NO SURPLUS FUNDS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 65, 10 December 1930, Page 12

NO SURPLUS FUNDS

Borough Councils’ Plight AT END OF RESOURCES Dominion Special Service. Palmerston North, December 9. “The Shannon and Foxton Borough Councils have no surplus funds upon which to draw in order to take advantage of the £2 for £1 subsidy from the Unemployment Board,” said the ehairman of the Palmerston North Hospital Board, Mr. J. K. Hornblow, to-day in a statement to a “Dominion” representative. “Both bodies have collected and expended to provide temporary mployment for workless in their midst, but they have come to the end of their resources. In these two boroughs the largest number of the district’s unemployed are resident, and are trying to eke out an existence with nothing other than charitable aid to tide them over the Christmas period. “The Hospital Board made application to the Unemployment Board for a straight-out grant of £6OO in order to carry out certain work at the Palmerston North Hospital, which would give employment to a portion of the unemployed in lieu of charitable aid. This request has been turned down because the board receives on its maintenance a subsidy of 16/6 in the £. The Hospital Board cannot legally allocate a sum of money from its maintenance account to claim the unemployment subsidy for such necessary work, but is expected and does dispense charitable aid to necessitous applicants, which will in the near future absorb considerably more than the grant asked for, with nothing to show for it but economic and scandalous waste/* . . A telegram forwarded to the Minister of Labour, the Hon. S. G. Smith, by Mr. Hornblow points out that, proportionately, official figures appear to indicate that unemployment is more acute in 1 oxton and Shannon districts than in any other part of the Dominion. The telegram states that local bodies cannot provide one-third of the cost of relief work, and in the interests of the large body of unemployed Mr. Hornblow urges the ’Minister as chairman of the Unemployment Board to review the position in the district as early as possible. The Minister’s reply, which is stated to be most unsatisfactory, states that the matter was considered by the board, which decided that it was not prepared to make free grants, and that financial assistance could only be rendered in accordance with conditions laid down in original schemes. The board suggested, however, that Mr. Hornhlow should get into touch with the local committee with a view to taking advantage of the provisions of the board’s second scheme. The figures supplied by Mr. Hornblow revealed that there were 117 men unemployed in Foxton and over 100 at Shannon. WORK ON FARMS Invercargill Conference Hl r>‘|pirrui,li • Press Association. Invercargill, December 9. A conference of representatives of local bodies, with Mr. George Finn, a member of the Unemployment Board, took place to-day, the mayor, Mr. Campbell, and the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle, being present. Mr. Finn explained a scheme for providing work on farms, the men being placed in camps under experienced men and distributed among farms in the neighbourhood. The board had not fixed wages at 14/- a day; that was a matter for the Arbitration Court. The works undertaken would be productive, and there would tie no costly staffs. The conditions in the camps would be made congenial and opportunity would be given for suitable men to settle on the land. ■ The conference resolved to form a central committee to operate with subcommittees in the country centres. “ROAD TO COOLIE LEVEL” Typographical Viewpoint By Telegraph—Press Association. Dunedin, December 9. The executive of the New Zealand Typographical Association has issued a statement viewing with grave concern the demand of the Employers’ Federation for wages reduction. The demand is characterised as a step on the road to coolie level, acting as an incentive to other countries in a vicious struggle for markets and to drive the workers still further down in an attempt to capture an already glutted limited market. The hope of increased consumption in those markets, is dubbed as illusiojjary, since in those countries served the purchasing power has been steadily reduced to subsistence level. The statement concludes: “Employees are awakening to the need for encouragement of the evident possibility of the local market through greater purchasing power and consumption, and maintaining higher wages. The introduction of. the sevenhour day would offer a practical, if partial solution.” 20,000 SHORTAGE Auckland Registrations By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, December 9. When registrations under the Unemployment Act began it was estimated by the Auckland postal authorities that the total number legally obliged to register in Auckland city and suburbs was 125,000. This figure was arrived at by allowing an average of two males of 20 years and over to each house in the district.

When the registration period closed on November 11 about 90,000 persons had registered. The number of those who failed to register is uncertain, but allowing 15,000 as a margin for error in the original estimate it would appear that 20.000 people in Auckland are now liable to prosecution. CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS Relief Works Not to Close Down Uy Telegraph.—Press Association. Dunedin, December 9. The Hon. W. B. Taverner has forwarded the following telegram to Mr, M. J. Savage, M.l*.: — “Referring to your telegram regarding tbe Christmas pay for workmen on public works, tbe position is that jobs which close down as from December 19 do not necessarily include relief works. As relief workers are not entitled to any statutory holidays or annual leave on pay, I have directed the department that relief works are not to be compulsorily closed down for the usual Christmas and New Year vacation this year. I have also instructed the department that any relief workers who desire to remain at work are to be allowed to do so, and that those who prefer to have the usual vacation are to be automatically granted time off without pay.”