WORK AND LIVING-QUARTERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 785, 4 October 1929, Page 1

WORK AND LIVING-QUARTERS

Unemployed Discuss Prospects

PROVISION FOR MARRIED MEN SOME say we should tear down buildings and others tell us to rob banks. Silence those who talk like that. They do not belong to the genuine unemployed. All we want is . work —and work only.” So said Mr. 11. McCreadie, acting-chairman of the Auckland Unemployed Association, at a meeting in the Trades Hall this morning. The meeting room was crowded with workless men who voiced their opinion on the prospects of getting work under the promised scheme of the Government.

■I would suggest that single men go to the country work first,” continued the speaker. “It is very hard for marvied men to make their finances last unless married quarters are provided.*’ A Voice: You won’t get them. Mr. McCreadie said that if the work •were started by the Public Works department, married quarters would be provided. The Voice: You can’t expect that on relief works. “But the proposed works are not relief works,” said the chairman. “The jobs will be proper legitimate jobs necessary to the country. The position is quite different." Another speaker said the difficulty with married quarters on out-of-the-•tvay camps would be the education of i hildren. Me was informed that a *chool would be started wherever •there were 12 children of school age. I would also urge on the Government the advisability of having district i arrtDs for married and single men,” the chairman said. “A married man, with a wife and children dependent on him, takes his work much more seriously than the single man. He goes there to work hard to keep his family in comfort.” . , Mr. Hunter said that married men Should receive preference in work in and around the city. There were a number of single men in Auckland who were "holding down” jobs and receiving money from other sources at the same time. A number of married men, including himself, had been registered tit the Government Labour Bureau for over 12 months without getting their fair share of work. •Our main concern is to get work.

the chairman declared. “We want to go away to decent conditions, nevertheless. , •Has the Prime Minister made any provision for men of 60 or more?” Jie asked. “I don’t want to see old jnen going out to the country.” He appealed to all unemployed to register at the Government Labour bureau, as that was the only way the Government could be brought to realise the prevalence of unemployment and make plans accordingly. A great many men would be going down to jobs in the country without anv clothing or blankets. The TJnemploved Association had provided for such cases and any man who was “broke” would receive the necessary gear on application to him (the chairman). He also issued an appeal for contributions from the public of boots, blankets and clothing to provide for men in desperate straits who would be going away under the Government scheme. . , "We won’t get our way by bombastic methods,” said the speaker, referring to the probable conditions on the Government work. “Though we are unemployed we are gentlemen and we will ask in a gentlemanly manner. Sir Joseph Ward's promise has buoyed us up and we only hope his words will come true.”

This morning there was a fairly large number of men at the Gore Street bureau where the registrations are being recorded. UNEMPLOYED REGISTER RUSH IN WELLINGTON Press Association WELLINGTON, Thursday. j Since the announcement that all the unemployed would have to register • before benefiting under the Government’s relief scheme, there has been a phenomenal rush to register at the Wellington bureau. In two days, : Wednesday and Thursday, the city i figures jumped from 274 to 588.

Mr. J. Purtell said it was most unfair that some men should have *wo jobs. It should be brought under the notice of employers when men who were in good jobs were doing other work at night or when they were off shift.

It was "stated that 134 letters had Been sent out to 134 branches of the Farmers’ Union asking about work. Most farmers, however, required lads Sit wages ranging from 10s to 30s a week, which debarred married men.

WILL GO TO COUNTRY MUST HAVE MARRIED QUARTERS KEEPING TWO HOMES "We are not unwilling to go into th® country and take work. We will go gladly. "But there must be married quarters on the job.” After spending the greater part of the afternoon at the Government Labour Bureau a member of the unemployed of Auckland called at The Sun office yesterday and made clear his attitude toward relief and other works. He was accompanied by three other married men, each of whom shared his views. They were anxious to make Hear their position before it could be said that they had refused work. “The bureau has been going hard all day registering men,” said the spokesman, Mr. J. E. Bracewcll. “They are • ompiling lists of -those who will go 'o the country and those who will not, with their reasons. "Now, the country' jobs are all right tor single men, but married men cannot make a do of it. No one can say that I have not tried, for I have taken country, work in all parts for the last

NAMES POURING IN CHRISTCHURCH FIGURES (Special to THE SUN} CHRISTCHURCH, Today. So many men in Christchurch have taken Sir* Joseph Ward’s advice that all unemployed desiring work should register at once that the head of the labour bureau has had to engage two extra assistants. Yesterday 438 men handed in their names and of that number 119 had never registered before. The total on the books of the bureau is now SIS. DUNEDIN RUSH 379 NAMES ON BOOKS Press Association DUNEDIN, Today. Applications lor employment received at the Labour Department in Dunedin yesterday total 14S, and 379 names now appear on the register. All of these have enrolled during the past fortnight, and of the number 150 are without dependents.

three years. But it’s no good for a man with a wife and family. He cannot keep two homes going on the wages.” Mr. Bracewell held that railway works were all right because married quarters were provided, but forestry and other camps made no provision for the families of the A married man on 14s a day had £ 2 2s a week for himself, while £2 2s was sent to his wife. Allowing for | £1 a week as rent, this left her £ I 2s a week to feed and clothe herself ! and her family. On the other hand clothing and general supplies at the camps were expensive, so the worker required all his £2 2s for food and necessaries. ‘‘My position is even worse,” said another member of the deputation. “I have to pay off 22s 6d a week on a Government mortgage, and I owe the council £l6 arrears of rates.” The men complained that when they , offered to take country work only if j married quarters were provided, an official said: “That means ‘No?’ ” “It did not mean ‘No,’ ” said Mr. Bracewell. “It meant we were only' too willing to get on the job if our families could come, too.” FIGURES REFUSED AUCKLAND BUREAU HAS “NO AUTHORITY” INCREASE REPORTED Following the publication of figures from the other three centres a Sun representative again called upon the Labour Department at Auckland this morning with a request for partic-J ulars regarding the number of unem- 1 ployed that have registered since the unemployment announcement was made by the Prime Minister. The information was again refused, the acting officer-in-charge stating that he had no authority to give any figures. He indicated, however, that there had been a big increase, additional assistants having to be put on at the unemployment bureau to cope with the work.