UNEMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21717, 26 February 1936, Page 15

UNEMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRALIA

TO TUB EDITOR OB THE PRESS, Sir,—l notice in your correspondence columns a letter of critcism by “Australian.” He states that a letter written on February 1 about unemployment was incorrect. I had 10 years in New South Wales, going there in 1925 and returning home to God’s Own Country in 1935. “Australian” states that a man unable to work, by applying to the authorities, can obtain 18s a week sustenance. This sustenance is paid out by ticket for goods and you are at the mercy of the storekeeper as you have to nominate who your storekeeper is. and this ticket is to the value of 18a (fortnightly) for a married man. M ho works tor the dole he gets 89 hours at is 6d an hour, or 80* a fortnight , A single man gets 8s 0d sustenance and if he works for the dole he gets nine hours work at la 6d an hour, or 9s a fortnight There is also a small allowance for children for those not receiving J. T. Lang’s child endowment , “Australian” also keeps the old catcall revived about the wastrels sleeping in the parks. There are some men sleeping in those parks who have had good positions in life, including returned soldiers, former solicitors, and former station-owners. These men prefer to sleep in the parks to- humbling themselves by picking rags and paper out of the filth of the city for bed and a feed, such as they are, for the Salvation Army, and being eaten alive with bugs in the dump at Forster street, Sydney. Oh, charity, where is thy sting? In the district in which I resided (St John’s postal district), I was engaged in farming. There were' Hundreds of families living in bag humpies with; a second-hand iron roof. Alter living there for 12 months or so. only one of the family could go out at a time, as their clothing was too worn to be seen/on the streets. These people were forced out to these rural districts, being unable to pay their rent. They were told to get out, and rather than face eviction, got out. They were given notice to quit not only by the private landlord, but by a church, which owns thousands of these houses In and around Sydney. Evictions are very common in Sydney, with the aid of the police. I have seen eviction cases in Sydney, and I do not want to see such a procedure in New Zealand. The few sticks of furniture are not carefully carried out and put on the footpath. They are thrown out and damaged to such an extent as to be not worth taking

away. And it 4s a pitiful sight to see mothers and children standing along tide their few belongings with nowhere to - go. All the kind and. gym* pathetic people whom your cpireaponaent talks about are among the missin,r—Your,, .te, February 24, 1934. „ '