REFUSED CAMP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 253, 26 October 1933, Page 5

REFUSED CAMP.

SEVEN RELIEF MEN.

FURTHER WORK DENIED THEM

ACTION BY DEPARTMENT.

Forty married relief workers at Onehunga were yesterday called upon by Labour Department officials to show cause why they should not go to relief camps. One man of the 40 accepted camp, seven refused to go and were put off relief work, five had been reported by the engineer for general misconduct and they were stood down for seven days, and the remaining 27 advanced good reasons why they should not go to camps. They were exempted and allowed to continue relief work in .the district.

The officer in charge of unemployment in the Auckland district, Mr. W. Slaughter, explained to-day that the matter was purely one of Departmental routine. All the men had been passed as medically fit, and they had merely been asked to give reasons why they should not be sent to camps. Some of the men had refused, and it seemed like another attempt by the Unemployed Workers' Association to start an agitation against the camps. There had been a similar happening at Glen Eden on Tuesday.

"The work in the country is of a light nature, mostly clearing ragwort," said Mr. Slaughter. "In many cases the men would be billeted with farmers and they would be required to stay in the country only a short period. Refusal by the men to accept camp work means that they are dictating to those who pay unemployment taxation how, why and where the money should be spent. The taxation is levied to meet the position caused by involuntary unemployment, not voluntary unemployment. There is nothing unusual in the procedure of drafting fit married men to country work. It has been almost a daily occurrence all over the province for the past two years. It is simply the ordinary method of ascertaining the number of mdn available for country work." .j Men's Statement. After the men had met Labour Department officials in the morning, be- [ tween 40 and 50 relief workers met in the Onehunga Ex-Servicemen's Club in the afternoon. After the meeting the following statement was made:—"The position in Onehunga is singular. The men who were called upon to report to the local office of the Labour Department and were there interrogated by the inquiry officer, were told that reports had been received from a foreman that the men's work was not satisfactory. They are all married men. Most of the men who have been selected for camp are those upon whom a definite hardship will fall. In one case, where a man was suspended for seven days as a penalty for alleged 'slacking,' no chance was given him to have the charge ventilated. • The Auckland Provincial Unemployed Workers' Association will report the matter to the National Union." Not the Council's Action. The Mayor of Onehunga, Mr. E. Morton, said to-day that what was being done by the Labour Department had .nothing to do with the Onehunga Borough Council. On inquiries being made from borough officials it was learned that the borough foreman was instructed to give notice to certain men to report to the labour office at Onehunga to show cause why they should not be sent to camp. In addition to the married men yesterday, 40 single men reported this morning. A. number of these have been informed that they will have to go to camp. At present there are about 500 men employed at Onehunga on relief work. Glen Eden Protest. A large meeting of the Glen Eden branch of the Douglas social credit movement passed a resolution strongly opposing the action of the Unemployment Board "in ordering the wholesale removal to camp of married men, including ex-service men, many of them with war disabilities, and many others too old to take up camp life." From the Douglas viewpoint, the scandalous policy of separating these war veterans and others from their wives and families, and the general breaking up of homes, is totally un necessary.