RELIEF WORKERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 April 1933, Page 5

RELIEF WORKERS

COLLECTION AT CHRISTCHURCH. [FEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH, March 31. A street collection was taken up in the city to-day, in aid of the Mayor’s Fund for the relief of distress. The collection realised more than £2OOO. The figure reached in the counting at present is £2079, and there are still returns to come. EASTER HOLIDAYS ARRANGED. WELLINGTON, March 31. It has been decided that the Easter holidays for the relief workers on the No. 5 Scheme shall be Good Friday, Easter Saturday ard Easter Monday. Anzac Day will also be observed as a holiday. The men who would ordinarily be employed on those days of the week Will be paid for holidays, but not those men who ai a stood down, in rotation on those days. CONFERENCE A T AUCKLAND. | WELLINGTON, March 30. The Minister of Employment (Mr A. Hamilton) has left for Auckland, to discuss unemployment problems with the Auckland City Council and other local bodies. The deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board, Mr J. S. Jessep, and Mr W. Bromley, a member of the board, will arrive in Auckland at the end of the week to be present at the discussions between the Minister and local bodies on Monday, and again on Tuesday, if necessary. Mr Hamilton intends to leave Auckland on his return to Wellington by the Limited express on Tuesday evening. BOARD CRITICISED. WELLINGTON, March 30. A crowded meeting at the Town Hall to-night, under the auspices of the Relief Workers’ Union, carried a resolution expressing great concern at the failure of the Government and the Unemployment Board to deal with the unemployment question, disapproving of a camp scheme being inaugaurated for married men in the Wellington district, the continued cut in the sustenance paid to relief workers under the No. 5 Scheme, and declaring that in the opinion of those present, the Unemployment Board had not administered the funds to the best advantage and calling upon the Board to resign. The Mayor (Mr T. C. A. Hislop) presided.

BUILDING SUBSIDY. WELLINGTON, March 30. The magnitude of the building subsidy scheme, inaugurated last year for unemployment relief, is revealed in a statement prepared by the Unemployment Board. During the six months ended December 31, in which applications for the subsidy were received by the Board, a total of 5656 applications for individual jobs was made involving work of a total value of £1,450,508 for the whole of New Zealand. The value of the work under these applications ranged from 7/6 to £40,000. The total labour cost — wages paid or to be paid to workmen —will be £421,520 and the number of men who will have been given employment will be 14,746. Applications closeci last December, but many of the jobs will run well into this year and the last will not finish until about November. Each application form had to contain an estimate of the total cost of the job and the cost of labour, the number of men to be employed, and the duration of the job, and it is from these particulars that the Board Jias ■ compiled, the summary of the amount involved. It is stated by the Board that apart from the actual wages cost on construction work it should be realised that about 78 per cent, of the total cost of building was represented by wages actually paid in New Zealand, that is, in the production of the materials used and actual construction work. The Board states that the expenditure of such a large sum through the scheme should prove of immense benefit to the building trade. The scheme had undoubtedly had a very beneficial effect in stimulating activity throughout the building industry.