UNEMPLOYMENT NEEDS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 June 1933, Page 4

UNEMPLOYMENT NEEDS.

QUESTIONS FOR THE CONFERENCE. / ' y POWER BOARD WILL NOT BE REPRESENTED. BUT FAVOURS TREE-PLANTING ON NATIONALISED LAND. 1 The conference which is being arranged by the Levin Unemployment Committee, at which it is : to meet representatives of local bodies in its district, with other organisations interested, to discuss means of providing work in the “off-week, ” will take place on Wednesday evening, July 19th, in the Council Chambers. The questions listed for consideration are briefly:— Whether, by ordangisation, arrangements can be made with farmers, and other employers to provide work during the stand-down period. Whether any public work in the nearby locality can be arranged *for, under the jurisdiction of a local body. Whether a, “Queen” carnival can be arranged, for the purposes of subsidised or other labour. Whether it is advisable again to impress on the Government that the smaller allocation to country workers, as compared with those in the city, is neither fair nor just. Whether the conference considers the time has arrived when the granting of sustenance should be substituted for relief work. An invitation to send representatives to the conference was received at the meeting of the Horowhenua Power Board this morning. The Chairman (Mr G. A, Monk) said that, while each member of the Board would wish to do everything possible for the unemployed, he thought that the matter was entirely one for the counties and boroughs. The work done under the Board was entirely of a skilled nature. Most of the 1 relief workers in this district were engaged on No. 5 “Over the Fence” scheme, and had done good work. If a big scheme of national benefit were to be started in this district, nothing could be better than tree-planting. There was sand-dune land along this coast that was admirably suited to that type of work. The only trouble —and it was a serious one —was to get possession of that land. His own idea was that it should be acquired by the Government; and then the local bodies could probably undertake the planting, and ' it would become a national asset. While the land was privately owned or Native-owned, he thought that such k a scheme would be a wrong one. The State had the machinery; and if it could acquire certain areas that were useless at present, and could make them available to the local bodies in this district, he did not know of any scheme that would be better than treeplanting along this coast. The views expressed by the Chairman were supported by Mr W. E. Barber and Mr A, Seifert, and the former gave some information' relative to tree-planting in the Foxton district. Mr J. K. Hornblow mentioned as an urgent public need the prevention of flooding of the Main Highway between Wirokino and Foxton, stating that such a work would occupy from 60 to 70 , men for several months. “What about the River Board’s work?” the Chairman asked. Mr Hornblow: While we have three or four river boards and other conflicting interests, we will get nowhere. iQn the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Mr Hornblow, it was resolved to advise the Unemployment Committee that the Board did not deem it advisable to take part in the conference, but that it would be entirely in sympathy with a tree-planting scheme in this district, provided . that the land could be obtained nationally.