TRADE AND LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1702, 19 March 1913, Page 8

TRADE AND LABOUR.

POSITION AT AUCKLAND., DEPARTMENT'S REPORT CHALLENGED. (By Telegraph.—Spccinl Correspondent.) Auckland, March 17. The monthly bulletin issued by tho Labour Department states that in Auckland the building trade is brisk, and adds that contractors report a scarcity of labour. To this assertion the officials of various building trades unions in Auckland take strong exception. This morning a "Star" reporter was .shown a list containing the names of a number of men who are on tho "unemployed" books of the various unions. Tile figures indicate that in aimost every department there is a surplus of skilled labour offering. This morning the various unions concerned reported that competent men were out of employment as follows:— Plumbers 12, plasterers 11, painters 12, carpenters 12, cabinetmakers 10, timber workers 30, builders' labourers '10. In addition, other trades are said to be exceedingly quiet. Tlie Urocers' union reports seventeen men out of employment, and engine-drivers eight, while the bricklayers and engineers, also complain that work is not plentiful. Tho union secretaries say that the figures above quoted are typical of the position which has. prevailed on the local labour market since the beginning of the year. They declare that skilled workers in the southern part of Ihe Domini6ii are misled by the Labour Department bulletins, and come tp Auckland, expecting work, only to find the supply greater than the demand. A case was quoted in which only this morning au artisan arrived from Wellington, bringing with him a family of six children. Many of- those included in tho l above list have, it is stated, been waiting | for work for the last two or three weeks.

Auckland, March' IS. The complaint of trades union secretaries in Auckland,, that-the Labour Department's monthly bulletin tails to correctly state the Conditions of employment i'i Auckland, was this mohiing referred to by a "Star", representative to Mr. Newtown, officer in charge of the Auckland Labour Bureau, llr. Newton, who has just returned from a country tour, stated that there was nothing ill the last monthly bulletin sent from the Auckland office of the Labour Department that he was not prepared to vouch for. The report in question announced that the building trades wore in their normal state, and although thero was not the high pressure of work that was experienced a few months ago, all hands were fully employed. Mr. .Newton further stated that conditions of employment in Auckland in all brandies, manufacturing trades, and unskilled, were quite normal, and there was certainly no serious unemployment to report in any part of the province. The figures quoted by the union secretaries yesterday in the majority of cases did not indicate a total of more than a dozen unemployed in any trade.. Seeing that some of the unions had a membership of as many as six or seven hundred, a total of twelve on the "unemployment" book was really very small, particularly when it was remembered that the men were so' frequently changing from one job to another. Mr. Newton further pointed out that the Department lias asked the secretaries of unions to regularly supply reports respecting the state of the trade in which, they are concerned, but very few havo complied with the request.