RELIEF BONUS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 299, 17 December 1937, Page 13

RELIEF BONUS.

HOLIDAYS WITH PAY.! CHRISTMAS BENEFITS. MINISTER'S ANNOUNCEMENT. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) CTTRIS rCHURCH, Thursday. "A Christmas bonus of £2 for married men and. £1 for single men will be raid to all eligible relief workers this year," said the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, this evening, when announcing the arrangements made for Christmas payments and for Christmas and New Year holidays. Scheme Xo. 0 works will close down on Wednesday, December 22, and will reopen on Monday, January 10, and certain 'workers will be granted a. two weeks' paid holiday. In addition to relief workers, men who have been transferred from the register of unemployed to Government works within two months before Christmas will be eligible for the bonus and holiday benefits. Men Who Receive Bonus. Mr. Armstrong fiaid that th© bonus would he payable to all those men who actun lly received relief or were engaged under one of the undermentioned schemes in the week ended December 4: Scheme Xo. 5 workers employed on a rationed basis, i.e., less than 40 hours a week; men receiving sustenance without work; gold prospectors, including men employed on developmental work, other] than those employed on full time (401 hours a week or more) at standard rates of pay. Clerical "workers employed in local body relief depots, etc., whose total remuneration as such is not more than £2 10/ a week in the case of married men and 37/0 a week in the case of single men; Scheme 4A workers on their own farms (excluding orchardists receiving frost damage relief); men receiving sustenance allowances under the small farm plan; men employed on special full-time works arranged through local bodies, etc.

Coditions of Eligibility. "The bonus is still payable, although a worker did not continue to receive relief after the week ended December 4," continued the Minister, in explaining conditions of eligibility. "Any person who registered and became eligible for relief for the first time after the week ended December 5 is not eligible to receive the bonus. "Any person who re-registers and becomes elifrihle for relief In any of the weeks ended December 11, 18 and 25 is eligible to receive the bonus if he has actually been receiving relief under one of the above-mentioned schemes at any time between September 5 and December 4. Two Weeks' Holiday. "In addition to the Christmas bonus, the Government has decided that all workers employed on the under-men-tioned schemes are to be granted a two weeks' paid holiday for the weeks ending January 1 and January 8, 1938," said Mr. Armstrong. "These workers are:—Scheme 5, workers employed' on a rationed basis, i.e., less than 40 hours a week; gold prospectors employed under Scheme 15, including those on developmental work, except where they are employed for full time at standard Tates of pay; workers employed in clerical and other capacities in local body offices, relief depots, etc. "All Scheme 5 works will he closed down on Wednesday, December 22, and will reopen on Monday, January 10. Any men who would' normally be required to report for Scheme 5 on Thursday or Friday, December 23 and 24, will be paid in advance for these days as if they had worked. Payment for the holiday weeks will be made to Scheme 5 workers, gold prospectors, etc., before Christmas."

Mr. Armstrong added that payment of allocations due for the weeks ending December 25, January 1 and January 8 would be made before Christmas.

In addition i,t had been decided that no declarations of earnings would be required from sustenance recipients for the weeks ending December 25 and January 1, and any private earnings which men might be able to earn in eft,her of these two weeks would be entirely ignored when assessing their future allocations. Earnings in the week ending January 8 would be taken into account in the usual manner when assessing sustenance allocations for the week ending January 15. Scheme 5 Workers. A somewhat similar concession had been arranged for Scheme 5 workers, in that when allocations due to them for the weeks ending January 1 and 8 were being computed any prior earnings by way of salary or wages which would ordinarily have been taken into account would be ignored, and the men would be granted their full allocation, less any adjustment that might be necessary on account of capital assets or regular income. This would place Scheme 5 workers on a somewhat similar basis to sustenance recipients in payment for the holiday weeks. Ragwort Eradication. "Worker* employed on the ragwort eradication scheme will be treate<|r in the same manner as regards the Christmas bonus and holiday concessions as those workers employed on special fulltime rotational works. "Provided they are otherwise eligible it has been decided to treat as eligible for the Christmas bonus and two weeks' holiday pay those workers who have been recruited from the register of unemployed within the two months before Christmas for employment on Government works and who by reason of their not having completed two months' continuous service will not qualify to receive any holiday pay under the terms of the agreement governing their employment," added the ATinis'ter. "Similar transport concessions as applied last year will again be granted to those men employed under the Labour Department's gold prospecting scheme No. 15."