UNEMPLOYMENT

Evening Star, Issue 20468, 26 April 1930, Page 2

UNEMPLOYMENT

DEPUTATION TO HOSPITAL BOARD MAYOR'S STATEMENTS CRITICISED At the meeting ,of the Hospital Board ou Thursday night a deputation of some twenty-five men and one woman from the unemployed in the city waited ou the board in reference to the unemployment position. Mr B. O’Donnell said that a meeting of 175. unemployed had been held that afternoon, and he had been elected to represent the unemployed and put before the board some outstanding facts showing the necessity of providing food and maintenance for those people who were out of work. They were on the eve of a great anniversary—Anzac Day —and lie would ask members of the board to travel along the road from 1914 to the end of the war, when many of the unemployed were heroes in khaki. They were then fighting for the freedom and liberty of New Zealand and for the freedom and liberty of the Empire. To-day they were walking the streets, not through any fault of their own', but owing to the unemployment position. They, were to-day termed the “down and outs.” It was very hard that people, some returned soldiers with wives and families, should have to go to the Charitable Aid Board to seek charity. Charity was doled out to them for three half-days a week, and for those three half-days they received £l. Was it fair, he asked, to ask a man with a wife and children to exist on £1 for one week. Rent was the principal thing. There was one ipan in the deputation who owed £l3 10s in rent, and he had . notice to quit in his pocket. Last week the speaker took twenty-seven men to the board, and they had received something to see them over the Easter holidays. There was a man who had gone two and a-half days without a bite,. and another who had had only a cup of tea in two days. That was happening in a land flowing with milk and honey. There were at least 700 men in Dunedin out of work, and a majority of them had wives alnd children dependent on them. They were proud citizens, and it was very hard that they should have to come to seek charitable aid. They were looking to the Charitable Aid Board to uphold the traditions of the British people and to see that each person, whether married or single, so long as he was down and out, must obtain the necessities of life to make him fit and able to take work when he could find it. What would those heroes who had passed think if they were to come back and see the plight of those who had been fighting for/treedoxn and liberty ? They never expected that they were fighting to have their fellow-men returned to poverty and starvation through no fault of their own. The unemployed had appealed to the City Council and they bad appealed to the mayor, who said; “Go to the'Charitable Aid Board. They have money, and are bound to support you aud they will support you.” Tho. mayor said that the board had £60,000 contributed by the cities, boroughs, and county councils subsidised by £30,000 by the Government. About three years ago he had gone with _ a deputation to Mr Coates, who said that there was no need tor any man to be down and out while the Charitable Aid Board existed, and the Government * would see that the board ■would get returned to Hi every penny expended for the betterment of mankind. Now, if what the, mayor had said and if what Mr Coates had skid were true, the deputation was appealing to the board to see that those who were hard up against it had food and that their rent was paid. They could not expect the board to solve the question of unemployment, and they did not expect the City Council to solve it. They were looking to the Government, which, had 'made ah effort, but that effort had failed. Men had been sent to Lake Te Anau and other places, bub three men who had been sent away, after paying their fares aud living expenses, had returned after nine days with half a crown. If men could earn only half a crown in ; nine days, surely their wives and children should come under the Charitable Aid Board. Mr O’Donnell concluded by hoping that the board would look after their people. Another member of the deputation, Mr Palmer, said that at the meeting that afternoon a motion was passed that the board was not doing, its duty and that the distress that was in the city should be stopped. People who came along to the board were not seeking relief ,as it was given to them. They wanted to meet their needs. A-motion was also passed that the deputation ask the board to give out relief, not in a day and a-half’s work or in pound food tickets, but to give out adequate relief to meet present needs. At the meeting a man very high up in the city gave concrete instances of men who were actually starving. Such men had no place to go to. If they went to the Salvation Army, which was the only place they could get immediate relief if they could afford to pay the charge, they had to give a guarantee that they would pay for what a th e V got. It was suggested that, the Charitable Aid Board should set ’to work and give • out the relief which was spoken of, but a person had to be in dire distress before the board would consider the case at all. However, immediately a man’s wages stopped, whether he owned his own house or not, whether his family was clothed or not.’that man was in want, and it was suggested that those cases should be treated before they became absolutely destitute. Tho suggestion was made, continued Mr, Palmer. that a house be taken in the city, opened as a hostel, and men—it was mostly single men who were sleeping out, married men usually living in houses, but not paying rent—accommodated there, it was further suggested that the hostel be opened for the winter months, put under the care of some capable person, so that there would not be anybody lounging on it, and as a means of raising funds the various places of amusement in the city be asked one night a week to add twopence or threepence to the admission charges for the unemployed fund. The Alliance of Labour should also put a levy of threepence or sixpence on all men in work, and that tfould bring in means to put the hostel into operation and successfully carry it ou. The object of the deputation was to see that sufficient relief was given out to tide men over while they were unemployed CHAIRMAN’S REPLY.

The Chairman of the board (Mr W. E. S. Knight), in reply, said he did not want the deputation to go away with the idea that members of the board did not sympathise with them, but the unemployed wanted something more than sympathy, which was all very well in its place. The deputation wanted something more substantial. Speaking for members of the board, he was quite confident in saying that they were prepared to back the deputation up, and were prepared to assist those who were really in want, and that each case would be considered on its merits, It was not one of the functions of the board, the deputation would recognise, to provide work for the men. That was more the function of the City

Council, the Labour Department, ae the Government itself. The board so far had provided a good deal of work during the year to give a number o£ men assistance, and something like £SOO had been spent. The hoard had been 'spending about £3O a week recently in giving the unemployed three half-days’ work to enable them to earn something like £l. That work was undertaken in tho afternoons only, so as to give men an opportunity of looking for something better than what the board was able to provide for them. So far as the figures given by the deputation were concerned, he could tell them that they were quite erroneous. A' certain amount was placed on the board’s estimates for poor relief, and of that amount the City Council provided only three-fifths of one-half, and that meant that it was a very insignificant amount. So far as the Government was concerned, whether it was Mu Coates or Sir Joseph Ward, and even if Mr Coates said that the Government was prepared to do its share, tho only share it paid was to provide about, _ 50 per cent, of the amount. Some time ago, they might remember, the Government subsidised the Hospital Board in Auckland, but the Otago Hospital Board had never received anything more than the usual subsidy from then Government towards assisting those whoi were out of employment. Mr Knights assured the deputation that the board would take into consideration what had been placed before it and would give the matter the attention it deserved ,i and would probably define its policy ia regard to the matters,to which refer-* euco had been made. Mr O’Donnell thanked the board fot* the courteous way in which the deputation had been received, and tho deputa- ; tion withdrew.

g MAYOR’S “INDISCREET ; REMARKS.” When the ordinary business of ’the meeting was finished the subject of the deputation was gain referred to, and the Chairman said that the mayor had acted very indiscreetly, more particularly in describing the staff, or some of the staff, as “officious understrappers.” The chairman did not know whether the remarks were applied to Mr Jacobs (the secretary), but they were applied to Mrs Darrach (tho board’s inquiry ; officer). He' thought the mayor was quite indiscreet in making such a remark at all.: Both Mr Jacobs and Mrs _ Darrach practically had control of giving relief, not only to those who were out of employment, but to provide work, which was not one of the functions of the hoard.. The board had expended £432 on unemployment relief, and from March 8 to April 24, a period of eight weeks, it had expended £3O a week in finding work. The board could not continue to find work for those men. It had not the work to give them, and it had not tho necessary supervision. Neither did it have the necessary tools. Mr Dove: I think you should say something about the mayor’s remarks. The Chairman said that the position was very misleading in some respects. It was very misleading for the mayor to make such statements. The board had put £9,000 on its estimates for outdoor relief, and the City Corporation acted as collectors of their proportion of three-fifths of one-half r or that £9,000. The Government subsidy was a fraction over £ for £.- It was misleading to say that the City Corporation contributed—the ratepayers . .-kmtributed, and tho corporation were he collectors. The unemployed wen ed to believe that the corporation'pro ed an enormous sum of money for the ’"•ry purpose of giving relief to them o: iring them outdoor relief if it was ; -jssary. That was most misleading- ut' the part to which he took-the gn ,st exception was to the mayor- desen ug members of the staff as understrappers. Referring to the statement of one of the men as to the, manner in whifch they were spoken to, Mr Knight said he did not believe that for'one moment. All that was asked of them was what their requirements were, and they went out and made the, public believe that they were insulted by those,, who. were deputed by the board to go into those matters. ' -

Mr Scur.r thought it was most unwise that the chief magistrate of the city should have made such statements. ~ It showed that though he was chief magistrate of the city he did not make sura of his facts before he rushed juto making public statements. That was a most unwise thing to 'do for a man in hia position. To Mr Sourr’s mind he* had let the hhard down, and He had let the unemployed down. The mayor knew perfectly well that the sum which - the board collected for outdoor relief was a mefeiijiagatelle when it came to relieving' unemployment. , 1 The . duty* of , tho board was -not to find employment; it was to give relief in cases of distress, particularly where women and children were in necessitous corcumstances, or where the, breadwinner, was ill, but it, was not’ fl th6 function of the board to find work for people to do. It was tho duty firstly of the Government, and , secondly 'of- the City Council to find that : work. To Mr Scurr’s mind the mayor whs shuffling his duty when ha pushed it on to theHospitalßoard. (Hear, hear.) He (Mr Scurf) did not wish it to be understood that be was not in sympathy with the unemployed. He was very sorry to think that some of them were so much up against it. , The minutes of the secretaiy dealing with the unemployed deputation stated that he had been out of the office on the morning during which the mayor had received a deputation from the uni* employed. The chief clerk had answered the telephone, and had told the mayor that the board was unable to employ the men. The mayor had re*> plied that if that were .the case tho board would have to give them some relief, as that was what the publio was paying rates for. He further stated that he’was sending the men down to the board’s office; That afternoon from twenty to twenty-five men had assembled at the office. The relief officer had been , in attendance, and they had been unable to decide what to do. With the assistance of Mr J. "Robinson fourteen men Bad been interviewed,- and ia the case of eleven assistance had been granted. The total amount to which the board had been committed had been £7 ss. The Secretary suggested, 'that the board should decide on a definite policy. BOARD’S POLICY.

After a lengthy discussion in committee Mr Dove moved, and it was carried " “That the board continue its present policy of giving work if possible." and immediate relief where necessary.” Dr Newlands moved that the board attempt to obtain the co-ordination pf the various relief organisations working in the city,'and that the chairman call a conference of the bodies concerned, . —This was carried. ■