Mr M. McAllen, secretary of the General Labourers' Union, presided, and there were about 40 men present. Most of them were quite young, and there was no one who could be said to be past the prime of life.
Mr McAllen took the names of those present, ascertaining the number each had dependent on him. The single men, with no dependents, were put on a separate list, ''the call list'', as Mr McAllen, with grim significance, termed it.
A few of these had a brother, a sister, or an aged mother dependent on them, but the majority were free of responsibility in this respect. Of the 23 single men whose names were taken, the total number of extra dependents was six.
With the married men it was different.
''Couldn't you do something for the more necessitous cases?'' asked one man.
''How many dependents have you?'' inquired Mr McAllen.
''Twelve!'' responded the man, hopelessly.
''A big family for a general labourer!'' commented the secretary.
This was the worst case, but there were others nearly as bad.
Three of the men had eight dependents, two of them had seven, and, of a total of 16 married men whose names were taken, there were 85 extra persons for whom they were the breadwinners.
Grim humour characterised the proceedings.
''Are any of you new arrivals, brought out to the country by representations made at Home?'' asked Mr McAllen.
Apparently none of them was.
''The immigrants have been provided with jobs at 7s 6d a week,'' said one man.
''Well, you are all New Zealand-born,'' said the secretary.
''You made a mistake in being born in New Zealand.''
Much capital was made of remarks attributed to the Prime Minister, at his meeting in the Garrison Hall on Friday night, when Mr Massey was reported to have said that there should be no unemployed, and that he honestly believed that, if men were anxious for work, they could find employment; also, that if there were men unemployed, and anxious to find work, he would help them.
Mr McAllen said local bodies had been invited through the papers to put works in hand so as to employ a number of men who were out of work, in order to relieve the more necessitous cases. But not a solitary response had been made to that invitation by any local body.
• In welcoming the Prime Minister (the Right Hon. W. F. Massey) to Naseby yesterday, the Mayor (Mr Fraser) referred to the attractions of Naseby as a resort for winter pastimes, chief among which was the old and time-honoured game of curling.
On behalf of the local clubs, he extended a cordial invitation to Mr Massey to visit the ice-pond and become initiated in the mysteries of the art.
Mr Massey stated that in this respect his education had been neglected, but he was perfectly willing to make an acquaintance with the game.
On reaching the ground Mr Massey showed a keen interest in the sport, and under the able tuition of the local experts quickly displayed a surprising amount of skill - in fact, one of his shots found the ''bull's-eye'' amidst the enthusiastic applause of the spectators. Altogether the experience was a novel one in the course of the afternoon's proceedings.
- ODT, 2.6.1914.
