Prime Minister and Unemployment

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 273, 8 February 1928, Page 9

Prime Minister and Unemployment

OFFICER VISITS AUCKLAND FURTHER RELIEF POSSIBLE Investigations have been made during the past two days by art officer from the Prime Minister's Department in Wellington into the unemployment situation in Auckland, the object of his visit to this city being to ascertain the measure of the position and to report personalty to Mr. Coates on his return to Wellington this evening. Mr. T. K. Aickin. the officer in whose hands the investigation has been placed. would not indicate to The Sun man the nature of his recommendations to the Prime Minister. He suggested, however, that he considered it unnecessarytor the Prime Minister himself to come to Auckland personally and handle the situation, as Mr. Coates promised in a statement issued from Wellington yesterday.

“He will consult those concerned." Mr Coates said in referring 10 the visit to Auckland of Mr. Aickin. "And he lias certain instructions which will enable the position to be relieved to some extent. If in his opinion it is necessary for me to visit Auckland. ! intend personally to attend to the ma’ter.”

| The “certain instructions” referred to by Mr. Coates naturally were not diIvulged by Mr. Aickin. who referred his interviewer to a close observation oi the movements at the Labour Department's Bureau from the present time onward —generally conveying the impression that any additional relief that was to be undertaken by the State would become manifest in the very dear future and would emanate front the Department’s bureau. The necessity for a complete return in order to gauge accurately the seriousness of the situation was, emphasised by Mr. Aickin. who said that a central registration office at the Labour Department, where every unemployed man would enter his nann . would prove more efficacious than the multiplicity of registrations that wort to be found on the union’s books. He declares that he has made the computation necessary for his purpose, and returns to the Capital City this evening with his recommendations prepared for presentation to the Prime Minister.

Mr. Coates himself says the unemployment situation is everybody's responsibility. "This is a responsibility which rests on everybody's shoulders.” were his exact words. "The Government’s programme will be indicated as soon as wo are in a position to state the extent of the co-ordinated effort for assistance.” There are those who believe that the responsibility rests, not on the shoulders of everyone, but on the shoulders of the State. One of these is Mr. William Wallace, chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, who said this morning that he had been endeavouring all along to convince the Government that the responsibility was theirs and that the time to do something hal arrived. »

Others again recognise that local bodies must bear their share of a burden that has become a millstone around the neck of the country. None could suggest, however, that the Auckland Hospital Board has not done its share of relief work, the estimate of £22,000 for the year having been exceeded by the substantial sum of £B,OOO. “The position is still bad.” was the report of the relief officer in charge at the board office this morning. FOREIGNERS FIRST UNFAIR PREFERENCE NEW ZEALANDER DISMISSED CASE ON RAILWAYS More than once has it been stressed in The Sun that New Zealand-born workers have been compelled to walk the streets because of their jobs being usurped by people brought from the Old Country under the Government immigration scheme at a time when the country could not stand the strain of over population. A specific case was reported this morning when a returned soldier, married, and with two children, stated that preference was being given to migrants and foreigners to the detriment of himself. In September last he obtained temporary work as a timber stacker at the Railway Department’s works at Newmarket. Associated with him were three other “casuals”—one a colonial, one an immigrant, and the other a deserter from the United States Navy. The understanding on the Job was that if things were slack the men were liable to be dismissed, temporarily at least. After they had been in work for three months, the four men were dismissed on account of the job running out. By keeping in touch with his late employers the man found, however, that the American and the migrant were back at work, while two others had been engaged. He immediately inquired why he was not given a chance of reapplication, and was informed that the others were cases of hardship. “I have no complaint about the employment of the two men,” this informant said in telling his story to The Sun, “but I cannot understand why the American, who is young and single, and the Englishman, who is marired but with no family, should be retained in preference to myself, who has a wife and two children to maintain.” Credentials showing recommendations of previous employers were produced by the man, who is now w T alking the streets, and necessarily falling steadily into debt.