LOCAL BODIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 91, 17 April 1936, Page 9

LOCAL BODIES.

WHAT GOVERNMENT AID?

WORK FOR UNEMPLOYED. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. Speaking in the second reading debate on the Employment Promotion Bill, the Hon. A. Hamilton (National, Wallace), a former Minister of Employment, said that the Government could rely on the co-operation of the Opposition in helping to solve the unemployment problem. Useless work had been criticised, but who was to find the work —surely the local bodies. Moreover, a great deal of useful work had been done bv local bodies who had used the surplus labour and many parks and domains had been made. Mention had been made of the position of the Unemployment Fund, but he submitted that if all commitments were met there would be little left in the fund. He thought that consolidation of the amendments in the bill was good, but the bill did not t do much except abolish the board. The Minister of Employment, Mr. Armstrong: It makes it possible^for big things to be done. , Mr. Hamilton: There is not a thing possible here which was impossible under the existing law. He asked what the Minister's attitude to local bodies would be. What help was he to give them? The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Semple, said it was not correct to say that the Labour party had only made partv capital out of unemployment. He contrasted the attitude of the previous Government with this, and said that he had given instructions that men were not to be held back in their work, but were to be helped so that they would give of their best. ... The debate was adjourned until 10.30 a.m. to-morrow.