GOVERNMENT PROVISION FOR THE UNEMPLOYED.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1875, 26 February 1880, Page 3

GOVERNMENT PROVISION FOR THE UNEMPLOYED.

[By TBiE»BA»a.] WELLINGTON, Eebruary 25. Notice has been given by the Government that they will receive applications from 150 men willing to work on roads on the Waimate Plains, and applications are to be sent in at once. The views of the Government as to the course they are called upon to adopt in the present case is that they cannot with propriety offer much more than subsistence wages in the existing condition of the finances, and that even were money more plentiful it would be improper for the Government to compete with private employers of labor, or to employ men at full wages on work which should be put out to public tender and done by contract. At the same time they recognise the fact that men cannot be allowed to starve, and that work should be found for those unable otherwise to obtain it, but only at a rate of pay enough to secure them from absolute want. Therefore the Government will accept 150 men willing to work at road making, will forward them and their families free of expense to the spot, and will find them work until they shall be able to procure it elsewhere. They will be able to obtain their discharge at any time that a better opening offers, the Government regarding their engagement simply as charitable assistance until they can dispense with it. The rate of wages they will receive will be 28s per week for married men and 21s per week for single men. These wages will run on all the same whether the weather be wet or dry. Taking the average weather, this is considered equal to an ordinary laborer’s 6s per day, as he is not paid for wet days when unable to work. These men will moreover be furnished with tents to sleep in and will be provided with Government rations on payment of Is 3d per day. After keeping himself, therefore, a married man will have nearly £1 a week over towards the support of his family, and a single man will have 12s 3d weekly to the good. Under this arrangement no man who is really willing to work need starve or see his family in severe want through his being out of regular employment, while he will always be able to take any better chance that offers. It is the intention of the Government also to afford every facility for these men settling on land in the vicinity. Mr A. G. Johnston, the relieving officer, was in attendance on Colonel Reader at the barracks this afternoon to advise him as to the more deserving cases, and to take note how far this opportunity is taken advantage of by those who have been receiving relief from the benevolent institutions. There were numerous applicants, but several objected to the smallness of the wages, and went away in a rage, although they had previously been loud in their complaints that they were starving, and would be only too glad to get work of any kind at any price. A considerable number, however, accepted, and were soon sworn in to serve her Majesty in the event of their being required to defend themselves against Maori attacks, or otherwise to act against the Natives,