RELIEF CAMP

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 72, 7 January 1936, Page 3

RELIEF CAMP

CHURCH WORK NEAR ADELAIDE. 3000 ACRES OF LAND IN USE. (Special to the "Guardian.") AUCKLAND, January 6. As superintendent of the Adelaide Central Methodist Mission, the Rev. S. Forsyth, who arrived in Auckland by the Aorangi, is in charge of a movement by means of which unemployed are being given every assistance to rehabilitate themselves and eventually to find work. In the last five years an institution has been built up which .consists of four camps, the occammodation of two of them being provided by the use of old railway carriages. The mission has about 3000 acres of land, which carries sheep, pigs, poultry and cows. Some of the land is auriferous, and although the returns so far have not been very great, there are good prospects, besides, of course, the work given the men in gold mining. "The work is quite undenominational and all the rest of the community helps us," said Mr Forsyth. "It is becoming a training ground for unemployed youth, and we keep a man or boy until he can find a job. The mission takes in destitute men and boys, and they are given 5s a week as pocket money. They work eight hours a day for five days of the week, excepting those who are on essential services. "There are too many men in the cities in Australia, and we are seeking a supplementary scheme to place men on holdings. We have asked the Government for £IO,OOO for the purpose. The idea is to purchase 1000 acres and place 20 to 25 men on it, subdividing the land after two or three years, and making it available for the men. After they have become established the men would pay back the purchase price by instalments.

Mr Forsyth, who was formerly in Wellington, left New Zealand 30 years ago; and this is the first occasion on which he has returned to New Zealand. The mission colony for the unemployed is 43 miles south of Adelaide.

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