CENTRAL CONTROL

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 171, 15 April 1932, Page 12

CENTRAL CONTROL

Distress Relief in City UNITY OF ACTION Proposed Co-ordination Scheme I Proposals for the formation of a central council to co-ordinate the work of distress and general unemployment relief in the city and suburbs were placed before a largely attended meeting last evening of representatives of relief and allied social service organisations. Details of the scheme are to be forwarded to the various bodies for further consideration, and a final decision will be made on their representation to a meeting to be held on Thursday week next. Delegates were present from the Mayor’s Relief Committee, Salvation Army, Citizens’ Unemployment Committee, Rotary Club, Plunket Society, District Nursing Guild of St. John, Presbyterian Social Service Inter-church Committee, Smith Family, City Mission, Y.W.C.A., Red Cross Society, Women’s Unemployment Committee, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Returned Soldiers’ Association, and the Boys’ Institute. Desperate Situation. Dr. R. Campbell Begg, who presided, said that if co-ordination were decided upon the Various organisations would act as an auxiliary to the work of the Government. Whatever the Government did there would be ample opportunity for voluntary organisations to augment its efforts. The situation was so serious as almost to make despair those who were facing a year, two years, or perhaps three years of a desperate situation. The position was analogous to the war years. The enthusiasm of 1914 had pretty well vanished in 1918, but a dogged band of people determined to see it through, and did. “We know,” Dr. Begg continued, “that the sun will rise again some day, but those engaged in this relief work must not start out on a wave of enthusiasm and then subside. Nothing but per- | severance will carry us through. If we form a central emergency relief committee those who serve on it will have nothing to look forward to. They will meet with a great deal of criticism, experience much unpleasantness and boredom and receive no thanks when it is all over. That is what we have to face. That is what many of you who have borne the heat and burden of the day have had to face.” Nobody realised more than he did the difficulty of ~ welding together a large number of organisations, each of which had its own individuality. Diffi- : cult times demanded heavy sacrifices, and he felt quite certain that personal pride would not be allowed to stand in the way of the co-operation and the subordination necessary if the problem of distress was to be tackled effectively. His proposal was to establish among the voluntary organisations a central committee under the nominal direction of the Mayor. The question of representation might present some difficulty, but he suggested that the organisations willing to co-operate should themselves appoint by ballot or vote an executive’of four to six members to carry out the whole auxiliary work necessary for relief in the city and suburbs. It would be necessary to have a general manager—a paid man to look after the‘whole of the work under the executive. “How Many Are Willing?” “The crux of the matter is this,” Dr. Begg said. “How many voluntary organisations are prepared to put themselves under the direction of such a committee for the purposes of relief? Of course, it would not'interfere with their other activities in any way. All that is involved is co-ordination and the prevention of overlapping. The organisations would have to make a definite promise that they would not undertake any activity without the knowledge of the committee.” Mr. H. Mirams, deputy-chairman of the Mayor’s Fund Committee, said that generally speaking he was wholeheartedly.in sympathy with the scheme. If there was an earnest desire to co-oper-ate the proposal should meet with success.

The Rev. A. A. Armstrong said the idea to get together and pool resources and vitality was an admirable one. It should commend itself to all concerned.

Mr. J. S. .Tessep, deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board, said there was no question about the need for relief. The country was now passing through a belated aftermath of the war. The crisis was not over yet, because the troubles of the war still existed. There was a need to get down to the actual situation, particularly in the four large cities. A central emergency committee would not interfere with the identity of the various organisations. The board would welcome the setting up of the committee.

Representatives of the Red Cross Society, the Smith Family, the InterChurch Committee, the Returned Soldiers’ Association, and of other organisations promised active support in the work if co-ordination. A number of the delegates said that although they agreed wholeheartedly with the principle they could not commit their respective organisations until the scheme had been submitted to them in detail. An Edict of Necessity.

In replying to the discussion. Dr. Begg said: “It is a big job; it is a colossal job. It is a job that anyone enters into with a light heart will fall by lhe waysidgz very quickly. It cannot Injure any organisation as identity will not be lost. The difficulties are great, but we must not magnify them. This, a time when everybody is on the verge of relief, when people are inclined to feel like saying: Am I my brother’s keeper? But. if the soldiers of the war had said, Am I my brother’s keeper? where would we have got? There is no sentiment in this tiling. It must go on out of sheer necessity.” On the motion of Mr. Armstrong. Dr. Begg was accorded a vote of thanks.