"NO MONEY."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 136, 10 June 1932, Page 5

"NO MONEY."

fOR UNEMPLOYED BOYS; GOVERNMENT WANTS PLAN. U PREPARED TO ASSIST.' , REPLY OF PRIME MINISTER. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. The seriousness of the unemployment uroblem wne emphasised by an inducntial and rc]irescntativc deputation which waited on the Prime Minister, Minister of Employment and the Ministor of Lands and urged that some >finitc statement of the Government's policy l>o made. Thj deputation had the support of ■ ]\ chinch bodies am! included representatives of various churches and also th>j V.M.C.A. and Boy Scout movement, the Employers' Association, the Rotary inovement, the Now Zealand Land Development League, the A. and P. Association!) and the Real Estate Institute. The principal speaker was Archbishop Averill, "ho ssiid the absence of any organised attempt to find some sort of employment for youths between lo and iO years of age was utterly detrimental in the welfare of boys and the future ivclfare of the Dominion. He cm•jliasised that boys were up against a jiank wall, and, so situated, became -.ho prey to the hoodlum element and ivcre ready to assimilate Bolshevistic jr Communistic ideas. That spirit ■vould develop unless something was .!one. R3gistration Urged. Mr. N. Ci. Gribble, president of the Xew Zealand Land Development League, ■aid :20,000 boys in New Zealand were today practically for sale. He urged lie complete registration and classification of boys, and suggested not only ;i:at there should be a scheme for getting the boys on the land by subsidising employers, but that a ' Dominion wide careers committee be set up to assist in devising a national policy for ilie relief of boys who were unemployed. I

Other speakers said the boys had a legitimate claim on tlio unemployment funds.

Mr. W. J. Holdsv.orth (Auckland) said that at a terrific expense the Government was wasting time by keeping pupils a year longer at school, when they had finished their courses, and it would pay a hundredfold if the problem were tackled properly, and the boys were given something useful to do. Sons of Relief Workers. The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, Minister of Employment, replying, stressed the need for cohesion. He said a good deal of the effect of what was being attempted by the Government was destroyed by 111considere* criticism, and he made a plea for co-operation, instead of destructive criticism. The State could not relieve those parents who could afford to keep their boys of the responsibility of ;! tiding them some form of work. Hβ could only consider cases of unemployment of sons of registered relief workers. He emphasised that the Budgetary position was very difficult. "We are faced with deficits" anyhow," said Mr. Coates, "but we are trying to live up to the programme we have "laid flown."

In regard to land settlement he said they were doing the best they could with the funds available. If ,'iOOO people could be got on to the land fairly quickly it would relieve the fund to the extent of between £300,000 and £100.000 a year. In view of the Government's very limited resources he considered its duty was first of all to assist married men with families and dependents. No further commitments in expenditure could be justified at present, urgent and necessitous as the cases might be.

"Will Do What It Can." An assurance was given by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, that whatever organisation could be devised for training boys or giving them work, the Government was willing to assist. The Government alone could not deal with the problem. If a plan could be presented the Government would do what it could to assist in carrying it out. The deputation's representations would be placed before the Cabinet for serious consideration.