THE PRESS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1986. End of the summer worker?

Press, 24 February 1986, Page 12

THE PRESS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1986. End of the summer worker?

The end of the Government-subsidised temporary employment schemes threatens the future of the Summer Times festival. Much of organisation and promotion of the Summer Times p/ogramme of entertainments during the last three summer holiday periods has been in the hands of Project Employment Programme workers. These people — 33 of them this year — have been employed by the Christchurch City Council under the P.E.P. scheme; the cost of their wages has been met by the Labour Department. This scheme will be wound down this year and the council is looking at what choices it has to keep the Summer Times festival alive. Summer Times has become a feature of Christchurch during the summer break. A great diversity of free entertainments and amusements are strung together in a casual romp that provides a focus for family leisure. Thousands of Christchurch residents and visitors to the city enjoy the offerings, or at least find a lunch-time diversion from the office desk or shop counter. It would be a pity, indeed, if Summer Times were to disappear from the calendar; but it is not the only council enterprise that will be handicapped by the end of the temporary employment schemes. Development of the Bottle Lake Forest park, and of the National Marae, and the activities of the council’s employment promotion division have all relied heavily on workers whose employment has been made

possible by the taxpayers’ subsidy of their wages through various Labour Department programmes. Such activities will also be handicapped by the Government’s decision to emphasise work training at the expense of temporary employment programmes. The council’s Arts Employment Scheme is another casualty of the end of temporary employment programmes and the council has been able to supplement its own staff through these programmes for valuable work at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery and the Canterbury Public Library.

When the council comes — as it must — to the unenviable task of deciding which of these wide-ranging activities it can afford to continue, or is properly empowered to pay for, the Summer Times festival will have to take its chances against ventures that many would regard as a more urgent use of ratepayers’ money.

The budget for the festival is not small; this year it was $350,000, most of which was in P.E.P. workers’ wages met by the Labour Department. Another source of funds will have to be found. Business and commercial sponsorship has been tapped already, and further support might be available from the business community. By. attracting people into the city at a time when business isV traditionally slack, the Summer Times activities could be regarded as a good investment.