912, Page 3

TRADE AND LABOUR.

OFFICIAL KEPORT FOE NOVEMBER.

The "Labour/ Journal" has' the. following report on. the state of trade and labour in ■ Wellington during .November: — "Trade during the month continued to improve, and most industries are now busy, while overtime is being worked in many factories, more especially in the clothing trades. Retailers generally report good fair business, but tho unsettled weather has considerably affected the drapery and clothing trades, and sales of summer goods have been slow. Building trades.—Bricklaying still -continues to improve, and there are no men out of employment. Carpentry and joinery fairly good, and no hands are idle; this is owing principally to work being plentiful in the country; city work is fairly quiet. Painting busy, and no men out of work. Plastering busy-, and some overtime being worked. Plumbing and gasntting fairly busy j no men idle. Stonemasonry quiet. Woodworking trades.— Cabinetmaking and upholstering busy, and no journeymen idle. Coopering quiet, but will improve as meat freezing Reason advances. Sash and door factories fairly busy; full time being worked. Wood-turning, etc., quiet. ' Engineering trades. — Boilermakmg quiet; a few men idle, but others making full time. Brass and copper-smitkiug busy; all hands fully employed. Electrical engineering better than last month; all hands employed. Fitting and turning quiet. Iron and brass moulding quiet, but all hands employed. Eange-making fairly busy, but not as good as previous month. . Leather trades— Bootmaking (factories) busy; overtime being worked, and boys and girls could be placed in one or two factories. Bootmaking (repair shops) busy. Saddlery and harnessmaking fairly busy, and there aro no unemployed journeymen. .. Clothing trades.— Dressmaking and mUlinery continue very busy, and, owing to the near approach of Christmas, every available hour of overtime is made. Shirtmaking is still busy; there is; a demand for good machinists. Tailoring (factories and order) are very brisk in all branches;'there is a scarcity of labour in this trade, and overtime is being worked. Woollen-milling is shll busy m-all branohesi and there are vacancies for boys and girls. Retail trades-Clothing and draperyOwing to the unseasonable weather Trado has been rather quiet for this time, of the year; if seasonable weather obtains a large trade.in spring goods is anticipated. Boots-Fair trade has been done during the month; several shops have held their annual sales. Groceries-Slight faUingoff from last month, which is usual until about three or four weeks beforo the holidays, when a rush is anticipated. Printing trades.— Bookbinding and printing fairly good; quite equal to previous months. Meat-freezing, etc. Tanning, currvmg,and fellmongering-This trade , seldom varies during the year, steady business, bein" done tho whole time. Slaughtering, freezing, and preserving—Owing to wet season shearing has been considerably delayed, which has prevented stock from being sent in to the slaughtering works, which in consequence are working only part time. .^v Coachbuilding trades.-Blacksmitow, and coach, carriage, and tram-car building—Although trade generally is slightly quieter'than previous- months, a fair amount of trade is being- done, and all hands are kept employed. Cycle and 'motor -trades fairly busy in regard to. motor-work. ■ Miscellaneous.—Cardboard-box making, busy. ■- ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ -'■■ Unskilled labour and general.—The applicants for employment during the period just ended show a decided decrease, the number applyin? being less than for any one • period for the past twelve months. There is a keen demand for country workers, especially for shearers, flax-mill hands, scrub-cutlers, and dairyfarm hands. Owing to unsettled weatherconditions outside workers have had n considerable amount-of. broken time, but artisans employed under cover aro reported to have worked..a fair amount, of

overtime. Tlio prospects for employment for nil classes of workmen (except for clerks and thoso used to light work) appear to l)e very goad for several months to come. During the period assistance has been given to 117 men (37 married and 80 single), having 118 dependents. Of this number, 84 were sent to private employment and 33 to Government works. Comprising this total were engineers, farm hands, hotel hands, and labourers: 50 hailed from the North Island, 15 from the South Island, 3 from the Commonwealth, 47 from Great Britain, and 2 from other parts.