WORK FOR 500 MEN

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 112, 5 February 1931, Page 8

WORK FOR 500 MEN

Land Development TWO FARM STATIONS Plans Well in Hand ORGANISATION OF RELIEF The Unemployment Board has been in collaboration with the Native Trust Department concerning a scheme for the relief of unemployed on developmental work on the Motuweka and Aohanga stations. The former Is in the vicinty of Porangahau, in Hawke’s Bay Province, and Aohanga is a few miles farther south, in the Wellington Province. The chairman of the Board, Hon, 8. G. Smith, states that the men will be selected from a district with a very large number of unemployed. Eight stations on the East Coast of the .North Island are being administered by the Native Trustee, and a schedule of developmental work at present in progress and to be undertaken during the year 1931, shows that the estimated labour cost is £41,975. The work to be done on Motuweka comprises 1000 acres of scrub-cutting, sowing approximately 2000 acres, about five miles of fencing, various buildings, and miscellaneous labour. On Aohanga 8000 acres of scrubcutting. Is to be done, also 12,000 acres of grass-seeding, erecting approximately 70 miles of fencing, various buildings, ploughing, stock-yards, etc. Carrying Capacity. The present carrying capacity of the stations is 40,288 sheep and 3329 catt.e, but it is estimated that the aid of the Unemployment Board will result in increasing the carrying capacity to 72,988 sheep, 5029 cattle, and 800 dairy cows. Only 28 permanent hands are employed on the stations, but during the busiest parts of the year over 200 casual workers are engaged. It is stated that the work on the two stations named will absorb for at least two months, the labour of 500 at present unemployed men. ’ • „ The withdrawal of 500 men from the overcrowded labour market is considered a most satisfactory feature of this section of the Unemployment Board, and It is believed that later on its beneficial effect will be noted in the increased productivity of the areas. “Impracticable Proportion.” “The Unemployment Board has received from several local authorities suggestions that the levy collected in each district should be disbursed in that district,” the chairman of the board, Hon. S. G. Smith, said yesterday. “At first glance this appears to be,a reasonable proposition, but on examination it is found that it would be both impracticable and unfair to adopt such a course. “A serious objection is that the proposal would involve the partitioning of the Dominion into zones and the institution of a separate account for each zone. Necessarily this would entail a special staff, thus adding to the expense of collecting the levy. Further, the incidence of the levy being unequal as between districts with large or small populations, it might happen that a district that provided, say, only £lOOO in levy payments, would be able to find reproductive work representing many times that amount. National Undertaking. “For instance, in regard to a locality with less than 100 permanent inhabitants and a' levy contribution of less than £l5O, the Unemployment Board is considering an application for a subsidy and a loan aggregating' £20,000, ini aid of important land settlement work that will provide, work for 500 men for at least two months. These men will be recruited from a district which has a very large number of unemployed. “Many similar instances could be quoted, and all supply evidence that.it would be impossible equitably to distribute the funds as suggested. Where essential work is available, men will be found to do it, though they may have to be sent from other districts. “Finally, the organisation of reliet work is a national undertaking, and must be carried out with due regard tor the right of every unemployed man to be given an equal opportunity of obtaining work.” _____