APPEAL TO EMPLOYERS

Hokitika Guardian, 30 December 1929, Page 3

APPEAL TO EMPLOYERS

TO ENGAGE MORE MEN. v ßy Telegraph- -Per Press Association.) DUNEDIN, Dec. 28. When aproachecl in connection with the recent statements telegraphed from Wellington regarding the dismissal of casual employees from the Railway Department, Hon. Mr Taverner stated that the position was that when the Government’s relief scheme was put into* operation last October, the Railway Department was supplied by the Cabinet Committee with extra funds, and was asked to place as many additional tradesmen as could be employed on necessary work. Some hundreds of men were accordingly taken on, throughout the Dominion,

ind these men had been retained as long as the funds and work permitted.

‘•‘Even now,” said the Minister, ‘“only about half of these ext'a men have been discharged, although it at one stage appeared that a number of them would have to be released about (he middle of December. In view off the desirability of keeping as many as possible in work until Christmas time, a special meeting of a Cabinet Committee was called on December 19, to consider the position, and the committee was able •to arrange for the retention of the men until December 24, but it was reluctantly compelled to issue instructions for 237, of the casual employees distributed throughout the service to be put off when that date arrived as no further money was available from the special fund provided by the Prime Minister in connection with the scheme. It is well known that in common with the railway systems throughout the world, our Department is passing through a difficult period of its existence, and the task of re orientating its service to meet the ■changing concisions in transport leaves no margin for loading on to the Department’s working expenses account a wages hill of several hundred additional men. The special fund made available to the Department by the Cabinet Commitetee has been used up, and the work provided thereby has, no doubt, enabled a happier Christmas to be spent in many homes.” The Minister added:—“lf each of the individual employers would re cognise the real distress that it brings U) the homes of working people, I do not see how they could fail to commence the year 1930 with a resolution to give employment to at least one more man. Such a movement would wipe out the unemployment overnight. The Government has a

duty to. the .community and it .--ha3 demonstrated, in a practical way, its recognition of -that duty, but the private employer lias a less impersonal duty to his fellow men, and the time is ripe for him to follow the lead of the Government in discharging his responsibility. There can be no doubt that there is a growing tendency for all classes to lean upon the Government in these matters, and to mistakenly dismiss such matters as being national problems, with which the individual has no concern.

As a first step towards creating a local interest in the problem, Hon. Mr Taverner urged that such bodies as the Chambers of Commerce, the Manufacturers’ Association, the Employer’ Federation and others ought to take the matter in hand during the new Year. He was confident that with this, together with the assistance of the State, which could always take up slack, real progress would be made in 1930.