VARIABLE NEEDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 68, 21 March 1934, Page 5

VARIABLE NEEDS.

ALLOCATING RELIEF.

CITIES' ACUTE PROBLEM.

STATEMENT BY MR. .TESSEP.

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

HASTINGS, this day.

The deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board, Mr. J. S. Jessep, was present in Hastings last evening at a meeting of all bodies concerned with helping the unemployed, and in administering relief activities.

The main request which was made to Mr. Jessep was for a more even distribution of relief between the cities and the towns. Mr. Jessep said the board could not attempt to make an even allocation per head of the population in New Zealand, as conditions varied in different places. The problem was far more acute in the largo centres, such as Wellington and Auckland, than it was in places like Hastings. The Act did not take away any responsibility from local bodies. It was purely for the purpose of assisting. It did not pretend the unemployment relief provided a wage, but was merely sustenance. All the board could do was to use the money provided, and to spend it only where needed. Those who earned a few extra shillings, apart from the relief wage, were not penalised, added Mr. Jessep, and he strenuously denied that the board had created any huge reserve funds.