RELIEF WORKS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 11, 14 January 1932, Page 12

RELIEF WORKS

EFFICIENCY MARGIN

PROBLEM FOR CITY

MANY EACTOES

The endeavour to ascertain the difference between the cost of works to the city when done in the ordinary way out of loan and when done chiefly as relief works, initiated by Councillor Holm, opens up a problem with many aspects. It is generally agreed that when effort is concentrated on several sizeable jobs the result is more economical than when it is diffused over a number of small ones, but the finding of the big jobs that the city wants done, apart from what it would do iv the ordinary course, is not an easy matter. For a job to be economical, it must be one that can be pushed through to its conclusion without being interrupted for considerable intervals, which is what happens to most relief jobs. . - " •

During a recent week there.were employed on relief works 2755 men, and for the week ending 10th January there will be employed 2159 men, in two, three, and four-day periods. These are spread out over Eongotai sand levelling, Happy Valley road widening, Hataitai recreation ground, Corporation, yard, Severn street, Wilton block, Mount Cook, Totara road, Eolleston street recreation ground, Russell terrace, Melrose streets, Townsend road, Disley street, Allington road, Manchester street, Tauhinu road, Northland road, Beacon Hill I road, Wilberforee road, Krull street, Lyall Bay sea wall, Tauera crescent, Bodrigo road, Birdwood street, Anderson Park, Raroa road, Glenmore. street, Perth street, Johnsonville road, and Wham street. Three or four of , these are big jobs, but the majority are small ones, on few of which the work has been continuous from the start, and the! allocation of the work according to classes, with varied days worked, makes continuity more difficult.

-It : has been suggested that one of the chief difficulties is the' levelling down of the pace to the:capabilities of the poorest worker, and that a marked saving in relief works would.be. possible if the more useful grade of men were separated, and put on to the straightforward larger jobs, the council making up the relief wages to the current .rates for efficient workers, those not eligible for such jobs to remain at the lower relief rates of pay. It has.been, thought that this would improve the standard of the work done in tho purely relief gang's, those amongst them capable of doing so being tempted by the chance of the better pay in the selected gangs, if they could prove themselves worth it. : , ....-•' :'. . A GREAT DIFFICULTY. One of the greatest difficulties is to employ the men' efficiently, without machinery, the introduction, of which would at once- reduce the number of men it is possible;to employ, lorries or carts could undoubtedly be nsed to advantage on some of the jobs, but they would immediately displace, some of the men, besides adding to the expenditure on the city's part, and the main principle of relief works is to relieve. A case hi point, it is said, is the Glenmore street regradiiig. The spoil was shovelled, along to wheelbarrows, wheeled uphill, and tipped'down ' the bank, whereas tho economical -way of doing: it would have been to load lorries which could have carried the spoil up and tipped it. Unless the men loading.the lorries were used to the shovely however, time would have been lost.

The inquiries now, being made into these questions, and the many others which'are inseparable from relief work as contrasted with ordinary works out of loan, are to place before the public the findings, -with the object of seeking a loan of such magnitude as will carry the relief on for the year.: It is considered that where a man gets work in a relief job with, a fixed limit, the natural thing is for him. not to finish it too quickly, as the next job is uncertain. If the -year's -work were mapped out, and the extent of work ahead made known, there would be less inclination to "go slow." The majority of the work being done by City Council employees now is maintenance, as indeed it was in the past, the "casual" employee being engaged on loan works. . -

If a programme of £200,000. of works, which it is considered would absorb all married men, were mapped out, and placed before. the public, it would .have the opportunity of saying whether it would support the loan. The City Council can now obtain authority for loans for the relief of unemployment without a poll, but it is doubtful if, when this legislation was passed, sums as large as that which would now be required were contemplated. The loan problem itself is not simple. ANOTHER CONTENTION. . It is contended by some that it would be,better for the.city to raise a loan for the provision of work than to allow |an increased number of unemployed to fall on the hospital rate. They vargue j that if men are being paid relief wages, part of those wages are put into circulation for the good of city businesses, payment of rents, etc., whereas if the men are cast on charitable aid, with a consequent unavoidable increase in the.hospital rate, the: city, which contributes that rate, will receive neither the benefits of a partial efficiency in relief works accomplished nor the stimulation of trade that relief wages would bring. They point out that the bulk of the money expended on city relief works is obtained by the Government from the general taxpayer, so that the amount thrown on the rates is small when compared with the benefits received, whereas in the case of the hospital rate, 00 per cent, only of the money is found by the Government, and the balance by the rates collected by the local bodies.

Against this there is the fact that tho Wellington City Council has already done a great deal, in fact it has been accused of having- increased the number of unemployed who have como here through doing too much. There is an uneasy feeling amongst ratepayers that anything definite done further by the city to find relief work must bo reflected in the rates, and there is a very general opinion that the time has come to enunciate the principle that relief is not the function of local bodies beyond a certain limit, but of the Government.