SCHEME 13 MEN

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23043, 11 June 1940, Page 9

SCHEME 13 MEN

EMPLOYMENT BY CITY COUNCIL SUGGESTED NEW PROJECTS There are about 400 scheme 13 workers now employed by the Christchurch City Council, according to a report presented to the council last evening. The report, emphasising the increasing difficulty of finding work for all the men, suggests some possible new avenues. The report states:— “The total number of workers now employed under scheme 13 is apSroxxmately 400. (At the present tune ie total is 365 men, but the local Labour Bureau has intimated that a further 35 men will be sent lor employment within a few days.) Of this number 205 are employed at Bottle Lake, 40 at Chaneys, and 21 at Victoria Park. This leaves some 134 men who are distributed on various jobs on parks, reserves, and cemeteries throughout the metropolitan area. “During the. last two years, it has been a comparatively easy matter to find suitable employment for these men. These works, however, have been completed, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find work that will provide sufficient employment for these 134 men. While the Government Employment Bureau has intimated that it intends to reduce the number of scheme 13 workers now employed, by the council, there has been no indication that this will be given effect to immediately, the local bureau filling all vacancies as soon as they occur. Thus if the council is to continue to employ 400 men with the Reserves Department, it will be necessary to find suitable work almost immediately. The proposed works suggested in the report as likely to help in the employment of scheme 13 men include an extension to the municipal nursery m Woolston; the construction of recreation areas adjacent to Government housing schemes (areas of land have been set aside for such purposes on several of the schemes); extension of the roadway from the Victoria Park tearooms to the Summit road, a project which has been agreed to by the Public Works Department; further tree-planting in the scenic reserves along the Summit road. The report said that the Minister for Employment, the Hon. P. C. Webb, had indicated that he did not wish the services of semi-fit and unfit men to bo dispensed with.