STEWART ISLANDERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 68, 17 September 1936, Page 11

STEWART ISLANDERS

NECESSITY FOR STATE AID

COUNCIL'S PROTEST

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

INVERCARGILL, September 16.

In a letter to the "Southland Times," Mr. Robert C. Hicks, of Half Moon Bay, Stewart Island, declares that the residents, 90 per cent, of whom depend on the fishing industry, are practically destitute. The majority have not earned one penny for the months of July, August, and September through no fault of their own, as they have been dogged by adverse weather. There is no other industry at the island. A proposal for a public works scheme to absorb unemployed was put forward by the Stewart Island County Council, and the Minister promised a full investigation into the matter. The council was now advised that the local Public Works engineer had reported adversely on the proposals. Neither he nor any other Government official had gone near Stewart Island to investigate. Yesterday a telegram was received from the Minister of Labour stating that there would be neither relief work nor sustenance for the fishermen at Stewart Island. "The position at present," says Mr. Hicks, "is that the men (there are about 50 registered unemployed) are penniless. The storekeepers have carried them along so far, but they are going to close down, and when they do there is going to be trouble, and the Government will be directly to blame. Something must be done and done quickly. "The men have not asked for sustenance. They would sooner work, but sustenance is infinitely better than starvation. The Stewart Island County Council wired weeks ago offering to provide work for all the men if the Government would find the money. Meanwhile the men have paid their levies and wages tax on all they have earned, and now comes the bald statement: no relief work and no sustenance for the fishermen." • The Stewart Island County Council has written to the Prime Minister setting out the position as outlined by Mr. Hicks. The council says it is hard to understand why the Minister of Labour should advise that no help can be given to destitute people such as the fishermen are at the present moment. The letter says that the Ministers are failing to comply with their election promises when unemployed men in the Dominion are being refused work or sustenance. The letter concludes: "The council wishes to protest emphatically against the gross injustice of no relief to Stewart Island compared with the extravagant nature of the relief supplied in other districts. The inclination of the residents is to leave the island for some of the more favoured districts, but, unfortunately, or fortunately, perhaps, they have not the means to shift."