The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 16, 1903. LABOUR CONDITIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLV, Issue 258, 16 December 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 16, 1903. LABOUR CONDITIONS.

The remarks of Mr E. Tregear, Se#retury for Labour, are a complete contradiction of the wail of the pessimists who. dismally prop'hesiod that the conditions of labour in this colony would be liiar.d ere the end of the present year. Ittsleaid of that we llnid that the conditions of labour in New Zealand were never on a sounder basis than at present. Mr Trcguar says : —" The reports from the officers of the Labour Department throughout the colony are of a very satisfactory nature. For factory work young people are not to be obtained, whilst agricultural lahomrers are much in demand, pur- ' tic-ularlj younger men with a knowledge of general farm work. in the Sout'h Island hands for harvesting are very short, and some difficulty «« being ex|)eriencod in obtaining the necessary lunuirat of labour, Jn proof of the fact that the position of t'hu labour market in New Zealand is in a very satisfactory state, we ha/ve only to- look at the number of persons who arrived in the colony during the past two' years in excess of departures. Of the large ■lumber of excess of arrivals, it may be said that the majority were men. These,who ciune for the most pari, from Australia, have been practically all provided with work, and jet no upprecialble difference has been made by these arrivals upon the employment. available for our own workers. If you cast your mind a few years back, when utcetinigs of unemp,oyed were held ait various places, the contrast with present conditions is most marked. With the dawn of brighter days in Australia' the from the neighbouring colonies have, of course, to a great extent ceased, aiid reports from the Commonwealth indicate a splendid season, as tliey have had very welcome rain."