CRITICAL COUNCILLORS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3449, 24 November 1932, Page 5

CRITICAL COUNCILLORS

ON RELIEF WORKS. COMPARISON WITH PIONEERS. Comment following the reading at the Kiwitea Council meeting of the men at single men's relief camps was very severe. The menu showed that the food at the camp is very good, in fact probably better than in the household of the ordinary working man. One member of the Council (says the Feilding Star), compared the menu with that which he had when as a young man he had pioneered and lived in a camp. The presentday camp life was not the kind to produce pioneers, he said, and it was a good job New Zealand did not require as pioneers the men who were being so spoon fed. He further referred to the men in the camps by using a term which we would rather not publish. With such good food, wireless laid on, concerts and such things, the members of the Council seemed to agree that the men in camp had a fairly good time. The clerk added that the soldiers were not so favourably treated when they were in camp. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that though it is well known that camp life is good and healthy, and that the young men show physical advance, many do not wish to enter the camps. Youns men hoping to get positions in civil life in the near future feel that they will lose their opportunities if they go into camp, yet they are ordered to go to camp or they will lose their registrations for relief pay. The average young New Zealander would rather not go to a camp, preferring to retain some independence and a chance of fossicking for themselves.