WELLINGTON TOPICS.
UNEMPLOYMENT.
DIVERSE VIEWS.
(Special Correspondent.) Wellington, May 5.
Yesterday morning the Dominion told a very circumstantial story of an unemployment. camp that was being established, so it said, at Himatingi, near the mouths of the Rangitikei and Mana* watu rivers. Here some hundred men unable to find work elsewhere were to be engaged in tree-planting on a section, of the sand dunes which stretch along the coast in picturesque irregularity* almost without interruption, from Paekakariki to Patea. It was probable that as winter progressed and as more immigrants arrived this camp would be materially enlarged and its range of activities considerably broadened. The story seemed not at all incredible. Before he left for London Mr. Massey had hinted at some such arrangement he had made for the hard months of the winter. After his departure Sir Francis Bell, his locum tenens, had talked of the need for making preparations against unemployment during the coming slack season. What could harmonise more completely with the Minister’s suggestions than the camp the Reform organ described ? NO SUCH THING. But Sir Francis Bell, through the evening paper, gave the whole story an indignant denial. He was utterly astonished, he told a Post reporter, when he read the statements made by the Dominion. It was quite incorrect to say that the Government was taking such steps as had been described for the establishment of unemployment camps. But having unburdened himself in this fashion the acting-Prime Minister made certain admissions which in some measure will “save the face” of his misguided friend. It was true that the Forestry Department, if necessary, would employ additional labor on the sand dunes and at its various planting stations; it <vas correct that the department had made arrangements with the defence authorities for the supply of tents and other camping equipment, and it was only natural there should be an increase in unemployment as winter approached. The truth of the matter seems to lie somewhere between the paper’s assertion and the Minister’s denial. The Government has made fairly adequate preparations against unemployment, but so far the demands for such relief are not abnormally high. THE GENERAL OUTLOOK.
The opinion held here by a majority of the people in a position to judge is that the immediate outlook for labor is better than it promised to be a few months ago. In both town and country there»always is plenty of work that requires doing and the institutions and individuals holding the purse-strings, realising that stagnation is poor economy, are doing their best to overcome the financial obstacles. The farmers dependent upon wool and meat are protesting they cannot continue paying the high wages that have been current during the last two or three years, and in the majority of cases the men are submitting cheerfully to a re-arrangement. There may be gome difficulty in placing the immigrants that are to arrive in the near future. Most of the new-comers on the spot are in employment, but at this time of year there is a limit to the country’s power of labor absorption. Evidently the Government is alive to this obvious fact and it will not be surprising if the dispatch of the High Commission’s “service” men should be delayed for some months.
THE BOOKMAKERS ORGANISE,
The bookmakers have given their whole-hearted recognition to the advantages of industrial unionism. The conference they held in Wellington soma weeks ago to devise means for the pro? tection and promotion of their interests has been followed by a meeting of their executive and by the appointment of a secretary at a. very generous salary. Applications for this position were invited through the leading advertising agency in the city and the executive was able to pick and choose from some couple qi hundred responses. The gentleman finally appointed has had considerable experience in political organisation and is armed with high credentials from big figures in the public life of the Dominion. It is understood the organisation will direct its efforts in the first instance against the totalizator, presumably with a view to bringing the racing clubs to realise the insecurity of their own position, and then will attempt by political pressure to bring about some compromise with the constituted authorities that will remove various perils from their own path. Meanwhile, all the Minister of • Justice has to say about the matter is that the law need! “tightening
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Taranaki Daily News, 9 May 1921, Page 5
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733WELLINGTON TOPICS. Taranaki Daily News, 9 May 1921, Page 5
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