WORK-CENTRE SCHEME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 245, 16 October 1931, Page 10

WORK-CENTRE SCHEME.

When the general committee concerned with the unemployment of women'meet next Tuesday they will have put before them a scheme by the board of the Y.W.C.A. whereby a work centre for dressmaking and cooking may be set up to help make the way easier for girls and women to whom assistance is essential. It is proposed that this work centre be continued for ten weeks, taking the workers over the Christmas season, and it is expected that through it valuable experience will be obtained. It will be considered mainly as an experiment, and knowledge gained during its progress will equip the organisers to do the same on a larger scheme for a longer period should it be necessary next winter. Under the scheme there will be an attempt to provide over 30 meals each day. at a cost of about twopence per course, for which twopenny coupons 'will be issued. The work will be done by six voluntary teachers working one day a week each, and there will be six girls helping, Avho will each be given a free meal. A menu consisting of vegetable soup, roast meat, potatoes, cabbage and rice piidding will be provided af a cost of 9/ for 30 people, by which means the cooking centre will pay for itself. Under the scheme for the sewing centre eight girls arc employed per week, the same eight coming every third week. There will be three paid teachers at £1 per week, working one week in three, and ten girls will be given material for one dress and two days to make it. In the remaining three days they partly make two other dresses free, which will bo sold at a minimum cost of 4/ each. This department, naturally, will not be self-supporting, but the organisers are hopeful that' assistance will be given in the- form of donations, etc., to enable them to carry on. It is considered that many employers who were not able to keep their employees on and were reluctant to dismiss them, would be only too glad to make some expression of practical sympathy by the giving of cloth or money donations. A good deal of the voluntary help will be the gift of the Y.W.C.A., and any money required will be obtained from the Mayor's Committee, from which there will be a subsidy. Recent experience showed that the classes organised by the Y.W.C.A. to hold the interest of unemployed girls were not satisfactory. Girls would come only for urgent necessities, and in choosing food and clothing the promoters of the scheme had decided upon the two most important things. It is natural to assume that the Mayor's Committee will accept a scheme which promises such a fund of experience 'on its completion.