PUBLIC WORKS AND RELIEF WORKS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 74, 20 December 1929, Page 9

PUBLIC WORKS AND RELIEF WORKS

Sir,—-I wonder, if the people of New Zealand really; understand the treatment which is being meted out by the present Government to hundreds of old Public Works employees. Hundreds of us at Purewa- and other camps have been dismissed from standard works'■ and. placed on gglief works. Many of. us are longservice men, with service hr the Public Works ranging from five to fifteen years. Under Mr. Coates’s ministry the policy was to retain bodies of experienced men on public works, and to guarantee them practically permanent jobs.. This was good for the men and good for the service. Now; however, in its hysterical effort to absorb the unemployed, the United Government has thrown overboard the agreement with the semi-permanent hands in the. Public. Works camps and flooded the Public Works with relief workers. I myself, after long years of faithful-ser-vice with the Public Works Department, have just” been dismissed from standard works at Purewa and placed on mere relief works. In reply to a protest which I sent to Mr. Ransom, Minister of Public Works, he said :—“As it was not possible to transfer the Auckland-Westfield men to standard works, special . arrangements were made to- place on relief works any of them who were not successful in ob- * taining other employment. It would have given me much pleasure to have been able to ‘offer yourself and the other married men further employment' On standard works, and I regret it exceedingly that this could not be done.” This is poor comfort for a married man with nine children who has served continuously on the Public Works for many years.—l am,' etc., A NAVVY. December 17.