ESTIMATES EXCEEDED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 16, 20 January 1932, Page 10

ESTIMATES EXCEEDED.

£62,315 FOR OUTDOOR RELIEF RETURNS FOR NINE MONTHS. A return presented to the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board yesterday afternoon showed that for the nine months ended December 31,1931, the payments exceeded the estimates by £44,535, made up of: Auckland Hospital, £13,G02; outdoor relief, £27,440; sanatoria, £2575; T.B. dispensary, £50; miscellaneous departments, £478. Ordinary receipts exceeded the estimates by £990, and the net shortage for the nine months was £43,539. Compared with the actual expenditure for the nine months of the previous year, hospital maintenance was less by £11,032, and the Infirmary maintenance less by £2192. Outdoor relief was greater by £19,970, and sanatoria maintenance was greater by £764. Of the £62,315 spent on outdoor relief £37,211 was definitely assignable to unemployment relief and of the balance a large proportion was indirectly granted through the same cause, but was impossible of allocation.

"The above figures show," stated the report, "that our relief estimates for the year have already been exceeded by *£17,565; for the following three months it is estimated a further £23,085 will be required, making a total shortage of £40,650 in connection with relief payments. "Although hospital, infirmary, and sundry items show that £20,000_ more is required than was estimated, this was expected as our estimates were forced by the Department far below actual requirements. The present estimated amount is still £14,152 below the actual expenditure of last year, so that very considerable savings have been effected in everything but relief."