NO. 5 SCHEME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 26, 1 February 1932, Page 9

NO. 5 SCHEME.

"NOT ANCHORED TO' IT." &nt. COATES TELLS RELIEF i MEN. [ ■ SATURDAY'S DEMONSTRATION. .[ (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. "Wellington unemployed have marched l>n Parliament Building frequently, and fhe unemployed of the outside boroughs Organised a similar mass demonstration (On Saturday, which meant hundreds walking about six miles from the gathering point at Petone. There were twelve speakers, and the jfcqueats were that No. 5 scheme be Abolished, and a five-day week on standard pay substituted, and that the sys - &m of charitable aid rations be abandoned. This last provoked more critical comment from the speakers than any Other subject. The selection of twelve delegates from the big crowd enabled Mr. Coates and a member of the Unemployment Board, Bromley, to hear the representations quietly, though there was a constant S-W-r of the mass demonstration in e background by way of brass band Selections, and the sound of impassioned speeches from the steps of the building. Several of the delegates declared that e relief system was degrading, and complained that a few of the cal bodies were making the men work or e 'ght hours for grocery rations 0I ~ on ly 5/. "It is terrible," said j e ' ™at men should have to kowtow the Charitable Aid Board and a lot of • 4 Wom en for tucker." , "Beginning of Revolution?" s^ro pg _ language of some of the tn +v, erS ' Minting at violent alternatives vr- . 6 Present system, prompted the is if r . emar k: "You suggest this ten X o* nn ' n g of revolution? Do you * e c °untry you propose to initiate a thing?"

"We are not going to initiate anything ourselves," was the reply, "but the workers will initiate it, because we are not going to see our families etarve." "It would be almost as well if we did get into gaol," declared Mr. Sandford, one of the Wellington speakers, "for we would have somewhere to go if evicted, and if there was enough of us we could take charge.'^ "But your wives and children would be no better off," was the Minister'? quiet reminder. Scheme of Permanent Work. Mr. Coates in his reply referred again to the scheme now being formulated. He said headway had been made in the direction of placing those out of work in the position to assist themselves to a very much greater extent than in the past, and helping them along the road to permanent employment. He could only ask the deputation to be patient until the scheme was approved by Parliament, and he had the assurance that the necessary finance would be available. To pay standard rates to all relief workers five days a week would be equivalent to the "dole" system, and it would cost not less than £10,000,000 per annum. Relief work to-day cost at the rate of £2,500,000 per annum, and until Parliament dealt with the position that was the limit which the board could spend, and half of this' was found from the incomes of peopie who, generally speaking, felt heavily the weight of taxation. "This is a severe storm," Mr. Coates said, "and the best we can do is to provide shelter while the storm lasts." Various schemes had been worked out, and it was his idea to eliminate the stand-down week. As for No. 5 scheme, he asked the deputation not to assume for a moment that this was the rook to which the board was anchored. "Our proposals go a long way further than that, with the sole idea of giving hope to those willing to accept other avenues." Steady rain brought the subsequent open-air proceedings to a quick close, and the pTocession formed up with the band to walk through Wellington to where sympathisers had provided light refreshments. After lunch, as the rain persisted, the relief workers marched to Lambton station, forced their way past officials who demanded their tickets, and 500 crowded into three carriages. The railway authorities added six more carriages to the train, and it proceeded without further incident.