CONDITIONS ON RELIEF WORKS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 125, 29 May 1928, Page 8

CONDITIONS ON RELIEF WORKS

In a letter too long for publication in full, "12s a Day" refers to conditions on Government relief works. Tho correspondent, who was employed on the Tawa Flat road-widening work last year, states that it is incorrect to say that many men have left these works on their own accord, as the Prime

Minister has statejl. They have been compelled by insufficient means to return to the city and look for better employment. The 12s or 9s a day, boiled down, is about 6s, ancl out of this the men are asked to pay about 20s or 25s a week for food. The men have homes in the city, with wives and 5, 6, and 8 children to maintain,' and rents of £2 to £2 10s a week pay. The writer quotes a case of a friend who travelled by train and walked a long way to the camp afterwards, and then for three days had no work on account of rain. He gave it up and returned to the town. When working at Tawa Flat, the writer had to rise at 5 a.m.' and did not reach home till 6.30 p.m. H« averaged £2 10s a week, less 2s tram and 2s 3d train fares, and had a wife and two children to support, with the balance, and a rent of £2 5s a week to pay. Reference is also made to deductions for lost time, and to delay in payment of wages. The Prime Minister has referred to the amount spent on relief works, but the writer holds that the Tawa Flat road was a. work that would Jiave had to be done sooner or later, and that the Govern^ ment had it "done cheaper by relief workers than if permanent gangs had been employed at a higher wage. Finally the writer asks why some' married men should have to travel out of the cityI'to earn 12s a day while others, married and • single, receive 14s 5d on the council relief work. Why should ■ not married men with homes in the', city be given preference in the local work? ' '