CHRISTMAS GRANT

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 140, 10 December 1935, Page 10

CHRISTMAS GRANT

UNEMPLOYED BENEFITS

TWO PAYMENTS TO BE MADE

MINISTER'S STATEMENT

The method by which the Government's special Christmas grant of £100,000 to the unemployed, and also the grant approved by the previous Government, totalling in all approximately a quarter of a million pounds, will be distributed was announced today by the Minister of Employment (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong). The payment is to be made in two instalments: one prior to Christmas and the other on January 2.

The Minister said that he had decided; in consultation with, the Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash) and' members of the Unemployment Board, that the Christmas bonus to relief workers was to be an amount equivalent to two and one-half weeks' normal relief payment to all the under-mentioned workers who were in receipt of relief during the week ending December 7, 1935, and who had been on. unemployment relief for a period or periods totalling at least thirteen weeks during the previous twelve months:— (a) Scheme 5 workers employed on a rationed basis (i.e., less than forty hours per week). (b) Men in receipt of sustenance without work. (c) Gold prospectors, including man employed on developmental work other than those men employed fulltime at standard rates of pay. ■ (d) Clerical workers employed in bureaux, local body offices, relief depots, etc., who are in receipt of not more than £2 10a per week in the case of married men and 37s 6d per week in the case of single men. (c) Workers employed under schemes 4c and 4d. (f) Camp workers and other men employed by : State Departments and local authorities other than.those employed full time (40 hours per week or more) at standard rates of pay. , . (g) Workers employed on the destruction of rabbits under scheme No. 11, and . (h) Workers employed in the eradication of ragwort and other noxious .weeds. (i) Women registered with women's employment committees and eligible under the conditions mentioned in the introductory paragraph of the Minister's statement. . Payment will be made in two instalments; the first, prior to Christmas, will comprise the two weeks' holiday period, plus one week's bonus. The second instalment, which-will be paid on January 2 or as soon thereafter as possible, will comprise a payment equal to one and a half weeks' pay. SEASONAL WORKERS. . The Minister stated that it,had been brought before his notice that a number of men who, at the present time, had,- an. opportunity of accepting seasonal employment such as shearing, harvesting, etc., were not prepared to accept such employment for fear that they would lose their Christmas bonus. "I can definitely assure these men," said Mr. Armstrong, "that all workers who qualify for the bonus and subsequently, go oft relief to take up seasonal or.other employment will not be debarred from receiving the bonus, and any worker who is fortunate enough to obtain an offer, of employment should immediately take advantage of it."

■ The Minister stated that there might be a few men who had recently taken up full-time employment with local todies and Government Departments, and who,'had'they remained on scheme 5 and'become eligible for the bonus, •would have been better off. "It is not administratively possible," he said, "to investigate these cases before the holidays, but the Unemployment Board's certifying officers have been instructed to refer all such cases to the board's head office for consideration. As it will take a little time to go into such cases, ,it will not be practicable to arrange any adjusting payment to the men before Christmas. Those workers concerned can be assured, hoy.-ever, that their cases will receive sympathetic and urgent consideration, according to the circumstances disclosed."