BOROUGHS AND COUNTIES.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20829, 12 April 1933, Page 12

BOROUGHS AND COUNTIES.

YEAR'S RELIEF WORK. MORE MONEY SPENT THAN DURING LAST YEAR. .WAGES UNDER NO. 5 SCHEME. Most of the borough and county councils about Christchurch spent more money on relief work in the financial year just ended than they did in the previous financial year. The men were employed under the Unemployment Board's No. 5 Scheme, the wages paid by the councils being refunded by the board, and the councils paying for tools, equipment, and material. The amount paid in wages during 1932-33 by the Sumner Borough Council was about £B2OO, compared with auout £SOOO in the previous year. About £912 from the borough's public account was spent on material and tools. The number of men employed was between 114 and 120. "We have been particularly fortunate in Sumner in respect of the amount of necessary work which it has been possible to have done," said the Mayor of Sumner (Mr W. H. Nicholson) yesterday. "We have made a lot of roads safer, widening them to meet the altered condition I of traffic; and we have used the: spoil from such widening for re- | elamation work, and for protective works on the sea front. Work has been done on the protective wall on the Esplanade, on the protective wall at Redcliffs, on protecting seafront properties, and in making safe from encroachment by the sea the public domain, portions of which had been previously carried away. Also our hill roads have been improved, and widening is being carried out on the main highway to Lyttelton, at a very bad place near the foot of the Lyttelton hill, which has for years been a cause of worry to us." Work at New Brighton. The New Brighton Borough Council gave out £20,475 in wages in 1932-33, and £12,812 in 1931-32. The relief workers have been engaged on a great variety of works in the borough—the formation of new roads, tree-planting in the various reserves + and domains, work at the Municipal Golf Links and the formation of a new sports ground on the Rawhiti Domain, planting of marram grass and generally beautifying the foreshore, and feneral cleaning-up all over the orough. "We have 300 men on the paysheet at the present time," said the town clerk of New Brighton, Mr C. T. Middleton, yesterday, "and there are many more waiting for work. The number has been increasing all the time, and not all the men are our own unemployed, many coming from other districts. A lot of them say they are'coming to New Brighton because of the cheaper rents; but I think it is more probable that they are coming here because we have provided more work than has been provided by some other districts."

The Waimairi County Council in 1932-33 paid out £21,119 in wages, compared with £11,682 for the year ended on March 31, 1932. The avernumber of men employed in 1932-33 was 266, and in the previous year 191. The number of men ?olo a lt d on s^ dry council jobs in 2932-33 was 152, and in the previous year 149, while those engaged in farm work in 1931-32 and 1932were 39 and 117 respectively. Heathcote County. The Heathcote County Council spent £17,581 19s 5d in 1932-33, compared with £18,910 2s 4d in the previous year. About 230 men are employed just now, though the averHl e last year has been 300 to 350. The men have been mainly engaged m road work, mostly at Mount Pleasant, but spread generally all over the county. The amount paid out by the Papar^o County Council in 1932-33 was £SBIB Is Bd, compared with £4319 Os 9d in the previous year. Insurf™? of the men cost £55 9s 3d in 1932-33, and £72 9s 9d in 1931-32. In 1931-32 the council paid the insurance, but in the following year it was paid by the Unemployment Board. The money spent by the council on materials was £449 lis 2d in the year ended on March 31 -last, while in the previous year it was £122 0s Bd, and the cost of transport is estimated at £l6O to £IBO a year. The principal work ,«one by the men was new road formation of ftve miles, the metalling ©f eight miles of previously unmetalled road, the widening of three miles of road, and the stumping of bout 30 acres of land. At present .16 men are employed, and the greatest number of men employed in any week during the last year was 78. The Riccarton Borough Council •spent £1952 18s 3d in 1932-1933, and £1968 15s 3d in 1931-32. The approximate number of men continually employed in the year ended on March 31 last was 35. Position at Lyttelton. In 1932-33 the Lyttelton Borough Council spent £6887 6s Bd, compared with £2487 17s 7d the previous year. The number of men employed varies greatly, because of the variable amount of employment provided on the waterfront, in the loading and unloading of ships. Next week there will be work for about 96 men, with 38 standing down. The greatest number of men to whom work has been given in any one week in 1932-33 was 132, with about 45 men standing down. The inen have been engaged principally in road work about the borough. At present nearly all of them are over the harbour, metalling the borough's section- of the Marine Drive, which runs from Charter is Bay to Purau. The other section of the road is controlled by the Mount Herbert County Council.