CITY COUNCIL FUNDS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 49, 26 August 1930, Page 11

CITY COUNCIL FUNDS

WHY THE DELAY?

The following statement; wa.s made; to a "Post" rep or ter to-day -by Mr. •W. Bromley, president of the unemployed committee: —"Arising out of the deputation' which waited on the Mayor on Saturday morning, was the revelation of a set of circumstances of which the public should be informed.* The City Council raised a loan of £45,000 for the express purposes of relieving unemployment, which has reached' very diffl-; cult dimensions iri the"city. '-About Ist. July last, referring to the -Bdweii streetSydney street job, the Mayor, in answer, to a question by Councillor Mitchell, stated that the plans-were ready for that job, and that it would be a boon for the men who wero genuinely seeking work. When I called the attention of the Mayor on Saturday last to the fact that no men had been given work on that, job," notwithstanding that 'a nionth and Tfc'Mlf ha4.gone"gast since, he stated. that the :plahs. were "ready, he replied to the effect that it was through no fault of the City Council, and that tho plans were ready when he said they were ready, but that they had gone into the Survey Department to be looked over, and had only been returned the day before. I. think that the strongest exception .could legitimately be taken ~by.-.,the. unemployed; and the citiien's.-.'whq-Vere.^willing. to; have a loan "raised . for the rrelief of; unemployment at, what seems to be an almost criminal delay in putting tho work in hand after the nioucy had been raised, and tho plans had been prospared. That accounts probably very largely for the fact that although £45,----000 was raised some' time ago for the purpose of relieving unemployment, only £4000 has been..spent. ...The. City Council, apparently unaware of this, was proposing to raise further money for the relief of unemployment, when it was advised that there was still £40,000 unexpended. The problem is so grave that delays of this kind should be avoided."