CITY RELIEF

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 32, 7 August 1934, Page 10

CITY RELIEF

COUNCIL'S DILEMMA

THREE-HOUR DEBATE -

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

"The City Council last night again discussed tho serious problem which has arisen through the depletion of the funds set aside by tho couiicil as its share of tho cost of the No. 5 Scheme. At the present rate of expenditure the wholo of the £18,000 provided will be exhausted by the end of September. The discussion was taken in committee, and from the length of tho debate, occupying about three hours, it was evident that the councillors were sharply divided upon the question. Councillor R. McKcen, M.P., strongly opposed the Mayor's motion that the discussion should be taken in committee, for, he said, tho mattor was of immediate and vital concern to hundreds of families, and the wholo question was essentially ono of public interest: the matter should, be discussed in,open council. It was not a matter for the City Council alone, but for the whole of the city, and the council wanted the public to know just what it felt about the action of the Unemployment Board. Holding it in committee might have tho effect of whitewashing' the board. Ho did not know of any factor that should be discussed in committee; tho whole thing should be ventilated. Councillor J. Burns said that there was another side to it. There had been a deputation to the Minister of Labour. He did not know whether that was held in committee,'so it might be as well to go into committee. Perhaps the Mayor might give the council an inkling why it should bo taken in committee. Mr. Hislop said that it was in the best interests of the city that tho question should be discussed first in committee. If councillors wished it they could debate the question later in open meeting. A vote 'was taken, and by 8 votes to 7 it was decided to hold the debate behind closed dpors. At the close of the meeting the Mayor announced that it had been decided that the council should again wait upon the Government. • RELIEF PAY OR SUSTENANCE. The problem ahead of the council is apparently not very different from that which. was discussed at a special meeting of the council last week, when councillors could not by any means agree -upon the question of accepting the proposals put forward by the Mayor that the council should ascertain from the men themselves how many would volunteer to accept the higher sustenance rates announced by the Unemployment Board, in place of continuing to work on No. 5 relief jobs, thus saving the council the heavy cost of overhead (administration, supervision, etc.). In previous years the board has met the Wellington City Council by carrying all relief, work costs (administration and supervision, as well as finding the wages) for all men over 1500, and the''council drew up its estimates for the current year believing that similar special assistance would be given by the board, again this year. SHOCK FOR THE COUNCIL. Tho announcement by the Minister that higher sustenance rates would be paid, and subsequent advice from the Unemployment Board that in view of these higher payments (and AVellington's surplus from last year, enabling £10,000 to bo used to reduce city rates) the special assistance would not be granted this year, cut the financial ground from beneath the council's hopes.of carrying on No. 5 jobs to the end of the year. Hence the suggestion that an inquiry should be made as to the number of men who would prefer the new sustenance rates without work to relief. pay fox- work. Depending upon the number of men who answered that they would prefer sustenance to relief work pay, the council could, it was suggested, rearrange its Np. 5 job plans and possibly get through the year. ■~■■■'.- : OPPOSITION TO DOLE. The, division among councillors at last wo \ 's special meeting was mainly upon the rights or wrongs of tho introduction of the "dole" system, i.e., in its probable effects upon the morale of the men,*those who argued that the dole system was bad being answered by other speakers who said that, unless tho board could be persuaded to grant further assistance, there simply was no option, whatever the effects, good or bad, upon the finances and the men. Another aspect of the sustenance plan is that the stopping of No. 5 relief works would probably mean that tho considerable number of supervisors and overseers would find their employment also at an end. No "decision was reached and the Mayor was asked to take a deputation to the Ministers, the inquiry among the men, being deferred. The result of that interview was, presumably, the main subject of last night's debate, but the views of the Government were not made known in the brief statement made after the meeting. Again last night there was division of. opinion—by no means a party division, for just as Labour members were not in agreement in all matters, so did councillors not. in tho Labour camp hold views which differed greatly. The only decision made was that the Government should be approached again. Local bodies all over the Dominion have been unhappy for some time in their relations with the Unemployment Board, as was made quito evident by the split, only partly healed, at the last conference of the Municipal Association, and by the deputation which waited upon the Government following the conference. Some hard things were said on that occasion, and it appears that more mombers of the Wellington City Council are giving support to the idea that unemployment relief is not a job for local bodies at all. It has been suggested that a further conference of all local bodies should be called to discuss Ihis and other aspects of Telief in a fuller manner than was done at the Municipal Conference, when the desire to avoid an open split between main centres and towns and tho smaller local authorities somewhat restricted the debate. CASH CREDIT OVER A MILLION. At the conclusion of the meeting last night a councillor handed to a "Post" reporter figures taken from the Gazette of August 2, showing the receipts and expenditure of the Unemployment Fund to June 30, 1934. • The receipts for tho three months to this date were £,1,502,137, as compared. with £1,307,904 for the three months ended June 30, 1933, an increasoof £194,233. General expenditure during the quarter decreased from £615,875 in 1933 to £515,554. ' Sustenance payments under section.. 20' increased from £6281 to £17,433', but allowances for food, clothing, etc.,'fell from £29,346 (at June ■ 30; ■ 19315) to £.10,600, a decrease of £18,746. Under these two latter headings the decrease is therefore £T594, and taking- also the general expenditure a -decrease of relief outgoings, under sections-5, 18, 20, and 14, of £107,918. The cash balance of the fund at the pud of' the quarter was £1,372,534 9s 3d, which, by imposts outstanding, was brought to a total of £1,576,705 13s