MEETING OF UNEMPLOYED.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8164, 19 April 1895, Page 3

MEETING OF UNEMPLOYED.

A mocting of the unemployed men of the town and district was held in St. George's Hall last n ghb. thero being a large attendance The Mayor (Mr VV. Waddell) occupied the chiir. The Mayor, in opening tho meeting, said he was pleasod to preside, hut was sorry to meet them on such an occision, as It showed that a l»rge number of ra^n Wrre out of work, ft was though^, when a labor Government was in power, that the labor difficulty would disappear, but although tha Government hid done much the difficulty was still with them. 11 0 did not pretend to bo able to devise a satis* factory bolu ion, l>ut they would have to try and do something that would prevent the ever-recurring hbor trouble. He had written to the Minister for Lands and the Minister for Labor, and tho latter had replied that he would be In \V\llington in a short time, and asked if the local bodies could pot do something in the meantime fco cope witfi the difficulty. T.hev know that the Borough could do nothing for the want of money. The Borough had at the present timo 14 men at work on the race extension, and that was as far as they could go. He had spoken to several persona on the subject of bringing in water froia the Qtekaike to the Maerewhenua gold fields, with a Government grant, and ho had written to Mr Cadman on the subject, and be had no doubt if an influential deputation waited on Mr Cadman when he visited Oamaru something might be done. There was plenty gold at Maerewhenua, and the scheme, he believed, would be a paying one. Mr Cadman was a man who was sincerely desirous of helping the progress of the colony. He believed it would be proposed that evening that the roading of tho Maerewhenua be gone on with, and he could not ape why that; work could not be as e<tiily gone on with now as later,on. Mr David Faris moved the following resolution : That this meeting desires to draw tho attention of the Government to the doprosied atatc of tho labor market in and around Oamaru, aud viewing the nooevslty for immediate work to relieve the distress, the meeting considers the bf>at means to approach tho Government is by petition, duly signed by all out of employment. This was (seconded by Mr Martin. Mr F*ri»said it wa» impossible for men to go at the present time and work on the

Naseby road.- There was very little work to Jo there, find it would not pay to go to work there even if the work could bo done in the winter. With regard to the bringing in of tho Ot< kaike, work on it could not be s'nrted onrly enough to meet tho difficulty that existed. There hud beon very little harvest work last season, find that was the reason for >ho onsen' nrgtnt applica'ion tcr work. Tho men did not nek for charity but for wotk. They wer<- proparod to give nn honest eight hours' work for an h"ne«tdaya p>y. They hd hawked their labor round, but it would not bo accepted. Poor yields and poor prices had forced hundreds and hundreds of men into tho labor matkot beo^uso farmora could not employ them. Tha present Government h\d started only roproductivo \vo> ks, and p<id fair wigpfl to men, and that was bettor than tho 3ior 4a a day of previous Governments, Ho thought that thero should bo 25 per cent of single men on all Government works. The Governim nt deserved credit for their effort to establish flottloments in Iho North, although the Opposition press would give them no credit for i\ The reading of tho iV'aerewhenua ota'e would bo * reproductive an neoeßsaty work, and although Mr Duncan said there woro difficulties m the way, mill ho culd su« no dtfliculty. Mr Duncan had promised to ho presonfc, and ho hoped it was not tho difficulty ho saw in going on with the work that kept him away. The men would not eat or hurt tho sheep on the estate. It would not bo fair to Bend men away out of tho district with i his work to be done. 110 would road them tho following petition for presentation to the Minis or for Lands on tho subject : We, your petitioners, beg to draw your attention to tho disastrous state of the labor market iv and around Oamaru. There is no private employment to be got. Harvest labor baa been very meagre, and numbers of men have been unable to obtain any employment for months past ; tho comequenco is that much distress has boon brought into many households, and tho families are in want of the bare necessaries of life. Your petitioners would humbly, yet earnestly pray the Government to open up somo public work in this district. Your petitioners would venture to mention the road ing of Mr Barton's estate, lately acquired by the Government. Tho immediate prosecution of this work would to a great extent relievo tho distress so keenly felt here. Trusting your Govornmoot will favorably consider our prayer. Mr Fans' resolution was oarried unanimously. [Mr Duncan entered the room while Mr Faria wan speaking.] Mr Peter Gilligan moved the following : That this meeting requests Mr David Faris to hand over as goon as possible to the member for Oamaru (Mr T. Y. Duncan) a petition duly signed expressing the needs of tho men of Oamaru and district, such petition to be forwarded to tho Minister for Lands. This was seconded by Mr Wnt, Hay, and ctrried unanimously. Mr \V. Seymour moved the following motion : That this meeting expresses its thanks to hi« Worship the Mayor for hip efforts in tho interests of tho working men of this town, and would rospeotfully »sk his Worship to co oporato with the member for Oamaru in bringing under tho notice of the Minister for L»nd§ tho immediate necessity for some work being provided by the Government. Mr Falls seonded the motion, which was carried unanimously. MrDunoan, who w»s received with applause, said ho had been detained, and thnt was tho reason fur his lato arrival. He had oommunicated with tho Government somo five or six weeks ngo, pointing out that they should prepare somo work for the unemployed of Oamaru, as the harvest hnd provided but little employment for them. Lately ho had had a rep'y fiom tho Premier, to another communication, Haying they were making arrangements but they wero not yrt completod. 110 had written to tho Minister for Lands, but had not had a reply, bu r exposed one within the week. With regard to the work of reading the Maerowhenua, thero would bo no difficulty, if tho fact that the land had boon leaned for graz ng did not) stand in the way. Ho would ascertain that, and do wh\t ho could to hasten on tho work. (Applause.) Tho work would put tho men over till tho spring. In conclusion ho said ho wouH do what h > could to hasten on tho work of ro&dmq 'ho estate. Mr Gilligm asked Mr Duncans views as to single mon being employed. Mr Duncan siid the necessities of the married men had boon greater than those of tho single, but ho thought the now schema proposed by the Government would work out hotter for the tingle mon than the old. It was also eisi- r for a singlo man to shifr, say, to the bush districts in the N«nh Islmd^ than fora marriod man, and work would be ptovidod for a large number pf men thero. Tho Chairman said ho hoped Mr Dunon would be successful in his efforts to provide work for thnqo out of employ, ment, and when they earnpd their money that they would tako o»ro of it. He recognised that somo broader eohemo for settling the unemployed difficulty would have to be devised. Coming to 'ho Government every yeat was no way of getting over the difficulty, but as ono man to another he would advise them, till something more permanent came along, to put their shoulder to the wheel and push tho chariot along. They should make the moat of their opp -rlunities, and when they earned money to bo careful how tiny spent it. (A.pp'auee.) A vote of thanks to Mx Dunom and to the chair closed tho meeting, A large number of men remained behind to sign tho petition to the Minister 1 for Linds.