The Daily News SATRDAY, AUGUST 8. THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 197, 10 August 1908, Page 2

The Daily News SATRDAY, AUGUST 8. THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION.

A jjivai deal of capital lus been made vfi L iic lvecnt U'liqiuwu'v stioi'lage ui employment Jur unsigned tabor jn Liiii>jlcnilich, and Hie allegedly ensuing uWil'eSS. A lie i'iU.lg.:lH; s.eps UlU.eil by liiu Guveininv'nL and ihc local ULy i.omieil, soon depleted till; lank.; oi ui' iineinpioyeii Wlio, tnrougll tile suieniy oi Hie weather liaving caused the suspension of piacucany ail casual a:.d budding wui'r, wi'jt: ll!i: liuly looking lor employment. It. n.is wry soon eviuniTd, nowevcr, thai lilu (■ \ii.:lit oi llie iiiioiiijiloymi/iLi, and, likewise', the all.ged luid been very considerawy exaggenuel. investigations in Wellington in'ouyhi to light a, .similar fact, that the lew genuine unemployed workers wi're boiuy u.-K-d to bolsLer up wholesale allegations of had times. • The agitator?; luul not jrnleula.ied on Ihe La- * hoi Department making an atteinpi to trace individual signatories to unemployed petitions for work, with a view lo ma king provision for employment. Unit was what the Government tabor Bureau did endeavor to do, however, only to lind that very many of tlw selfstyled unemployed were holiday-mak-ing or praying that work wotiiu not [ lind them out.

On the whole, the hue and cry raised of exceptional distress existing 111 the cities .have been completely disproved, excepting such as is annually recurring ' during tile depth of winter, anil rightly sliould be provided for on the State works. It is a notorious iact, However, that at this particular season of the I year unemployment 111 the cities fs abnormal, principally for the reason that a large percentage of the men show 110 inclination to take work in the country 01' pioneer districts. A terrible .growl emanated last week irom one 01 the late Christehurcli unemployed who had bean given employment 011 the Government co-operative works at liroken River. The burden of his grievance comprised an accusation against the Government for its inhumanity in sendin.' him to an inhospitable snow-bound locality. . After describing his arrival at liroken River along with iiity oilier unfortunates, he states Iheiv were not. snllic'ient lelits to go round, and then proceeds to describe their awful sull'er- | ingsl

They were told, he says, that no tents could be provided for sleeping quarters that niglit, but that Ihey should have to caiup in two parties in two unoccupied houses a couple of mites out in the vicinity of their prospective employment. Wagons were provided to convey the swags and tools thilhcr. Then l:.gu:i the great trek. First the storekeeper was visiteil and provisions ordered, each man being required to sign a form authorising tile storekeeper to receive the amount of the debt so contracted out of the man's first pay, priority, however, being obserrai , u r one-half the earnings due to relative*, and for the cost of travelling expenses, tools, etc., supplied by the Department, the stipulation also being made that no single order would be recognised lor any amount in excess of £3. As was to be expected, the cost of provisions was high, and a supply of the very plainest necessities for a mail and male, such as tea, sugar, bread, bacon, potatoes, billies, mugs, knives and lorks salt, pepper, etc., ran iuto sometUinu like £1 10s.

The marketing completed, they set out iilong Uie frozen road lor their quarters tor the night. Oi Uie two destru-i. houses, one contained live'rooms, and uie oilier four. '1 hirly men lunied in one, and twenty in me other. Ktch had kiichi-n and another room with a Ihvplaee. ami two oiiier liltle apartment*. It wa* growing dusk when, they arrived. The place was plunged iii gloom by the acrid smoke arising from the fireplaces. Some men silling on their swags with their laces in their hands cowered silently in the corners, other* roamed about smoking, spitting, swearing. The lloors were covered witJi desolated humanity, iconic were boiling billies, ulhers were munching forlornly at hunks of dry, stale bread. A ivwcandles made the gloom the more depressing. Know brought in upon the men's boots meltA'd in muddy pools, and the wind cut aiul lashed the faces of everyone whenever the door was opened. "

It was a saturnalia of the direst misery, pi.: ceded the chronicler. Some of the men. (o escape from the horror of it, all b'. look themselves and their belongings lo .ui old tool shed at the rear of the coil..,'re, and there attempted to sleep witll the falling of the bitter night. All had satislied the cravings of hunger. The youth with the mouth organ endeavored lo drive away dull care. Others, squatting on their haunches, played cards dejectedly. The pungent smoke penetrated everywhere, and everyone coughed interminably. Sleep on the bare boards was impossible, and throughout the night there was a continual tramping to and fro of unfortunate creatures endeavoring vainly to li-id warmth somewhere, somehow. Morning dawned at hist with a fresh fall of snow on the ground. Tents arrival for some, while those less fortunate were instructed to remain at the cottages until supplies could be received.

To anyone initiated into the ordinary life of roughing it in n bacliblocks cam]) the foregoing wail should »e amusing. It is granted that the conditions at Broken River at this season of tlie year must lie anything but enviable, but surely no Olio expected to be provided with feather-beds by the Government, or to have the snow swept away! It is an unwholesome commentary on the pluek and enterprise of t lie rising generation thai such little discomfort as described by the above drawing-room navvy could not be endured for a single 'night without being used for political purposes. It was not of such stult that the pioneers of New Zealand were made, and to whom physical discomfort was an incident of years instead of one night.