"A FAILURE"

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

"A FAILURE"

..r CITY RELIEF SYSTEM CAPITAL MONEYS DESIRABLE (By Telegraph.) . ' (Special to the "Evening Post.") "; , DUNEDIN, This; Day. Sometime ago the Duncdin-Chamber of Commerce'set up a special committee to report on unemployment. ; !t The1 report, which has now! ;liebn drafted,-states-that the system! of Tp:' lief works as practised in the cities-.is. a failure, one.of the defects being that no. capital moneys are provided for the purchase of materials to enable'substantial works to be carried out. The Committee's : alternatives are:—(l) To .drop the system. of relief work, and to substitute a straight-out sustenance allowance sufficient to keep the; unemployed worker and his family. at jiist about the level of existence; or (2) to endeavour, to, create a demand for labour which will offer greater ayenues of employment. - The: Gorcrriment would give a valuable lead by entering upon a policy of capital works to be spread over two or three years. This would relieve unemployment, and would; result in a greater flow of money within.the community, which would be reflected in increasing turnovers in wholesale'and retail businesses, and would tend to.create a feel-' ing of confidence and-encouragement to enterprise. Work Vi-hich.would provide employment for '. skilled tradesmen should bo given first consideration, and the term ••productive/* "when applied to such works, should, be used in its widest sense. The committee, in recommending a policy of capital expenditure by tho Government, does not suggest any departure from, the policy of tho Associated Chambers of Commerce, that all works should, wherever possible, be carried out by private contract. It also suggests '-'that there-should not be any lessening of the pressure for economies in public expenditure, in accordance with the recommendations of the Na--tional Expenditure Commission."