RELIEF CAMP CONDITIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 183, 4 August 1932, Page 3

RELIEF CAMP CONDITIONS.

CRITICISM AT TAKAPUNA.

MAYOR AND MR. SLAUGHTER

Conditions existing in relief camps were criticised at last night's meeting of the Takapuna Borough Council, when the Mayor, Mr. John Guiniven read a letter ho had received from a relief worker at the Pio Pio camp, in which he complained of the conditions there.

"I am writing to you to see if it is possible to get some'underclothing, as we have only got what they gave us in Auckland —one shirt, one blanket and one pair of socks," the letter from the relief worker read. "We have not got a change of clothing. We arc having a terrible lot of rain and frosts, and we are suffering from the cold at night, with only one blanket."

The Mayor said this letter was typical of a number ho had received and he thought it his duty to bring the matter before the council. He described "this conscripted labour in Coalition camps" as "an absolute disgrace."

Mr. Guiniven said he communicated by telephone with Mr. Slaughter after he had received the letter. "Mr. Slaughter told me that the camps were his own idea and that no blame was attachable to Mr. Coatee or anyone else," said the Mayor. "I told Mr. Slaughter that he ought to be ashamed of himself, then. He°told me I could go to the 'hot place/ and hung up the receiver." (Laughter.) "The whole thing is most unfair," said Mr. Waddell. "Only recently I know a proposition was put to Mr. Slaughter to put men on a job of cutting 30,000 tons of firewood, and he turned it down." After further discussion, the Mayor and other members agreed that nothing could be done.