UNEMPLOYMENT

Grey River Argus, 19 December 1930, Page 5

UNEMPLOYMENT

1 .- GREY COMMITTEE Formed at Meeting T. ere was a numerous and very representative gathering of members of I local bodies and of other organisations at the meeting held ju the Town Hall Last evening, which was cal-ed lor the I purpose oi setting up a Local Coiniiutiee to deal w*ih iMiempioyment in the district in accordance with the wish of the Unemployment Board, and 1 in particular to operate her-' Number I 2 oi tae Unemployment Boaid s< heme. The Mayor, Air J. \V. Grecnslade, ( pres-deu, there bcA.ig a-so p-esent: —. Air Jas. O Brien, M.i’., Archdeacon ; Jermyn, Aiessis J. B. Kent. J. D. I \Viiighain. 1-. A. Kit chin ghum, A. AL Carroll, J. 8. Robertson, R. J- Wil- 1 Lams, . J'c.oiti (Borough Count*Uors), j A. J. Fairmaid (Borough Engineer),' P. J. AlcLean (llarbou. Boartu, W. Ugiiv.e (Grey County Council.), W. 11. PiuiitL (Fire Bo;.rd), 11. Tiuutand, A. t ill. AlcKane and 1. I*. KyiAi (Kctuinid Lsoio'lcrs AstOcuiUuii), W. i slier, D. BLannaiian (Faiuiei- ’ Union), C. Eraser (Walers.de Wo.kcrs), F. (i. •Davies (Labour Department), E. L. I 1 urley (Timbe. Workers), .J. •Scoigie, J. 800 l h. A. AlcC’arJiy. 1-. 11. Deniun, Laid E. a. Rundle. 1 lie C airman sa d that he hoped I that all the interesu d oi ga umat jin ihe district were repress Cao. He read a c-.cuiar (published asi week) I Ircni the I iicmp.oynient Board, whi«-h • punted out the objects of the No. 2 Ist heme. Local bodies had been do-ng I what taey l uuld tor rebel, but it was too close to Chiistnia:- to do any good I immediate.y. I Air U’Biicn said that the position on the West C’uasi, wlulst it had been conipa-atively vejy good in t c past, | had during this year become despei- | ate, and there were Gul) e^t.mated to be out of work at present in West- . land through m ils and other sju cv■»1 cmployiiiiAil be-ug s.uppcd. Two • I Hundred men were to be put off a I Public Works job at the end ot the Htuulh »nd he would e.-aijjiate that tae • unemployment in the dl trict at ti-c • •nd o', lixe month wou.d lota* one ' i le. -'.-aod. Txiure wa> a good type oi men on the West Coast, men w-<> ci'tild do a good day’s wu.k. He had ’wired the Aiinistcr ol Labour on two o; three occas.ons to ascertain if ceri tain fanners count have work car.ic-1 | out, and h(» had received a rep y that no im.ii could be employed on such work until a Local Committee was set up. it had been ■ tated m tne cir- • u.ar irom the Board that the C mnr.iteu would be notified as soon as I possible af to wl at money would be ! allocated to them, after its formation. It would be necessary to find out how much money was needed. When the Committee was formed. - e thought it would ‘need to appoint an Executive to deal with the cases that came to hand and to bring employer and unemp oyed together. It was estimated that the Boa.d would have £650.000 f.om the levy, wh.ch would ibe subsidised by the Government £1 for £l, and so £1,250,060 would be available for distribution throughout New Zealand. It was necessary t° form a Committee to go on with tiie work. It wa-‘ : unanimously decided to form a committee. Air F. G. Davies (Labour Department Oflicer) was appointed secretary. It was unanimously resolved tat all members pivst'-it be the Gene.al Committee, and that an Executive Committee of eleven members be formed as a Grey District Executive Committee to operate wthi n the boun- | daries between Big Grey River and 1 Teremakau River, which are also the , Grey County Council’s boundaries. The follow.ng Executive oflicers were elected: Alessrs J, M . Green, lade (chairman), J. O’Brien, ALP., W. Ogdvic, A. IL AlcKane, F. L. Turley, AV. Fisher, P. J. McLean, T. A. JohHston (Public Works Engineer ). .L Higgins { (Grey Countv Engineer). A. J. Fairi maid (Greymouth Borough Engineer) and Archdeacon J. A. Jermyn. It was decided that any member of ' the Executive who was unable to be . I present at a meeting be represented ' by proxy, if so desired. . The Secretary intimated that he lad ' just received a telegram frem the Unemployment Board to the effect that an allocation of £4O had been made ' for the Grey district. | Air O'Brien moved that the Secre- • tary telegraph the Board and obtain ; some idea as to what total would be 1 ! available for expenditure in the Grey i district. He would not take the £4U into account, as it was a ridiculous i sum. It could be al-o pointed out - that the number 1 out of employment' at the end of this nuAith would be approximately one t .ousaml. There were many people difiident about making known their state of need, but, ; whilst admiring lheir stand, he i thought they should all register at the Labour Bureau. The No. 1 scheme was not in operation m-w. Air AlcKane considered that the amount that would be allocated would be according to work found for unemployed.- The Board must. . have counter money to subsidise, and this information would be required to be ; supplied tu the Board. i The Secretary aid the allocations | would be based on t-c unemployment lin the district, but unfortunately the member registered at the local Labour I Bureau was low, in that there were •only 55 registered, whilst nt Hokitika i the moderate ‘.lumber of 25 had registered, and only a few had registered in Reef ton. Air Turley said that in other parts of New Zealand the unemployed had registered, but they had not to a great extent in this district. He wa circularising each mill in the district | ur gtng men to register. Tile Boar! 1 woulj act only on ‘.lumber* registered. 'The Board, he said, was a farce. It ' was going to create unemployment in ' New Zealand. The Chairman ruled Air Turlev on* of order, and the latter, resuming Lis seat, protested that he should bu U" '■ to give h’s opinion. The Chairman pointed out the} '- re not there to criticise the Unemployment Boaid, but. to render ’’-vry. assistance to those in need of Air AlcLean asked if it would be ; possible to have a sum of mom v put up, and to have a subsidy granted t hereon. Alp O'Brien said that the amount that would be due to Westland would, be £15,060, in prouortion to Hie I amount of levies paid in Westland, • coupled "ith the Government sub- • sidy. This would allow them £lOOO j 1 per nionVh fox expenditure on the West Coast, so that there would no

doubt be larger sums than the £4O available atte. a wh.le. Apparently men who were uut of work were not yet aware of their being able to register as unemployed at any post office as well as at the Labour Bureau. The Committee should consider the advis: bility of forming sub-committees in t.e country. Air A. At. Carroll said that by such small registrations of unemployed, it impeded agaAist them getting money to give relief, as those unemployed had Air O’Brien’s motion that the Secretary ascertain the full amount of money avaiablc for the district to ihe end of January, and that it be pointed out that there would be 10UO unemployed in AVeslland .at the end of th.s month was seconded by Air Kent, a‘ad was carried. Mr C. Fraser said there were hundreds of men who wu-e semi-unem-ployed in t-e district. It was safe to say the waterside workers were semiunemployed. These men were put into the position that it was useless for them to register as unemployed, as they would have to wait fourteen davs to get a j°b, and on the thirteenth day this miHit get four hours work in at the wharf and then would have to wait atiothcx fortnight before t ey w£re eligible to register, remain.ng out of work all the while. Air Kent said the men, if unemployed. must register. They were not acknowledged by the B ard as unemployed except from official figures, :nd they would get nowhere unless they were icgi.tered. Al: Turley contended it was wrong that local bodies’ representatives were not allowed to make suggestions. The Chairma‘i said Air Turley was not makmg suggestions previously. He was only levelling criticism at the Board. Air Kitchingham said it was up to private employers to come forward and let the committee know if they desired to gain the benefit of the subsidy. T- ey should make an appeal to them to notify the committee or members. Air hannahan said an offer had bei‘.i made by a farmer at the recent Farmers’ Union meeting to employ men on contract cutting bush —if he could have a £1 for £1 subsidy granted- He moved that the Board be asked if they would approve of a subsidy of £1 for £1 for contract work on farms. The motion was carried. Air OBrien said he would agree to contracts being allowed, provided the men thereon be assured of making not less than 14/- per day. Mr Turley also agreed on condition that the men be permitted to make not les st! an 14/- per day. Air Carbol! moved that applications be invited from employers willing to pay the -uifisidw rale of 7/- per day, i:respective of the £4O allocated already. The motion was carried. Air O'Brien moved that advertisements be inserted in the local newspapers, requesting unemployed workers to register a*kl inviting employers to apply to -the committee for men. Air Kitchingham suggested that a 1 levy be made on the members of the committee to pay any expense incurred if the Board would not do so. All the local bodies might group in and meet the case. Mr Turley said he did not sec how the press could get any money out <if the scheme. • • See how genuine they were.” Mr Robertson asked if, in the event of employers wanting men, they could choose whom they desired for their work in preference to other men. The Seereta :y replied that this would be possible. The Chairman if men who were not fit to do work to the value of the 14,- per day. could take a suudl'-r amount. They would have to be employed, and, if willing to Work, must have consideration. Air Turley said wages were low enougj at present. He considered 14/per day - low enough wage for any mail to receive. Thousands of. men were being put off jobs to-day, he. said, i‘a order that employers should get this subsidy on their work. It was decided to hold a meeting of the Executive Committee this afternoon at 4 o’clock.