GIFTS TO WORKLESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 116, 18 May 1932, Page 12

GIFTS TO WORKLESS.

ORGANISING CAMP RELIEF.

METROPOLITAN COMMITTEE,

OVER £300 ALREADY RECEIVED.

Activities of the Metropolitan Unemployment Relief Committee were reported upon at a meeting of the committee yesterday afternoon. In making a brief report the Mayor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison, who presided, said that gifts received to date by the town clerk lor the relief committee totalled £.'3OO fl/10. Requisitions to the value of about £115 had been received and these had been attended by the officer in charge of tho relief depot. The goods itisucd included 25 pairs of blankets, 50 pairs of boots, 100 shirts and 100 pairs of trousers. In addition, £10 worth of blankete and underpants had been issued. Forty men who left for a camp at Coromandel last Thursday were equipped. Most of the work so far had been in equipping men who were, going to camps. "We want to see how soon we can switch off the camps and help the local unemployed," said Mr. Hutchison. Mr. G. F. Grieve, of the Labour Department, explained that as soon as the £150 which had been given to them for relief had been exhausted, all the work of supplying clothes to the men in the camps would bo in tho hands of the metropolitan committee. Boots and sox had been sent to the most deserving c:iecs in various camps. It was expected that about 400 paira of boots would be sent. Requisitions wero now coming in from tho camps that would not be able to bo supplied by tho Labour Department, but he thought that within a short time the men in tho camps would be reasonably well equipped. It was decided that the relief depot should be open for the-receipt of gifts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Mondays till Fridays, and from 9 a.m. till noon on Saturdays. Tho work has incre:'«ed so much at the depot that the oflicer in charge has found it necessary to have clerical assistance. It was decided to apply to the Unemployment Board for a three or four-day relief man for clerical work, to bo paid for by the board.

Boot Repairs. "I've had men on scheme 5 come to me with their boots falling to pieces," said tho Mayor. "It's time wo helped these men." Sir Georgo Richardson: Boots are the most urgent need of the men. Some of tho men are walking round in boots which, if they are not repaired, will soon be beyond repair. If tho men arc not well shod, we shall have all sorts of sickColonel S. J. E. Closey, who is in charge of tho city boot pool, said that although the pool had 10 or 12 bootmakers working, daily, they could not keep up with tho demand for repairs. Already over 9000 pains of book* had been repaired. The cost of the leather each -week was between £12 and £15. Ho thought that if £0 a week were granted out of the committee's funds, tho pool would bo able to find the other money. On'the motion of Sir George Richardeon, it was decided to vote £5 a week to the boot pool for tho purchase of leather for repairing the boots of relief workers in the eitv.

It was decided to vote £10 to St. John Ambulance, for the purpose of providing household remedies in the camps