RELIEF CAMPS

Hokitika Guardian, 14 October 1932, Page 1

RELIEF CAMPS

PRIMATE’S VIEW

BETTER THAN IN THE TOWNS.

'Per Press Association — Copyright.)

AUCKLAND, October 13

"It was necessary for many married men, as well as sjngle men, to face camp life and separation from their families during the war, and those men and their families nobly endured it. The present depression is really an extension of the war period, and we have to try and face present disabilities as we faced those during the war, but without excitement and

glamour.” In these words Archbishop Averill discussed the problem of, the unemployment camps in his charge to the Anglican Diocesan Synod. "Nobody | wishes to separate the married men from their families,” said His Grace, "but surely it is better, as a temporary expedient, to give ablebodied men work in the country, and work which no man need feel ashamed of doing, than to invent jobs for'them in and around the city, many of which are of doubtful value, and can well be left to men who are physically unfit for camp life. Genuine unemployed workers, I feel sure, have no desire for unemployment pay and sustenance without work, and much prefer to retain their self-respect'. It is very easy to criticise the Government for its want of vision in facing the tragedy of unemployment; hut criticism alone is never very helpful, and probably the Government knows much more about the problem which it has had to face than most of its criticisers. It has honestly tried to meet a desperate situation, and to make the most and best of the funds at its disposal.”