RELIEF DEADLOCK

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 265, 4 August 1932, Page 10

RELIEF DEADLOCK

Refusal to Go to Camps MASTERTON WORKLESS Objection to Ganger Dominion Special Service. Masterton, August 3. Not one man answered the second call for twenty-four men for the Blairlogie relief camp yesterday morning, and only one man was sent out to-day. The Masterton County Council’s new relief camp at Stronvar, which has accommodation for twenty men, was completed to-day, but the county clerk, Mr. J. C. D. Mackley, stated this mornin" that the camp would not be opened until the Blairlogie camp has been filled. ■ The construction of the Glendonald and Wangaehu camps will be proceeded with, but the opening of these camps also will be dependent upon the filling of the Blairlogie quota. Camps Not Black. Reference to the refusal of single men to go into the Blairlogie camp was made at a mass meeting of about 300 relief workers last night. “So far as we know the camp has not been declared black;” said the chairman, Mr. K Judd. "The trouble appears to be the ganger. I asked the county clerk to-day if he would withdraw the man and put someone else there, but he said ‘No, certainly not!’” After some discussion, a resolution was carried again asking the Masterton County Council to withdraw the ganger. A second resolution was carried asking the single men if, in the event of the ganger being withdrawn, they would be willing to go out to the Blairlogie camp. In reply to a question from the chairman as to whether there was anything else wrong with the camp,, single men present expressed the opinion that the wages at camps were not high enough. “Give us a quid a week,” was one man’s demand. Another thought that full award wages of 9/- a day should be paid. A man from the Devil’s Elbow camp stated that the men there were paid on piecework and were earning from 9/6 to 12/6 a week. The living conditions were quite satisfactory. The county clerk, interviewed by “The Dominion” this morning, emphasised that the ganger would not be removed. The council could not allow the relief workers to dictate in this way what foreman they would or would not have over them.' New Organisation. At a meeting of about 300 relief workers, held in the Municipal Hall on Tuesday night it was agreed to disband the existing organisation. and to form instead a Masterton branch of the Relief Workers’ Section of the Labour Movement. A new executive of thirteen members was elected, as follows: President, Mr. F. Laanbourn; vice-president, Messrs. P. Rose and J. Cairns; secretary and treasurer, Mr. H. Duley; assistant secretary, Mr. J. Hanagan; committee, Messrs. J. Munro, McNamara, T. Bradley, J. Stewart, O. Falk, F. Thompson, Hook Hanagan. In seconding the resolution to disband, the chairman, Mr. K. Judd, pointed out that the existing executive was also running the Self-Help Club and members of the committee felt that it was not.falr for them as officials of the Self-Help Club to ask the farmers for donations and at the same time declare farm work black. The rules and constitution of the Wellington executive were adopted with certain amendments. It was decided that the committee hold office only for a period of three months, and that in the future only financial members of the branch be allowed to attend meetings. A resolution was carried demanding sustenance for those men not placed on relief work.

RELIEF ALLOCATION Hospital Board Complaint . V _ WAIRARAPA’S POSITION Dominion Special Service. Masterton, August 3. “The board has written consistently to the Unemployment Board and cannot get any satisfaction from them whatever,” stated the managingsecretary of the Wairarapa Hospital Board, Mr. Norman Lee, when approached regarding unemployment relief matters. ■ ; ' Mr. Lee stated that two months ago the board had sent a telegram to the Minister of Public Health asking for a distribution of meat on the lines of that given in other centres. The Minster, in his reply, stated that the matter had been referred to the Unemployment Board. Since then the Hospital Board had written to the Unemployment Board three times but had received no reply at all, not even an acknowledgment. Mr. Lee pointed out that in Palmerston North fifty carcases of mutton were made available each week and also £5O in cash, and said that the Wairarapa board had requested that action on the same lines be taken in Masterton.