NO LOANS THIS WINTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 101, 1 May 1930, Page 8

NO LOANS THIS WINTER.

FOR UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF. WHAT CITY IS DOING. LARGE AMOUNT ALREADY SPENT. In a statement to a "Star" representative immediately after the deputation of unemployed had departed without presenting their case this morning, Mr. Baildon said the City Council was fully aware of the unemployment situation. There were already 50 men from the ranks of the unemployed on the paysheets of the council, about nine of them being- on the waterfront road work, and over 40 at Western Springs. The £155,000 drainage loan.having been carried, steps would be taken to put the work in hand at the earliest possible date.' The city engineer was making the necessary plans and arrangements, so that there might be .no delay. The Mayor could not state definitely the' number which the drainage work would absorb, but he said there would be .a considerable body placed in employment. "To hear some of these fellows talk on* would think the City Council was doing nothing in the way of providing work," added the Mayor. "The fact is we have 826 on the pay-sheet, made up of men engaged in the engineer's department, on the waterworks and in the parks. In addition, there are 1378 men employed by the Transport Board, and another 2Go*are in employment as a result of the board's progressive policy of tramway extensions and other works. In all there are over IGOO men employed bv the Transport Board. ""The City Council has already spent over £150,000 in the relief of unemployment—that is apart from subsidies. It must not be supposed that the city is going to raise loaus for the relief of unemployment this winter," continued Mr. Baildon. ' "That is impossible. To raise such loans would mean that we were providing work for the constant streams of men coming in from the country districts. Men in the country will be well advised to seek for work outside the city, rather than to come into town and swell the numbers here. I want it to be plainly understood there is absolutely no chance of the city raising loans this winter to absorb the stream of worklcss men from the country. : "Had the men been reasonable this morning, and allowed their representatives to' see me, I should have advised them to place their case before their respective members of Parliament," concluded the Mayor. "I should also have told them to interview the Minister of Labour." .