WIDE POWERS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 52, 25 November 1930, Page 10

WIDE POWERS

Unemployment Board RELIEF FOR WORKLESS First Meeting To-day A formidable programme of work awaits the Unemployment Board constituted under the Unemployment Act of this year, which is to hold its first meeting in Parliament House this morning. In view of the amount of detail to be covered it is expected that the board will be in session more or less continuously for the next few weeks. The Government has laid it down that no special department of State will ■ be created to operate in conjunction with the board, so that apart from the assistance of a minimum number of executive officers the board will have to attend to every phase of the work with which it has been formed to deal. The Minister of Labour, Hon. S. G. Smith, who is chairman of the board, will preside to-day, but owing to pressure of other business it is anticipated that he will find it difficult to attend every subsequent meeting, and in his absence the chair will be taken by Mr. H. B. Burdekin, one of the two Government nominees, who is deputy-chairman. Other members of the board who will assemble to-day will be Mr. G. Finn, Government nominee; Mr. F. J. Hutchinson, secondary industries; Mr. P. J. Small, primary industries; Mr. W. E. Leadley, returned soldiers; and Mr. O. Mcßrine and Mr. W. Bromley, workers’ representatives. Saving Expense. Although it is the intention of the Government that a minimum of expenditure will accompany the administration of the board’s affairs, it is expected that one or two administrative officers will be appointed, and this is likely to occupy the attention of members at the preliminary meetings. The Minister has said that other departments of State will cooperate with the board in its work, and it is hoped by this means to save the expense of creating another department to deal with the problem of unemployment which will require all the money at the command of the board. Funds Available. Although the first instalment of the annual levy has not fallen due. the board has £lOO.OOO at its disposal and this will be used by it until its revenue- starts to accrue. This sum was made available by the Government from the Consolidated Fund in the form of an advance. A request was made hy a speaker for a deputation to the Minister of Labour last week that this £lOO 000 should be spent in providing immediate relief for the unemployed. but it is extremely doubtful whether this course will be adopted. Although no official statement on the point has been made, the Act states that money shall be paid out of the funds nt the hoard’s disposal “for the purposes of the Act.” but the measure nowhere makes reference to the payment of relief in the form suggested. Sustenance Payments. The proposed sustenance payments cannot be classed as relief payments in the sense in which it has been suggested payments should be made by the board. The sustenance payments will be made in accordance with the machinery of the Act, but it is hardly likely that immediate relief will be given before the formalities required, before sustenance payments can be made are completed. The Act provides for grants or loans to be paid by the board apart from the sustenance payments, bnt the conditions upon which these will be made are clearly set out. Exceptionally wide powers are vested in the board for dealing with the problem of unemployment. Its aim will be rather to revitalise certain industries and stabilise the labour market than to give direct relief, although it is recognised that this will be necessary in certain instances.