RELIEF WAGES

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 135, 5 December 1930, Page 7

RELIEF WAGES

REFUSAL TO PAY

WAIMEA COUNTY COUNCIL

"FAEMEES' HARD TIME

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) NELSON, This Day. A visit was paid to the Waimea County Council to-day by the Mayor of Nelson, Mr. W. J. Mo£fatt> who explained that the position regarding un- . employment in the city was desperate and' the council at that moment was holding a meeting to deal with the matter. At present there wero 128 men on the unemployment bureau's list, and the officer in charge had no instructions how to deal with them. Over 50 married men in. the city were out of work, and informatibn was receiv-. cd.this morning that 68 more men had been put off at Tophouse, and would be coming into the town. The Government had apparently now handed over the responsibility to the Unemployment Board and had put off all men on relief works. Christmas was coming, continued the Mayor, and the position was serious. To help to meet the position, the City Council had started a number of works, and in so doing they were taking .a risk, as the Unemployment Board might not pay a subsidy, but some immediate action was imperative. The Mayor read the Unemployment Board's decision, to offer subsidies of £2 for £1 on approved relief works, a condition being that the wages be 14s a day. He asked the "Waimea County Council to put some work in hand to help the position. Tho City Council intended to put. on 40 men. • People were paying in their unemployment levy, and they should get something back. Christchurch had been granted £.2500 in subsidy. SUBSIDY» TOO SMALL. ' The county chairman, Mr. J. Corder: "To do that we have to tax our farmers to find our share of the money for any such work. I consider that we should get more than £2 for £1." His council would back up the city's application for a subsidy, but he doubted whether it could put any work in hand. If the county were to lift the subsidy of £2 for £1, it would have to call on its ratepayers to a further extent to supply the county's share.' Many of the farmer taxpayers, in the county, with'tho poor,prices for wool and butter-fat, were nearly as badly off aa the unemployed. . •. , ' Councillor Everett said he would be feo party to making work for which 14s a. day was paid as relief wages. The County Council paid 12s a day, and had good, workers. The, county could not afford to pay 14s a day, and if the Unemployment Board's terms required a rate of 14s a day .for inferior men he would not support it. CHRISTMAS SPIRIT APPEAL. Councillor Higgins proposed that a combined meeting of the City and County Councils should oppose the Government on the matter of 14s a day for relief workers. He considered that a large amount of the present unemployment was a direct result of the Government's action in increasing ■wages from 12s to 14s. Men left farms to go to such wages. Belief works were unproductive, and he thought the time- had come when somebody had to oppose the Government on the point. He saw no reason why that meeting should ■ not do so. ' . Councillor Watson (City Council) said that there were over 50 married men,' and their wives and families, to be considered. He agreed that 14s a day was too much for relief workers, but the distress had to be relieved. The City Council had. decided to put ■work in hand and then apply for a subsidy. The Mayor appealed to the County Council to consider the matter in a Christmas spirit of goodwill. Men who were out of work were behirid in their payments, and as the Unemployment Board's terms required 14s a day up to the end of' January only, he thought that the extra 2s a day would do a lot of, good. In regard to Councillor Higgins's suggestion, lie thought that nothing should be done to jeopardise their chance of getting a subsidy. TWO RESOLUTIONS. Mr. Corder assured'the deputation of the county's support of their application for a subsidy, but the position of its own ratepayers had to be considered in of the hard time farmers were having. He thought that it was unreasonable for the county to_ be asked toiput some special work in hand. The following resolution was passed:, "That the County Council heartily endorses the 5 application of the City Council for a subsidy, and expresses regret that its application should in any way have been hampered by the action of the Unemployment Board in not granting the subsidy applied for." On resuming, the Cpunty Council passed the following resolution: ''That while sympathising with Nelson City in its efforts to relieve unemployment, this council, having regard to that which it considers the unreasonable amount paid td the unemployed, and which, in its opinion, conduces' rather to further unemployment than to its abatement, will not participate in the movement until the wages are so far reduced as not to act as an incentive to men otherwise employed, to. throw up their work and go on relief works."