UNEMPLOYED RELIEF

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 144, 21 June 1933, Page 10

UNEMPLOYED RELIEF

RESTORATION OF CUTS EXTRA MILLION SOUGHT DEPUTATION TO BOARD The raising of an extra £1,000,000 for expertditure on " unemployment relief involved in a number.of requests made hy a deputation representing the\ National Union of Lfnemployed, which waited on the Minister of Employment (the Hon. A. Haipikon) and Mr. W. Bromley, .a mernher of the -Unemployment Board,; toHay. Mr. j\ iFraser, M.P., who introduced the deputation, said that the deputation represented practically the whole of the^ unemployed of the Dominion. Mr. it. iHedgeland said tho organisation was', not opposed to voluntary camps,- provided tho conditions of tho camps were improved. There were camps which were not suitable for single rnon. Mr.': Bromley said he would lie interested.to know where those camps were situated., No one was sent to camps until the.camps were properly prepared. Beferring to piecework, Mr. Hedgeland said that many men wore unable to earn JOs a week. He went on to say that' there was an insufficiency of food inithe camps, although no exception was taken to the quality. Mr. Hedgeland ' referred to the case of a woman who had'been evicted from her home' while her husband was in camp, and asked the- Minister to afford some protection, for tenants. He made the suggestion that if the Unemployment Boarji paid sustenance instead of establishing' camps, the funds at its disposal Wjould go further. ■' Mn Bromley pointed out that in Quee|islp.nd, where ' a Labour Government] wfta in office, the average amount of si}.st|nance 'paid ( was £5 5s in a whoty yjear. Mr. D; McLaughlan entered a strong protest against men being compelled to go' to "camps. '■ The| Minister suggested that too much was "being made of compulsion. The men in the cities were being compelled to work, at present. There was compulsitin ;every day. . : Miv Bromley: It is the difference between' voluntary and involuntary unemployment. ' ■ Mi\ Metiaughlan said the only justification for forcing men into camps was circumstances arising from a war, or some dire .national necessity., The, Minister said that • tho TJnemploynienl;'Board had no camps; Mr.;? McLaughlan: Where do you want tho nicn to' go? The Minister: Where the work is offering; ; Mr. sMkLaughlan: Does the Government and Unemployment Board agree that family life is the essential basic unit of the.State? , The' Minister: We endorse that entirely. ■, Is it an essential of home life that a; man. should be home every night^j 3lr. Hamilton pointed out that' no' one {went to work voluntarily. Mr. McLaughlan: It's a natural in; Btinct igo to work. ■ Mr. jffamiltori: Is it? A man doesn't go to work for the fun of it;- he goes to ea;rn^a living. . ' The Minuter said that the Unemployment .B^ard: had already removed' the penalty." Ho was afraid tho resolutions which the various organisations'were passing ty'eije not assisting the board. There wdrc jinany men willing to go to work buti were stopped by agitation. P^Ottß MAIN POINTS. Tho secretary of the union (Mr. 8. Vella) sa}d jthat-as a result of a. conference held in Wellington some few weeks ago the unemployed were now .able to speak practically in one voice. The deputation asked for (1) the .restoration of:sustenance cuts; (2) the abolition of. the compulsory camp scheme; (3) the discontinuance of piecework; and! (4) immediate legislation to protect women and children from evictions. They also asked that no deductions should be made when sickness or wet weather caused inability to work, that no penalty by way of cut should be applied to relief workers whose'wives obtained workj and that in.cases wkere relief workers, 7 regularly earned a sum in addition to sustenance the emergency charge of Is in the pound should be made %n th<j additional earnings and not in tho sustenance payments. The restoration of j cuts -which had taken .placs since liasj year, together with tho additional provisions sought, might require another' '£1,000,000 . per annum. ."Since this timo last- year wo have had three, serious cuts imposed upon us," he said. '.''One was by way of tho straight-qiufc two hours cut, and two .with, a take^babk method in the sales tax and the]-high exchange. I have mentioned the tjwo cuts by way of taxa-' tibn because |thfey are just as real as a straight-out *ut. in money payment.'' The relief worker,, it was claimed, was being taxed "be.yond his' capacity to pay. The dfcpvtation asked for the restoration of the two hours' cut to full time, plus 5s per week extra for aH leliof workers during winter month* and a permafteiit allowance of 3s per child per week. That might be approximately sufficient to place them on the aame footing .•as' they were on twelve months ago. i • • ' LANii settlement. In asking for Jho abolition of piecework, Mr. Vella said that it had never been necessary jto Teintroduce piecework until now, Ja-time when over-pro-duction was ihe,' spoke in the wheel of prosperity.J'This is a vicious scheme for squeezing? out the last ounce of physical effort (with starvation the penalty for the weaker man or weaker; gang," he said."The work is not in such a desperaW-hurry. If it was you could resort'to,! machinery. If the board could show my organisation any land settlement scheme which gave a reasonable' hope; of • success, there would bono difficulty/in [sending men to the ■ country. "For some years now unemployment has,been raging. Tho Gov.ernment should nave tried experimental schames y^aifs ago until the prae.ticable thing wa^s hit upon. We complain that your: No. 5, your No. 4, • and your camj| scheme, are all schemes where there ajppears to be more con- , sideration shoyra for doing some work to benefit some other sections or individuals, than fop. the future "of tho unemployed meij." ■•'. It was fully realised how difficult it was to sajisfy all sections of the community, saidsMr. Vella, but he felt that' " the pj-oyision of. an extra £1,000,000 \i;ould be welcomed, not only by the unemployed, but by mayors and councillors of every town, and small tradesmen-. MINISTER'S REPLY. ■Tn his rep'h'j'the Minister said' he did not think that the sales tax and the high exdhango rate could be regarded as further cuts. The cost of Jiving had riot.; gone up as from the ■beginning of the year; in fact, he believed it was; lower. A member-of the deputation: So aro .our wages. The Minister.; There has been no cut I

since January. 1. He. said .it was .his intention to make a public statement shortly dealing with the cost of living figures. • . ■ Mr. Vella: Don't you think there is any amount of room left for a little more sacrifice on the part of the wealthy people of the country? Mr. Hamilton: Oh, you can easily. argue that. lam not saying that there are not (some people who have more than others, but it is just a question whether we enn tax tho so-called wealthy people any- more. They are very heavily taxed today. The.Minister said the board was not in such a difficult financial position today as it'was last year, and each week they were allocating about £5000 more than their income. There was no country in tho world that was doing more, or as much for the unemployed as New Zealand was doing. . The. deputation claimed that the ; bpard was expending its money in tho interests of sections, but the fact was'that tho bulk -of the work was being done in the public interest. ■ "PRETTY DIFFICULT." . "The request for another million pounds would be pretty difficult- to grant," said Mr.-Hamilton. "Wo are not particularly hard-up at the present; '• but we have to protect our fund against | the possibility of getting into an insolvent sta.tev You arc asking the Government to find another million to augment the fund." Mr. Vella: It would bo welcomed. Mr. Hamilton: You say that, but I don't think so. One difficulty would be to collect'it.. , Mr. McLaughlan: .Why not create if? The Minister: That is another matter. Wealth is not so easily created as all that. Eeferring to the plea for the restoration, of the cuts, Mr. Hamilton stressed the fact that the board was already allocating moire than its weekly average income. "At the same time, I don't mind discussing with the Government the question of getting more money for the unemployed,"' he remarked. • On the question' of camps for married men', the Minister. said 'that the boarddid not wish to Compel married men.to go. into camps. The board would not penalise anybody in the meantime. It was realised that.it.was a hardship for married men to' go into camps, arid noman for whom it was a' hardship to go into camp would be penalised.for not doing so. ' He did not' know that it would be a .wise thing to abolish piecework altogether. 'The Government had been giving a lot of consideration, to the question of evictions, but there were many difficulties in the way. Mr. McLaughlan: What do you consider a reasonable rent for a relief worker1? , .■ . Tho Minister: I would say 10s or 15s a week. Mr. McLaughlan: I would like that published. The Minister said it was admitted there were anomalies in the present law, and.it might be possible to rectify them. At the same time it was difficult to get an Unemployment Amendment Bill through- the House. A lot would depend on the .legislation which the Prime Minister wanted to get through. " An'amendment of the Unemployment Act is a pretty stormy thing," he said. The Minister assured the deputation that there; was no desire on the part of the Government or.the board to make the lot of the relief worker any harder 'than ; necessary. ■ - .;.-■■■