UNEMPLOYMENT

Evening Star, Issue 20999, 13 January 1932, Page 8

UNEMPLOYMENT

DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD HOSPITAL BOARD'S DEPOT Busy times are again being experienced at the Dowling street relief depot, tlie chief function of which at the moment is to serve as the emergency distributing centre for the orders for food being issued by the Hospital Board to men who are at present having their “stand down” week. A largo number of men were put through this morning, while yesterday no fewer than 412 orders for food varying m value from 7s Cd to £1 were given cut. The following donations are acknowledged with thanksW. Wood, baker, eighty-four loaves; Fraser and Sons, bread; Ernest Adams Ltd., cakes; Gilliand Bros., rabbits; and donations of vegetables and food from many anonymous donors. The assistance rendered by Mr and Mrs W. R. Brinsley is also acknowledged with deep appreciation.

" ADOPTION" OF FAMILIES A meeting of members of the staff of the Drapery Supply Association Ltd. was held last evening to discuss means of offering help to the unemployed. It was decided to “ adopt M two families each month and to supply them with provisions of various sorts. Arrangements will be made for the families which will be supplied in this manner to be selected by the Otago Hospital Board. . That suchfschemes as this are easily workable and entirely successful has been proved by the experience of the staffs of the various ‘Evening Star’ departments, which have been subscribing to an “ adoption ” fund since last June. The weekly levy raised from each staff member has been 6d—except shortly before Christmas, when the subscription was doubled for one week in order to provide seasonal extras. When the scheme first began to operate two families were being kept, but later the husbands in these particular households obtained permanent employment and the welfare of other families was seen to. At the moment four families are being provided with groceries and two with coal.

CENTRAL MISSION DEPOT

WORK OF CITIZENS' COMMITTEE

The new|y-formed Citizens’ Rebel Committee held a meeting in. the Slade Hall yesterday afternoon, Mr E. W. Braithwaite presiding over an attendance which included the Rev. iercy Paris, Mr J. H. Hinton, Mrs Coulter, and the' Executive Committee of the Unemployed Workers’ Movement. Ihe meeting was held to discuss the policy of the citizens’ relief depot, which has been opened on the premises of the Methodist Central Mission. Mr Braithwaite said that donations and goods had been pouring in, and it was felt that the people desired that the depot should remain open. Ho explained that those requiring relief must produce their unemployment registration forms, and that no help would be given to those men who, during their stand-down week, were receiving assistance elsewhere. _ Otherwise no man or woman, married or single, who was in need of the help which the depot could give would be turned away. There was a crying need for lielp for those in distress, and he hoped that all present would redouble their efforts to render whatever aid lay in their power. Mr Braithwaite also explained that members of the Unemployed Workers Movement would assist in carrying out the work of the depot, but the handling of the money and the direction or its policy would be in the hands of the other members of the Citizens Relief Committee. , Mr Hinton thanked the chairman tor his, offer of co-operation in running the depot, and emphasised the point that he must have charge. He would Bo his best to make the goods go as far as possible, but they could only cut thensuit according to the cloth. Nothing was harder than to say ‘ No, but he hoped that the people would realise that when he said “No” it was because of necessity. In conclusion, he explained that he was acting at the moment on behalf of the Rev. L. B. til© The Rev. Mr Paris also stated that he was deputising on behalf of Mr Neale. He felt that the action of Mr H H. Johnson; circuit steward ot the Central Mission, in offering the use of the mission's building for a depot should be acknowledged, Mr N. Lee said he was sure Mr Neale would endorse the action taken that dav. All had the utmost confidence in "Mr Neale, and when he returned thev would do their best to assist him, as they would do in tho case of Mr Hinton. , . Mr Braithwaite stated that fiord Motors (Dunedin) Ltd. had offered the use of a car for collecting supplies. About £2OO of goods was already in hand or on offer. He hoped it would be understood that the depot was not going to be a church organisation, but a citizens’ depot. It was explained in answer to a question that every endeavour would be made to seo that there was no overlapping in tho distribution of food. DEPOT OPENED The Citizens’ Relief Depot was opened at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon, and during the succeeding three hours 259 families were supplied with food. The staff of workers, under the control of Mr J. H, Hinton and Mesdaraes Grant, Coulter, and Strang, and including a number of members of the Unemployed Workers’ Movement, had a busy time for several hours distributing parcels of food and vegetables to_the large crowd which had gathered. During the afternoon 230 families were supplied, and, despite the generous stock of goods which was in hand when the depot was opened, evening found the shelves practically cleared of everything except a splendid supply of vegetublds Foodstuffs of all kinds and donations of any dimension are not only welcome, but also absolutely essential to tho successful working of the depot. Thanks to tho generosity of tho Chinese, there are more vegetables on hand than tho depot has room for, and anyone who contemplates forwarding donations of this nature are asked to hold them over till next week. Some particularly generous donations have been received, including 100 loaves of bread and 601 b of butter. Meat from. Bartons is arriving with wonderful regularity. . Donations which were received on January 11 and 12 are acknowledged from the followingßartons, lambs and sausages (two donations); Dukes, saveloys; Laurenson’s, J. R. Brown, Knight, Abbott, J. Brown, T. SearJ,

Skinner, Tanner, bread and cakes; Hudsons, biscuits; Sagar s, apples; Waitaki Dairy Company, case butter; Bray Bros., potatoes; Tong Lee, vegetables ; Mrs Michie, groceries; Mrs Brown, potatoes and meat; Mr A. Paape, £5 for bread: Miss Cox, bread; Sam Young, vegetables; W. D. and M. 0. Wills, tobacco; S. Jacobs, bags; ‘ Evening Star ’ and ‘ Otago Daily Times,’ white paper.

HO. 5 SCHEME Working under No. 5 scheme, the following men will report for duty tomorrow morning:— St. Hilda Borough Council—l2.3o p.m., at Scott street yard, group 21. Defence Department.—B a.m., at Central Battery, St. Hilda. Those men of group 33 who did not work in the earlier part of the week. D.C.C, Reserves Department.—B a.m., at Knox street, Opoho, group 506.