WORK UNDER SCHEME 13

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23080, 24 July 1940, Page 10

WORK UNDER SCHEME 13

SUPERVISION BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES WELLINGTON, July 23. An admission that some of the work done under Scheme 13 was not what it should have been, and that supervision by some local bodies had not commended itself to him, was made in the House of Representatives to-night by the Minister for Labour (the Hon. P. C. Webb). He said the main purpose of the scheme was to place men in work. The amount of £2,500,000 for promotion of employment appeared in the Labour Department’s estimates, and the Leader of the Opposition (the Hon. A. Hamilton) asked for particulars of the expenditure. * The Minister gave figures for all classes of work. Men receiving fulltime wages and working for local bodies totalled 4500, and those on other schemes brought the total to 8450. It was his endeavour to provide useful work; but nobody seemed to want men. Scheme 13 was not affecting farm labour.

“Some local authorities have not cared a rap about how much work was done, so long as the men stayed in place and received wages, while others have been anxious to have the most done,” said Mr Webb. "On the whole, local bodies have responded splendidly, and have done their best to employ local ratepayers.”