RELIEF WORKERS ROUSED

Evening Star, Issue 20995, 8 January 1932, Page 8

RELIEF WORKERS ROUSED

DISTURBANCE AT UNEMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MARCH TO HOSPITAL BOARD OFFICE Because one of their number (Mr Ballantyne) was not to be admitted as one of the spokesmen of a deputation to the Unemployment Committee this morning, some scores of relief workers out of the 200 or so who had congregated at the Town Hall surged into the committee room in the endeavour to force a hearing on the members. The meeting, however, at once broke up, and, after a number of angry verbal exchanges between some of the relief workers and those of the committee members who remained to face the crowd, an organised march to the Hospital Board’s office was planned. Provisions were demanded in vain at that quarter, and a solution to the deadlock which ensued was found in the relief workers’ resolve to meet again at the board’s office this afternoon, women and children also to be present. FEELING THE PINCH. It can bo surmised that the events which led up to this morning’s angry scene at the Town Hall date from the closing of the St. Andrew street food depot, a great many of the unemployed workers and their families having felt to an unprecedented degree the pinch caused by times of economic stress. It is claimed by the relief workers, also,, that the Otago Hospital Board has not responded as it should to an urgent call to remove from needy families the dangers of straight-out starvation. Today’s massed gathering, called for 10 a.m., was organised at a meeting held last night. MR BALLANTYNE NOT WANTED. Shortly before 10 o’clock the big crowd of relief workers who had congregated at the corner of George street and the Octagon entered the Town Hall and collected around the committee room at the top of the stairs. Sir C. M. Moss, a member of the committee, who, as he was disappearing into the room, was hailed a trifffi ironically as the workers’ representative, put the case of the unemployed before the meeting and returned at about 10.15 to announce that the committee was willing to receive a deputation, provided that Mr Ballantyne was not one of the speakers. This was the signal for an angry uproar, in the course of which British justice received strong indictment. ■ At length Mr Ballantyne, who was standing near the swing doors, voiced his sentiments on the matter in no uncertain terms, and a moment later possession of nearly half the committee room was taken. Some of the committee members left by a back door, while one forced his way straight out through the crowd. Messrs P. W. Mitchell, C. M. Moss, and M. Stevenson held their ground. MUCH ARGUMENT. For a few seconds Mr Ballantyne held the floor, chiefly in vigorous denial of statements previously attributed to him against certain members of the committee. Mr Mitchell announced that the committee was doing all it possibly could for the unemployed of Dunedin, and that nobody could expect it to do the impossible. After further argument Mr Mitchell withdrew from the room and Mr Moss continued to reply to several speakers, throwing on the table all the money he had in his possession in response to a woman’s storv of starvation in homes she knew of." To the accompaniment of “We want work, not charity,” the money was refused. Mr Moss was told that the Unemployment Committee should refuse to accept funds from the Unemployment Board unless there was sufficient money to provide ample work for all. NO RELIEF FROM BOARD. The march to the Hospital Board office was orderly, and by the time Hanover street was reached a number of policemen were on the spot. Some were quickly stationed in the corridor of the board’s premises, while others were standing outside. Mr J. Jacobs (the secretary) heard a deputation, for which Mr Braithwaite was chief spokesman, but, in answer to a request that foodstuffs to each worker to the value of from 10s to £1 (ini accordance with the number of the worker’s dependents) should be granted, he replied that the board’s instructions were that no relief could be given. Mr Braithwaite conveyed this answer to the crowd, remarking at the same time that the Auckland Hospital Board had nearly gone bankrupt trying to help the city’s starving people, and that other boards in the north were doing far more in the way of giving relief than the Otago Board. “ They will help a woman whose husband deserts her,” he added. “ Yet they will not help the men who stand loyally by their wives and children. The crowd refused to respond to a request that the premises should be cleared, and a deadlock lasting over three-quarters of an hour took place. At last the situation was eased temporarily by the decision to meet agam in the afternoon at the board s office with women and children from homes where help is needed.