MEETING OF WORKERS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 101, 1 May 1930, Page 14

MEETING OF WORKERS

DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS,

Bopresentations were made to the Minister of Education (the Hon. H. Atmore), the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle), and the Minister of Defence (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) to-day on behalf of a meeting of about three hundred unemployed, •which was held in Wellington yesterday. • : The requests made to the Ministers were that shelter and maintenance should be provided immediately for those in need; that a rotary system of engaging labour at the labour bureaus be instituted; that suitable accommodation, bedding, and blankets *be provided for all unemployed who were given work outside Wellington; that work should be paid for at full trade union rates, or that full maintenance should be provided; and that no unemployed worker should be evicted for arrears of rent. Beplying to the deputation as the senior Minister in Wellington at present, Mr. Atmore said that 1625 Wellington unemployed workers had been placed in work since the Government took office, including 510 since last Christmas. He gave an undertaking that fifty men would be placed immediately on road works in the Wairarapa district. In reply to the third request j of the deputation, the Minister pointed out vthat when the Public Works Department took a man on a relief job outside the city, the Department guaranteed orders up to £3 for blankets, etc. In regard to a complaint by one of the speakers that there were many instances in which men on contract relief worksi had been voted out of their jo'.s by their mates, because they were inferior workers, and could not keep pace with the other's, Mr. Atmore gave an assurance that it was not the ex-' perience on Government relief works that men were so dismissed; so long as a man put in a good day's work, the party would not vote him out. The Minister said that further inquiries would be made as to the possibility of finding further work for the relief of those out of employment, but the Government had no suitable work to offer just now in or near Wellington. The representations in regard to shelters, and the other requests, would be placed before Cabinet.