UNEMPLOYMENT BOARD

Grey River Argus, 28 September 1934, Page 6

UNEMPLOYMENT BOARD

ANNUAL REPORT Interesting Figures In its report the Unemployment Board shows the past year’s receipts as follows:— Cash at beginning of year £424,426; levy £428,550; wages tax £2,801,715; tax on income other than wages and salaries £1,106,602; total £4,864,759. In the previous year the figures were: Cash at beginning of year £184,967; levy £429,00-1; wages tax £2,471,028; tax on income other than wages and salaries £1,120,404; miscelleaneous £7563; total £4,212,966. Payments (with those for the 1933 period in parentheses), were:— Grants under section 18, Unemployment Act 1930 (£3,594,637) £3,972,186; sustenance under section 20, Unemployment Act. 1930 (£12,960) £33,302; loans under section 18, Unemployment Act, 1930 (£21,633) £20,919; purchases of food etc., under section 14, Unemployment Amendment Act, 1932 (£58,667) £104,278; administration expenses (£100.643) £112.556; total (£3,788,540 • £1,243,241. At the end of the past financial year the fund had a balance of £621,518, or almost £200,000 more than at the previous year end. Receipts included; 'To balance at beginning of year £323,348 9s 8d; temporary investments £100,000; unemployment levy £428,943 17s 7d, tax on’ salary or wages paid in cash £1,462,934 17s 7d; tax on salary or wages paid by sale of Unemployment Relief stamps £1,428,771 8s 2d; other tax on income £1,106,601 17s Id, fines £356 -Is 8d; interest on investments £736-1 l(>s 2d; interest on loans £.1210 9s 7d; repayment of loans £4339 Us 6d. Payments included; Salaries £45,917 I ls lid; Board members’ fees salaries and expenses £2113 18s Id; ex gratia payments to relief workers who suffer permanent disability £199 17s 3d; fitting up labour bureaux £561 4s 6d; law costs £9B 5s Id; misappropriation by officer at Auckland £922 19s lid; motor vehicles, purchase of, £374 6s 9d; maintenance and repairs to, £323 19s 2d; office equipment £542 13s 9d; office expenses £213 15s 1.1 d; overtime and meal allowances £702 12s 6d; postages, telegrams ami rent of letter Loxes £4352 16s lOd; printing and stationery £-1010 Os -Id; rent, heating and lighting £2228 14s 7d;services render ed by other Departments £43,376 12s 9d; special advisory committee, fees, expenses £286 10s, telephone services £lBBB 1.7 s 7d. Grants were: Scheme No. 4a £145, 914 10s; Scheme No. 4b £65,329 17s sd; Scheme No. 4d £19,664 16s 7d; Scheme No. 5, £2,889,836 Ils 2d; Scheme .No. 6a £35,608 15s; Scheme No. 6l> £10.410 2s 9d; Scheme No. 6c £185,627 17s sd; Scheme No. 7 £533 9s 2d; Scheme No. 8 and other assistance to gold prospectors £19.1,041 8s 2d; Scheme No. Sb £7292 16s lOd; Scheme No. I.o’ £229,460 5s 7d; Scheme No. 11 £22.964 1()s (id; small farm plan £16,476 0s 7 <1; assistance to flax industry £16,-1-11 13s 2d; assistance to timber industry £940 2s sd; relief of unemployment among Maoris £74,07!) 17s sd; relief of unemployment among women £11,410; relief of unemployment among boys £1132 13s Id; payments on account of insurance of relief workers £8628 Us Id; miscellaenous grants and subsidies £39,806 18s lOd; loans under section 18, Unemployment Act, 1930 £20,91!) 7s 3d; sustenance payments £33,302 Is 7d; purchase of foodstuffs by rationing system £4!),668 16s; purchase of footwear £48,665 19s sd; purchase of blankets £2940 6s 3d: miscellaneous £3003 4s 2d. The value of instalments of levy not collected because of partial exemption represents a sum of approximately £45.000. In lieu of granting exemption from payment of the levy on the grounds of hardship, the Board has exercised its power in postponing the date of payment, without penalty in 6547 cases. Apart from the statutory exemptions from payment of the charge, over 3500 applications for exemption from, or postponement of the date of, payment of the charge on the grounds of hardship have been dealt with by the Board since last report. In 2418 cases exemption from payment of one or more instalments was granted, whilst in 938 cases the due date or dates were postponed in order to give the applicants time to effect payment without incurring the penalties provided by the Act. The total number of men either wholly or partly a charge on the Unemployment Fund at the end of Juno, 1934, is 8890 fewer than at the end of June, .1933, and this in spite of the fact that the peak figure of approximately 75,000 receiving assistance from the Fund occurred between these two dates. The movement over a period of three years commencing June, 1931 may be better understood from an inspection of the graph reproduced in the Appendix to this report. The table accompanying the graph has been compiled from available data, and the figures quoted therein agree with the various totals in Table II back to October 1933. Prior to this date, the published tables in previous reports did not dissect Scheme No. 5 workers according to whether they were employed on part-time or full-time work (except for gold prospectors). It has been possible, however, to ascertain the numbers working full time in country camps etc., at each period and thus arrive at a fairly close estimate of the totals working full time and on a rationed basis over the last three years. GOLD MINING AND PROSPECTING The numbers of men mining and prospecting for gold on a subsidised basis under the control of the Unemployment Board since the presentation of the Board’s last report has not varied to any great extent. At the end of October, 1933, there were 4000 men engaged, and this number has been more or less maintained since. A slight

decrease in the winter months is to be expected, but the totals would have been higher but for men becoming self supporting through winning sufficient gold to render unemployment relief Unnecessary. The approaching summer should see many more reaping the benefit of the development work they have done, during the last year or so. Many of these workers have won sufficient gold to repay io the Board all the subsidy and other assistance granted. The reason why more men have not reached this stage may be ascribed to the fact that operations of subsidised parties of prospectors have generally been directed towards areas that were more or less successfully prospected in past years bul were abandoned when the attraction of high wages in industry generally and the low price of gold in comparison with present-day prices made it uneconomic to work such areas. In spite of this, subsidised prospectors are now augmenting their subsidv annually to the extent of gold valued at over £50,000. Excluding those men who have not yet reached the production stage, the Board’se records show that weekly winnings in gold average

from 10s to £1 10s per man. Under the control of engineers ami (experienced and with the eo-operation of the Mines and ’Public Works Departments, quite a nnmber of major development schemes 'hJf-ve been put in hand. Having selected jfromising areas (some of (w'hich have never previously been ■prospected) mon are put on to im.provo access, then ho test the area bv sinking shafts, driving tunnels, and etc., and in some cases to con-

struct 'races to bring in water. They are pai’d'a little- more than the suU•sidy for such work. Should the tests .prove Hhat payable gold i« present. Jhe men who have done the developjnont work are. given first, choice ot Selecting claims. Tho net expenditutre of the Board dulring the financial year 1933-34 in .fostering gold mining and prosjmeting amongst unemployed men was .0198.334 of which £7.293 -was ex guided in subsidising wages of men takon on by companies or syndicates and employed full time. Companies ■availing themselves of assistance under this scheme (No. SB) are under ti.greement wiltli the Board to relund all assistance granted from the Unemployment- Fund before any dividends a-re paid or their interests disposed of to other companies.

One company recently, in refunding to the Board all assistance granted in accordance wiith thmT agreement. stated that it was only ‘he thnel.v and practical assistance maJo available which enah'-od the company to continue their mining operations, and. i’n doing so. to provide regular weekly for thirty mon. Jttho would othonwiise have been on part-time, relief. As a result of the Work carried' 'Out by this subsidised labour, gold-production at the mine *>vas more than doubled, and further development, work now .possible wil. fib sorb a number of additional mon. .Tn this and other instances, substantial benefits have accrued both from the viewpoint of employment and Io .the 'mining industry. BUILDING SUBSIDY SCHEMES. Scheme No. 10, of which a full description was given in the I ncmployment. Board’s 'ast preceding report, is now in process of closing down. Applications for subsidies were re--ceived only up' to and inclusive of 1211: September, 1933, and work now being done under the scheme consists of jobs of considerable magnitude, the comp’etii n of which must necessarily extend over a comparatively long period, or of smaller jobs in respeef of which the Board has, for sufficient, reasons, postponed the date of commencement. A total of 12,014 applications were received under the scheme, and of these 11,195 were approved and 819 declined Of those approved, approximately 2,500 jobs were, for various reasons, not proceeded with, and the subsidies granted in respec|t of them were accordingly cancelled. The total amount of subsidy paid to date is £273.247, while that remaining to he paid is estimated at £174,671, and at present claims for subsidy are being met :<1 dhe rate of abmil' £3,000 per week. Tho total value of work originally .proposed to be done under the scheme was £5.839,555 but this has been reduced l?y cancellations and other causes to £3,920.409. Of this figure, it is estimated (that direct and indirect wages (to New Zealand workers) on jobs completed or to be completed will amount to £3,410,755.