STRICT NEW RULES

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 182, 30 April 1931, Page 8

STRICT NEW RULES

No. 5 Unemployment Relief Scheme OVER 1000 MEN PLACED Much time has been occupied in securing ail the particulars required from applicants for work under the Unemployment Board’s No. 5 scheme, and so the task of getting the men out on to the various jobs has been a considerable one. Under the new regulations work Is not provided merely for the workless, but for the indigent workless. If a man has an income other than from his work he is not eligible to be employed; if he has a substantial balance in the bank he is likewise ineligible; and there is a strict rule about the payment of the unemployment levy, whicn can be done in small instalments out of earnings. Early in the week there was considerable confusion apparent in the allocation of jobs, but that is now being overcome, and over 1000 men are employed in various parts o£ the city—Rongotai (eastern Lyall Bay), Hataitai Park, East and North Girls’ College sites, Raroa Road, Town Belt, Western Park, and other places. A good many of those who have been employed on earthworks for the last few months have developed into first-class pick-and-shovel men, - and if the money lasts some really valuable work is expected to be done for the city through unemployed operations this winter. Mr. J. I. Goldsmith, chairman of the citizens’ committee, says that he is inclined to think that the new regulations are too severe, but is fully aware that it is the Government’s desire to make the money go as far as possible. “Under the regulations there is -no option but to turn some men down,” said Mr. Goldsmith. “I have turned down over 20 myself this week. There is no end to the work—it means a completely new detailed registration—and such are the inquiries as to a man’s position that it cannot be done hurriedly. The officials are having a rough time of it this week, but it will all straighten out in a little time, I suppose.”