The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1883 A Suggestion

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 85, 20 December 1883, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1883 A Suggestion

In our last issue we gave some account of the position of the unemployed in Canterbury, and of what had been done by the Government to meet the immediate exigencies of the case. As the matter of labor is one that immediately concerns ourselves, we think that some action should be taken by our local authorities to assist the Government out . of the difficulty. When it is considered that by doing so they will j be at the same time benefiting themselves, prompt action should be taken On all sides we hear the complaint of there being no spare men available for bush felling, road contracts, or other work at which fair wages can be earned by good workmen. This being the case, and the means of supplying the want being at hand, we certainly expect to see our public men doing something in this direction. It appears a singular thing that when a ship arrives from Home : with a hundred or more immigrants on board, these should readily find employment within a few days, or even hours of tlieir landing on our shores, and yet, on the other hand, that there should exist in the colony a mass of people unemployed, and who are in distress, wanting the very means of obtaining their daily bread. We. can only account for this apparent paradox, by surmising that by each ship there arrives a few neer-do-weels who, after a trial of a month or so, are found to be practically useless, or incapable of adapting themselves to the new circumstances of colonial life, and who, in consequence, drift into the ranks of the idle and thriftless, and help to swell the numbers of the so-called unemployed. Our idea being probably the correct one, should cause the authorities to be more careful in the class of people they allow to come out whether assisted or free. The question with which we are now most interested is the introduction of a few families into, the Manchester Block. There is plenty of work for them, and if the families are large, so much the better, because there is a demand fpr domestic servants and lads, who would at once be v placed in the receipt of good wages. We suggested that the Government, should apply to the various County Chairmen, and Mayors in the Colony to receive some of the Southern unemployed and their families.' AAfl the G-ov'ehiment has taken the initiative yvithout ' < w£itiit£ ; to Te r cei^o^ja^yi^.o^"^^ we suggest "that our own* local bodies

place themselves in communication with the Minister for 'Public Works without delay, asking that, if the Minister has at his disposal a stated number of men who can work at industries most common amongst us, and have families, the members of which are prepared to work, they should be sent here at once. Let it be clearly understood, that we want no drones in our hive, neither have we room for the lame, the halt, or the blind.