UNEMPLOYED

Hokitika Guardian, 9 August 1929, Page 6

UNEMPLOYED

WAIT ON PREMIER. (By Telegraph—Press Association). WELLINGTON, August 8. Replying to an unemployment deputation Sir Joseph Ward said he was willing to' do anything he could to help solve the difficulty. He was unable to understand how it was there were so many unemployed centering upon Wellington. The Public Works Department was employing 1,500 men in the Wellington District, and numbers of those had been taken on since the present Government took office. However, he would give instructions that 200 men should be put in employment this afternoon. Referring to the arrival of people in the Dominion from outside, Sir Joseph Ward said the Government had not encouraged anybody to come here and search for work. School-boys being mentioned, he said, were not selected by the Government: they were coming out at the instigation of those who supported the movement. In replying to a suggestion by Mr W. i Nash (Secretary of the Labour Party) that a loan might be raised to enable the men to be put on secondary roads, §h- Joseph Ward said that Was in control ■ of the Main Highways Board. Although he agreed the point was worthy of consideration; he added that at liis request the Wellington City Council had taken on''4lt) men. He repeated his assurance that he would do everything possible to meet the position. '•