THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 256, 10 August 1933, Page 6

THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.

WELCOMED BY THE WORKERS. "WE ARE 100 PER CENT. BETTER OFF." WAGES EXCEED PERMANENT SCALE. 11. -Much of the opposition to the relief eamps organised by the Ashbvuton County Council with the object of having very necessary and greatly reproductive work carried out at a distance from Ashburton so as to save the huge bill of transport costs which was mounting up, been based on the financial, side of the scheme. It is proposed in this, the second of a series of articles on the question of the relief camps, to deal fully with this aspect. Figures to be quoted were given by the men in the relief camps on Tuesday, when a "Guardian" reporter paid a visit of inspection to the three eamps which have so far been established. In not one case, did a worker express regret at haying taken up a position with the camps, and they were unani-, mously of the opinion that they were receiving a better financial return under the camp scheme than under any other scheme they had been engaged with in or near town. "

As the larger number of men went on to the register, and it was found that no further taxation could be placed upon the public and that the funds in hand were not sufficient to give the full original quota of wages, the Unemployment Board was com.pelled to reduce the amount of work which could be given to the men, who, for the purposes of the allocation, had been classified in groups according to the number of people depending upon them. The Maximum Allocations. Single men were placed in Class A, with a maximum work allocation of 2f days, at 7s 6d a day. Married men with no children and those with one child and two children, were placed in Class B, with an allocation of 3| days, at 10s a day. Married men with three children or more were grouped in Class B, with 10s a day as the wage. A growing demand on the funds, however, brought about a further reduction when the allocations given to *he Ashburton Local Unemployment Committee for distribution were reduced, with the result that the time Wrked by the men has been about 60 per cent, of what they would have worked, had the full quota of money been forthcoming. The Committee worked so that as many men as ipossible were given some \vork, though every member of the Committee recognised that the best allocation they could make was totally inadequate for all three classes of men and they made -strenuous, but for the most part finavailing, efforts to have the Board's allocations increased. Whew, having fairly divided the money available, there was found to be a small surplus, this was distributed to the best advantage by the Committee's special sub-committee which gave extra work to the men with the largest families. Wood-cutting Contracts. Every fourth week is a stand-down week. That means that no funds are received from the Unemployment Board, and as the money received had £een barely sufficient to keep body and soul together, many of the mem were compelled to appeal to the Hospital Board for relief. There again a heavy drain was placed on public money where no provision had been made to meet it. The Hospital Board soon found that it could not cope with the requests for assistance, and the County Council came to the rescue with its wood-cutting scheme, under which men were able to earn something during the stand-down week. Wages earned under this scheme varied from 17s 6d to £1 16s, and the chance of earning was eagerly seized by many of the men who were able to do such work. "What do you really think of the wages being paid?" asked the reporter of one of the men in a camp on Tuesday, and the reply came without hesitation. "We are a hundred per cent, better off out here than it 1 we were in town," he said. "At least, our wives are. In town I was making £4 10s a month, and out here I am getting £7 a month." "But it is said in town that the wages are not so good in camp as on other work," the reporter remarked. "They Just Won't See it.-' "That's because the men who say it don't know what they are talking about. They have no idea of it. They should, but they just won't let themselves see it," the man replied. When the same leading question was put to a second worker, he, too, was emphatic. He said: "In town I got 25s a week. Here, I get £2 7s. Am I going to growl about that? Of course not. This job will do me for a long time yet." Several other members had similar remarks to make regarding the wages, and the explanation for the cheerful , outlook met with, is explained in the following paragraphs. A married man with three or more children is entitled, when working in Ashburton, to a maximum of five days' work at 10s a day, giving £2 10s a week. As the work is available on only three weeks in every four, the total sum that could be earned by this man is £7 10s a month. Actually, about 60 per cent, of this has been available. In camp, the same man would receive £2 a week, with an additional 12s a week, granted by the County Council for the purchase of food. There is

no stand-down week in camps, so that for the full month ho would receive £io Bs.

At one of the camps the cost of food last week worked out at 7s 9d for each man, at another it was 8s (there had been a heavy purchase of meat at this camp, so that the following weeks would be considerably lower), and at the third the cost was 9s (here, also, a 'large purchase of meat had been made during the week). In the first instance, the cook was sure he could henceforth bring the cost to 6s a week for each man. Eight shillings a week, therefore, seems to be a fair average cost. Taking this as a basis the food cost for the month in the latter instanco quoted would be £1 12s. Taking this from the total money received, the man would find that he had £1 6s a month more than if he had remained in Ashburton. ' The case of a man with two children is more illuminating. This man has a maximum allocation of 3 1 } days a week, returning him 37s 6d a week. For the three weeks' work in each month, the man would receive £5 12s 6d. Actually, 'about 60 per cent, of this has been available. In camp, the same man would receive 35s a week, plus 12s food allowance. For the four weeks he would receive £9 Bs. Two Schemes Compared. Thus the two cases quoted may be set out as follows: Camp. Town. Wk. Month. Wk. Month. 5 day man... 52/- £lO/8/- 50/- £7/10/3f day man . 42/- £9/8/- 37/6 £5/12/6 The County Council's permanent labourers receive the same pay as the relief men, namely 10s a day, but they pay sixpence tax off that, cso that their net wages for the day total 9s 6d, against the 10s of the relief worker, who does not pay this tax. The Council's permanent man loses pay for wet days, but the relief worker is paid throughout the week under the camp scheme.

Other wages paid to permanent employees by the Council are as follow : Bridge gang, 10s 8d a day, 7d tax, net 10s Id; water-race men lis, 7d and 10s sd; teamsters lis 6d, 7d and 10s lid; motor grader driver 13s 6d, 9d and 12s 9d; lorry driver 12s, 8d and lis 4d. The last two hold positions of considerable responsibility as they each have sole charge of several hundreds of pounds' worth of machinery. Difference in Days Worked. The Council's permanent workmen receive £3 0s 9d a week, against the relief worker's £2 I2s. •Objection to the camp scheme rests largely upon the fact that whereas the relief workers in town work so many days a week, the men in the camps have to work a full week for the same money, or at the sum fixed without taking the food allowance into account. This reduces the day wages to a level that the Belief Workers' Union officials declare should not be offered to any man. This * aspect was placed before one camp worker on Tuesday. He was asked what he thought about working a full week for the same money received by a man in town working only part of the week. "That has nothing to do with the question," the worker said as he continued to wield his axe. "We all know, and those fellows in the Union know, that we are not being paid for the work we do. The wages we receive are not a proper living wage, but the money is being given out by the Government to keep us and our families alive, and they are asking us for some work in return.

"If we have to go into camps to get the money, then we will go. That's how we look at it. And we get the money four weeks in the month. It pays us to take on the extra days' work for nothing, so that we can get the full month's work."