THE RIGHT SPIRIT

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 1, 1 July 1932, Page 7

THE RIGHT SPIRIT

SHARING SACRIFICES

NEW ZEALAND'S PEOPLE

SITUATION IN PERSPECTiVg

MR. COATES'S LONG VIEW*

United Press Association—By Electric Tel*n graph—Copyright. (Received Ist July, 11 a.mf) SUVA, This Day. ; Interviewed aboard the Aoraugi bound for the Ottawa Conference, Mr. Coates, dealt mainly with, the unenn ploymcnt situation, in New Zealand.' "The unemployed," he said, "numbering 54,000 male adults, realise that th«. Government is doing its utmost on their, behalf to the absolute limit of the funds available. Although a few agitators, mostly not native-born, are constantly seeking to stir up trouble,, the- great majority of the unemployed, have taken the sane view that: tha Government is not blamable for theirdistress. When it was first suggested that single unemployed men should' work for 10s a week plus, rations, tha proposal was greeted with derision. Latterly, the men • concerned have realised the .true facts. The day I left Auckland 150 young mea entered a working camp on .these terms. Alreadymany other camps are working satisfactorily. A particularly encouraging feature, indicating, that the mea are showing the right spirit, is the fact that relief workers are shovelling equalyardage of material on roadmaking and fJS? ge works to ordinary conditions.- ---_ Five thousand mea under superb vision of experienced miners are engaged in alluvial and quartz goldmining in Central Otago and the West Coast and the Thames districts. Two. thousand of these are subsidised by. tha' Government. "Exceptionally promising- are tha reports of finds of gold in the Beeftoa1 district. The Government is financing many of these platoons tf eager miners, a largo proportion of whom are already self-supporting, ha,ving repaid the' Government's relief subsidy at the rat* of 10 per cent, of their gold returns. Many men have been assisted to" settle on ten-acre farming sections, with' the of purchasing adjoining! blocks.of 50 to 60 acres, and are already doing well, ...... ' "Unemployed women are not.directly under Government supervision, but private organisations with Government assistance are helping women to find suitable work.. Former wages • and working conditions are necessarily, modified until the Dominion returns to normal, but everywhere there is a spirit of willingness to share sacrifices: Mr. Coates concluded: ' This single-mlndedness throughout the country is the happiest augury fot rehabilitation, which I hope Ottawa' will facilitate with important trada measures. I earnestly hope the day is not far distant when Government relief will no 'longer be necessary.'»