UNFIT RELIEF MEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 116, 18 May 1932, Page 5

UNFIT RELIEF MEN.

PROBLEM OF EMPLOYMENT.

SIR G. RICHARDSON'S APPEAL.

MEDICAL CERTIFICATE QUESTION

"A great number of men who are physically unfit for camp or hard town work are applying to the Labour Department every day, and no jobs can bo found for them. What are we going to with these 600 or 700 men in Auckland who are not getting work?" asked Sir George Richardson at a meeting of the Metropolitan Unemployment Committee vesterday afternoon.

"These men are unfit to go to camps, and large numbers are unfit to take jobs on relief works," declared Sir George. "Something must be done for them. Are they to be given sustenance?"

The Mayor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison: I think we "should ask the Minister of Employment what he is going to do about them.

Mr. 0. Grieve, of the Labour Department, said soini' of the local bodies could not find work for the men.

Married Men and Camps. The Mayor: Married men are still being coerced into camps. I say coerced, and I mean it. I think it is absolutely wrong to force married men into camps. It may not be the function of this committee, but if a man's obligations are such that he cannot go to a cam]), work should be found for him in the towns. I am certain that 7.3 per cent of the community would be against married men going to camps. Sir George Richardson said he would like a return from the Labour Department showing those unemployed in Auckland who are physically unfit, and it was agreed to ask the Department for such a return. The Mayor mentioned that some men who had beeu certified as fit by the Department doctor had produced certificates from their own doctors showing them to be unfit. And these men were denied work.

Letter to Minister. On Sir George Richardson's motion it was decided to write to the Minister of Employment asking what lie proposed to do with unemployed men who were physically unlit. The Mayor said that Mr. Coatee was duo in Auckland shortly and it was hoped that arrangements could be made for him to meet the committee and discuss the position of the Auckland unemployed.