UNEMPLOYMENT.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20272, 25 June 1931, Page 7

UNEMPLOYMENT.

WORK ON FARMS. RELIEF SCHEMES. APPROVAL OF FARMERS' UNION. Under the 4A, 48, 4C, and No. 5 Unemployment Belief Schemes considerable work has been done on farms in various parts of New Zealand, and the opinion was expressed at yesterday's meeting of the executive of the North Canterbury district of the New Zealand farmers' Union, that the .work, being of a productive nature, was to be commended, as it would show its value in the future. A circular, from the Dominion headquarters of the Union, gave particulars of work on farms under the four schemes, as follows: — Up to June Bth, under Scheme 4A, the following numbers of men placed on farms for periods of from one to six months were as follows: Number Subsidies paid. Single men .. 4,318 £50,145 Married men .. 1,256 £23,853 10s Total .. 5,604 £73,998 10a Contracts let under Scheme No. 4B up to Juno Sth were as follows: Contracts. Men - Subsidies employed. approved. 247 603 £6,546 19s The Unemployment Board has also subsidised the Native Trust Department to enable it to engage unemployed men on land development work. The following summary shows the niimber of men employed on reproductive work on the land up to Juno Sth: No. of men. Scheme 4A .. .. 5,604 Scheme -IB .. .. CO3 Native Trust Department .. 400 Lands Department .. 220 Total .. 0,827 Drainage Work. In addition to the above it is estimated that there are at least 1500 men engaged on drainage work • under the No. 5 Scheme in various parts of the couutry, and this work, when finished, will undoubtedly result in greatly increasing the productivity of Ihe farms concerned. Under Scheme 4B the principal work carried out under the contracts has been the following:— Scrub-cutting .. 4,370 acres Draining . \ .. 3,879 chains Fencing .. .. 4,63.4 chains Stumping, logging, and clearing ' , .. 626 acres Bush-felling .. .. 2,919 acres Grubbing .. .. 464 acres Sowing ~ .. 645 acres Top-dressing .. 300 acres In addition to this important work, contracts- have been undertaken involving the planting of 409,000 marram grass plants, the splitting of 400 posts, 360 chains of roading, 176 acres of ploughing and harrowing, and 40 chains of irrigation races. The commitments approved to date In? connexion with the cost of the contracts amount to £6425,, and the expenditure of this sum is estimated to result, eventually, in the following additional stock being carried ou the various holdings affected—Cattle, 2950, dnd sheep, 14,606. It is also anticipated that 200 extra tens of flstx will be produced. Better Than the Dole. ■ Mr JE. T. McMillan said that the report did not state where the work had been done. The chairman (Mr Colin Mcintosh): It would appear that'a lot of work has' been done on the farms, and that ' it will be productive. Mr D, J. Hawke: It is very satisfactory, and the work is of value in'every case. The scheme is far better than' the dole. The chairman said that the Unemployment Boaird would send all the men into the country if work could .be found for them. Mr X K. Cullen: •That's the point; .we don't want them, roaming all over the country. I would not mind if I could select the men myself. At the present time many of the men on relief work are wasting time and money raking up leaves. Mr McMillan objected to Mr Cullen's remarks. "It is unbecoming to this Union to criticise whkt has been, done in the past," he said. The chairman: Yes, it is very easy to criticise, but the men who are gathering up the leaves are doing so because there' is nothing else for them. Very probably those men are quite unaccustomed to the woTk" and are actually working very hard. I- venture to say that if you had your; knees placed under a typewriter and were told to work it, your workmates would probably have lots of remarks to make. Mr Cullen: That is the trouble; the men are not used to the work. The chairtnan said that if there was not sufficient work available the men could not be classified. Mr Hawke: I quite agree with Mr McMillan that we should not talk foolishly at this table. We should assist in every possible way. The report was received. RELIEF WORKERS. MQUNT ROSKILL ROAD BOARD'S ACTION. (mass ASSOCIATION tblecjkam.) AUCKLAND, June 24. The Mount Eoskill Eoa'd Board, which, although one of the minor local bodies, has been employing a large number of relief workers, recently decided to dismiss > eighteen permanent employees and make certain proposals to the Unemployment Board. Last night the Road Board received a reply from the Commissioner, who said that the Unemployment Board would not under any circumstances agree to maintenance work being carried out under Scheme 5. Further, it viewed with great concern the dismissal of permanent employees, and pointed out that if all local bodies acted similarly the number of unemployed would be increased considerably. The Board considered that rate reduction should not be Sought at the present time, but that all available funds should be utilised for the relief of unemployment. A member of the lload Board remarked: "The Unemployment Board distinctly tells us that we cannotf dismiss staff and carry on t"he work with unemployed labour. We will have to decide whether to reinstate the staff and do away with unemployed labour." ; On the chairman's motion it was decided that the Board, which had been employing 800 men in relief work, should, from next Monday, employ no more than 200, preference to be given ta local ratepayers and residents.