CRITICISM RESENTED

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 93, 20 April 1932, Page 14

CRITICISM RESENTED

OUTDOOR RELIEF ESSENTIAL. "NOT GIVING ANY LUXURIES." The Mount Albert Borough Council sent a letter to the Auckland Hospital Board expressing alarm at tfie expenditure of the board and urging that the time had come when the incidence of taxation should be shifted from the ratepayers to the general public. Mr. William Wallace, chairman of the board, at yesterday's meeting pointed out that Mount Albert's levy had been reduced by £1071 last year." The local bodies seemed to think' the board had a little gold mine where it could get money. So long as the. duty was thrown on the board of providing outdoor relief, all the local bodies should go down on their hands and knees and thank heaven for what the board's relief committee had done. All the board was doing for the unemployed was holding body and soul together; it was not giving any luxuries. Mr. Wallace said he deplored these criticisms from local bodies? Responsibility for relief being thrown on the board, it was determined to sec thai no person wanted for food. The board was merely keeping the wolf from the door; it di<l not provide clothing. During his visit to the Aka. Aka camp, where the single unemployed men were digging drains, he was struck by their great need of clothes, blankets and boots. He was glad to see that recent legislation gave the Government power to use unemployment funds to provide clothes. The board hoped that in the near future the Government would relieve it of the burden of providing for the unemployed, but while the boau! was saddled with the duty local bodies should refrain from carping criticism.