FUNDS STRAINED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 13

FUNDS STRAINED.

RELIEF DURING WINTER

"SERIOUSLY UP AGAINST IT." GRANTS TO FAMILIES. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. The Unemployment Board, already faced with a big task in providing work, and, in necessitous cases, sustenance for the large and increasing numbers of unemployed, is likely to find itself even more seriously up against it during the winter months.

The board is bound by weU-defined financial limits, and it would appear that in the main centres of population all that it i<3 possible to do within those limits ie being done. Under the new rations scheme the board has relieved the hospital boards or the responsibility of providing sustenance for registered relief workers and their dependents, and, according to the result of inquiries made to-day, is working on the principle that no one will go short of the necessaries of life.

Many applicants for relief complain that they have received a note from an officer of the Labour Department reeding: "Your application for ration relief has received very careful consideration, but it is regretted that it has not been possible to grant same."

It is allered by others that sustenance has been confined to the supply of milk (one pint a day in some cases) and not more than 7/ worth of groceries and other good* a month. Inquiries made in official quarters show that actually no strict limit has been placed on the issue of rations, and every application i.s being considered on the merits of the case.

Necessaries of Life. It ia stated by an applicant that the official explanation of the board is that the new scale, ae operating, together with additional relief to be given in cases of necessity, represents the amount which is alleged by the Health Department authorities to be sufficient to provide that no one jroce short of the necessaries of life, as promised by the Minister of Employment. It ie true, in one or two cases, that there will be instances of a reduction, but this is only because the classification has been reorganised on a ba«is more in keeping with responsibilities. Under the old scale, with hospital board rations added, a man with three children received in some cases as high as 42/ a month additional, as compared with the worker with only two children, whilst difference betwee:" the man with three children and the man with four children was only 15/ a month. The scale now being applied adjusts these anomalies, and, whilst eome will probably get less, others will get more, and everyone is assured of getting the amount regarded, according to the Health Department's investigations, as being necessary. It is admitted that there may be cases of hardship and even suffering under the new scheme, but, as a general rule, the board has instructed its officers that they are to be as generous as possible. Rent Problem Difficult. The rent problem is very difficult, and the board has had to lix a standard figure. The scale of relief laid down assumes that a rent of 10/ a week has to be paid, and, in this respect, people paying over that amount are placed at a disadvantage so far as sustenance is concerned. That is a difficulty which, it is stated, it is not within the power of the board to overcome. Only a general readjustment of values or of rentals could do that.

The problem of finding work and sustenance is not, of co»irse, confined to the main centres of population. There are also cases of distress in secondary towns and country districts during the winter months. It is stated that the problem will become even more acute than at present, and the funds available for the board are already strained, and will have to undergo even greater straining.. Indeed, the question arises as to whether the fund will be sufficient to meet all the demands likely to be made, and there is a feeling that, if the board is to carry on with its present scheme and meet all demands, it will be necessary to ask the Government for more revenue.

It is expected that the demands will become heavier during the winter, and. that the cost of relief and sustenance, even at the present rates, is likely to become considerably heavier.