OUT OF WORK

Evening Star, Issue 20051, 17 December 1928, Page 9

OUT OF WORK

UNEMPLOYMENT IN BONEDIfi The proverbially happy Christinas will not be the lot of some families in Dunedin this year unless some relief is provided this week to give work to hundreds of men who are ut of work. While the position in Dunedin is not so bad as it was several months ago, it is still fairly serious, the position having been made woi - se by the discharging from the tree-planting work at the Blue Mountains a week ago of some 150 men. Inquiry of the local Labour Department this morning showed that during last week ninety-eight men registered as being out of work, this bringing the total on the books up to today to 222. Of that total 110 are men with dependents who can undertake heavy work, while sixty-eight of those capable of heavy work are without dependents. The remainder arc capable of light work. The Mayor (the Hon. W. B. Taverner) stated this morning that it had not yet been decided what was to be clone' with the £2,000 granted to tho Dunedin City Corporation on a £ for £ subsidy basis, but the matter would bj discussed this afternoon. “The position has become so acute,” said a prominent social worker this morning, “ that if something is not dune to relieve it there will bo tragedies in some families. There am families with many children, a number with eight and nine, in which tho bread-winners have had little work for six or eight months, and, had it not been for private relief, assistance from various organisations, and _ occasional work granted by tho Charitable Aid Board, they would have been absolutely starving. While all round tho position is a little better than it was a few months ago, there are some critical and serious cases. Every single avenue of employment has been tried by these men. Willing men are out of work, and my organisation has come in contact with 150 cases which require immediate work.”