NEW START MADE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 287, 31 August 1931, Page 8

NEW START MADE

Unemployment Problem SINGLE MEN’S CAMPS Board’s Intentions FIRST POLICY STATEMENT A general polley of diverting expenditure on unemployment relief into more productive channels, which is considered to be absolutely necessary if the country’s financial position is to be improved, has been adopted' by the new Unemployment Board. This announcement was made by the Minister of Labour, Hon. S. G. Smith, who is chairman of the board, in the board’s first policy statement on Saturday. One of the main proposals is the establishment of camps for single men in country districts.

Mr. Smith said that the first meeting of the new board had revealed the fact that the unemployment fund had been overdrawn to the extent of £224,000. “Local bodies throughout the Dominion are complaining of the expenditure which they have to incur in order to maintain the great bulk, of the unemployed,” he said. “With a view to remedying this position and at once improving the situation from a policy point of .view and from that of the unemployed workers themselves, the board Is proposing to establish camps for single men in the country, where they will be able to do work of a developmental character, and where they will be provided with good food and shelter, and ’g r ill be able to earn a certain amount of pocket money. “The scheme is to be tested out en secondary highway backblock roads and on land development. The preliminary test will be carried out under the supervision of the Public Works Department. It is anticipated that 1000 men will be placed in this way immediately, and should the scheme prove satisfactory all the single unemployed workers may ultimately be drafted Into this type of work. ' .

“It is the board’s policy to co-operate with the varioifl? State departments and conferences have been arranged with the Main Highways Board, the Public Works Department, and Lands Department, the Native Department, the State Forest Service, and others. Several big schemes for land development are at present under consideration. “In addition, negotiations are taking place with a view to stimula ting certain more or less primary industries that have been stopped as a direct result of trade depression. In short, the board is anxious to reduce at an early date the colossal expenditure going on under the No. 5 scheme, much of which is of an unproductive character and of little community value.”