CHRONIC!

Evening Star, Issue 19803, 29 February 1928, Page 6

CHRONIC!

UNEMPLOYMENT POSITION OVER 200 MEN OUT OF WORK OUTLOOK FOB WINTER BLACK. ‘ “ Bad—in fact worse than that. Chronic is the only word to use.” Thar was how a Labor man described tho unemployment situation in Dunedin tfiis morning. Unemployment is said to bo worse this month than it has been at the same period for several years past, and the horizon to be ominously black. An unhappy winter is being predicted for many workers who rely on casual employment for their livelihood. A total of 205 men is registered on the books at the Labor Department. Of this number, those fit for iieavy work are seventy-one married men and 123 single men; nine married men and two single men are capable of doing only light work. During the week ended on Monday, 119 new applications for work were received, showing that unemployment is becoming more acute. In all, fifty-nine men were placed. Thirty went to the llipponvale-Roar-ing "Meg Job,' twenty-two to the Mosgiel-Hcnley road job, and seven were placed in private employment. In addition, two men who bad obtained work through their own initiative were assisted with railway fares. But while many of the unemployed are honest seekers for work, there are numbers who would sooner drift idly about the city than take a position away from tho amenities of city life. They do not hold with the axiom, “ Beggars cannot he choosers.” Jn the past week seventy-one names were erased from the Labor Department’s roll on account of tho men failing to report weekly or refusing work. In the latter category are about twenty men who have declined to go away from Dunedin on public works. They are invariably the first to clamor because of the shortage of work, yet they make a rapid exit when a joti far'from the bright lights and entertainment bouses of Dunedin is oliering. Thankful are the genuine unemployed that the “dodgers” are few. These men help to prejudice the claims and efforts of the genuine men, who appreciate the action of tho Labor Department in crossing off the names of those who decline work whicii does not appeal to them. There are others, too, who do not make application when such jobs as the Ripponvale-Roaring Meg are offering, yet they make a hurried appearance when workers are bein o, engaged for work closer to Dunedint a' case in point being the MosgiclHenley road undertaking. Although fifty-nine men wore placed during the week, the total of unemployed is steadily mounting. Tho selection of twenty-eight men for the Mosgicl job is now being made, but the retrenching by tho City Council and by other employers is seriously affecting the situation. “ B n< i—in fact, worse than that. Chronic is tho only word to use,’’ stated Mr Ralph Harrison, secretary of tho General Laborers’ Union. He said that before 9 a.m. men were waiting at bis office. Many were heart-broken because they could not obtain work. A conference of local M.P.’s had been held last week, and _ Sir Charles Statham was now making arrangements for a deputation to wait on tho Prime Minister when he visited Dunedin. The City Council was at the end of its tether, and was continually retrenching, and others were dismissing their hands. , . ~ “ The outlook lor the winter Is had, said Mr Harrison. “Tho City Council does not intend doing anything. It cannot. Both the Mayor and Town Clerk have already stated that the solving of the unemployment situation is a Government duty and they do not intend to encroach on it.” Mr Harrison instanced a number of cases where men with families were obtaining employment at times, but were sorely pressed by the steadily mounting accounts for household expenses and mortgages on their homes.

To show tho acute position of even those employed, Mr Harrison gave tho wages earned by tho three gangs working on contract for tho Public Works Department at Carey’s Bay. These men, he said, were out to make every penny', yet the average hourly "rages for the members of tho gangs wore Is s|d. Is 4 i-3d, Is 7 l-10d. That was only slavery. In tho opinion of Mr J. Robinson, secretary of the Trades and Labor Council, unemployment is worse this y'ear than, last year, when tho Government absorbed a great number of tho unemployed on the Portohollo road reconstruction. Early in January a deputation had waited on the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, and shortly afterwards the Prime Minister had informed the City Council that tho subsidy on relief expenditure would bo doubled. Evidently the advances made by the Government to the City Council for local works had been spent, and the council was now making wholesale dismissals. A meeting of the Trades and Labor Council would he held on Thursday night, when the unemployment situation would again bo discussed. Only by continually pressing the Government and the local* bodies could they hope for any relief for the many unemployed. Three works which could absorb many ( ’ tho men now idle were suggested by a Labor man—the Port Chalmers railway duplication (which could take from fifty to 100 men; extensions to tho Cromwell line; and tho Alcxandra-Rox-burgh connecting line.