RELIEF FUNDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 114, 17 May 1933, Page 3

RELIEF FUNDS.

CONTROL QUESTION. STATEMENT BY LABOUR M.P. REPLY MADE BY MAYOR. Strong exception has been taken by the Mayor, Mr. <!. W. Hutchison, as chairman of the Auckland Metropolitan Relief i Committee, to a statement made by Mr. M. J. Savage, M.l'., at a meeting of the , Auckland Hospital Board yesterday that: there should be proper public control of, the funds used for unemployment relief. Associated with the Mayor in his protest arc Mr. W. P. Slillwell, Mayor of Mount Albert, and the Rev. C-. E. Morcton, president of the Auckland Social Workers | Association, both members of the Metropolitan Relief Committee. "It is necessary at the qutsct to know , exactly how unemployment relief is administered, and the respective respon- j sibilities of the four organisations in j the city which deal with poverty in "eneral," said Mr. Hutchison. ° "First: The Auckland Hospital Board is pxpeeted to take care of cases of distress arising otherwise than through unemployment, and included in these; cases are, 'C class men, who arc held by the Unemployment Board to be unfit for employment'of any kind. j Social Organisations. i "Next: There are the social orgnnisa- j tiona, which arc complementary to tho > Hospital Board, and which also are not expected to undertake the new problem j of poverty presented by unemployment. "Thirdly: There is the Unemployment Board's ration department, which took over from the Auckland Hospital Board the distribution of sustenance to the unemployed additional to the money paid them for relief work. "Fourthly: There is the AucklaM ; Metropolitan Unemployment Keliet Committee, which is representative 01 the whole of the local bodies and social organisations in the Auckland metropolitan area, and which was formed to meet the need for working clothes boots and blankets for men registered for relief work. . "If each of these four organisations keeps strictly to its own sphere, there should be no overlapping, and it should be known that there is a compete system of check between the Unemployment Board's ration department, tlie Auckland Metropolitan Unemployment Relief Committee and the Auckland Social Workers' Association, each of which keeps its own card index, and can tell in a moment whether a person applying for relief has already received assistance.

Public Control. <r i\lr. Savage is reported to have said 'That there should be proper public control of the funds used for unemployment relief.' The fact that the Auckland metropolitan unemployment relief fund is administered by a committee representative of all the local authorities and social organisations in the Auckland metropolitan area, and that on the executive there are the Mayors of Auckland, Mount Eden and Mount Albert, and the president and secretary of the Auckland Social Workers' Association, besides other delegates, should surely indicate that the fund is already publicly administered; but if Mr. Savage's desire is to transfer this activity to some "Government Department, "then the suggestion will be strenuously opposed, and, furthermore, it is certain that any other form of administration than the existing one would not have resulted in such a generous reeponse by citizens and ladies' working committees as the committee secured last year, when funds were so desperately needed. "We may all agree with Mr. Savage that 'There should be a considerable addition to the funds at present available.' This applies to the funds at the disposal of the four organisations mentioned above, but it is incorrect to supplement this fact by a criticism of the method by which funds that are available are administered."

"I Withdraw Nothing." "I withdraw nothing," said Mr. Savage this morning. "There are public funds being made available for relief purposes and the Unemployment Board has its own local machinery, in addition to that provided by the Hospital Board. TJieec are both public and representative bodies. The Auckland Metropolitan Relief Committee, which is doing good work, should be supplementary to and not taking the place of public institutions. If the Mayor makes careful inquiry from the members of his own committee, he will find that dissatisfaction exists among them. My attention was first drawn to it by a member of the Metropolitan Eelief Committee."