The Press FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1934. The Single Men's Relief Camps

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21079, 2 February 1934, Page 10

The Press FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1934. The Single Men's Relief Camps

' There appear in " The Press " this morning the essential parts of the report supplied to the Mayor of Christchurch by the commission of three—Mr H. Kitson, Cr. J. W. Beanland, and Mr H. T. Armstrong, M.P. —whom he asked to investigate working and living conditions in the single men's relief camps in Canterbury, Whether it is stz'ictly the Mayor's business to have such investigations made no longer matters, if it ever did. The commission was given " every facility " by the camp authorities; its enquiries covered "as wide a field as pos- " sible" and were as searching as time permitted; and the public will be glad of a report which seems in every way competent and unprejudiced. It exposes the best and the worst, within its view, about these camps. The best is to the credit of the State Forest Service, in whose two camps, at Hanmer and Balmoral, the men are contented with their food and accommodation. They ask only for fresh fruit sometimes instead of dried, which cannot at this season be called unreasonable or extravagant, and for a canteen, to help them to live more cheaply, which may or may not be workable. It is significant that the men in these two camps, being better satisfied, have themselves organised a contributory scheme for medical services and supplies, which the commission finds wanting in the other three. These are the Public Works Department camps on the Lewis Pass road (two) and the Lake Sumner road. Here the commission found the worst that it has to report; and if the worst is bad enough to be disappointing and even distressing, it is, fortunately, easy to remedy. The commission itself observes that a slight increase in cost per man would adequately improve living conditions; and this is probably true. As for specific complaints and findings, it is not very surprising or alarming to hear of "not enough variety" in the food; the same might be heard in many boarding houses, boarding schools, or hotels. But it is another and more serious matter that the tents should be too worn and light to be weatherproof, and still worse that it should be impossible to store food hygienicall.y. The commission reports favourably upon the physical standard and health of the men, although at the Upper Lewis Pass camp it considered four or five men unfit. Whether this opinion was right or not, it will be agreed that there ought to be sufficient medical supervision to prevent unfit men from going into camp. Afterwards, the problem is not so easy; but the State Forest Service men have shown one solution. The most important point, otherwise, arises from the commission's statement that it would " go far to clear up misunder-; " standings " if the department noti- i fied men of changes in the conditions I of payment. If they have been left uninformed, the neglect is tactless | and vexatious, but can be avoided in future at no greater cost than that of the notice board which the commission suggests. It must be • granted, finally, that the commis- j sion has done a considerable service ' in investigating a subject darkened i by so many wild assertions. The report leaves it impossible to doubt that the organisation of the Public Works Department camps is in several respects faulty, but equally impossible to doubt that it is in every such respect easy to mend.