UNEMPLOYMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 307, 24 November 1934, Page 8

UNEMPLOYMENT

SUSPENSION OF NO. 5 SCHEME,

FOR FEILDING SINGLE MEN

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON Nov. 23. Hon. J. A. Young (Minister for Employment) states that, following upon a review by the Unemployment Board of the relief position in the Feilding district, it has been found that, although private employment is offering for single men in that area, the men are not accepting it, preferring to remain on relief.

It has accordingly been decided to suspend No. 5 scheme of relief to single men remaining on the Feilding register after the end of December, except in eases in which the local certifying officer is satisfied that private employment has been unprocurable. In these exceptional cases it will probably be arranged to give men work on farm development work in the King Country. The Minister said that the unemployment fund was provided by the taxpayers for the relief of distress due to unemployment, and the board could not permit it to be used to support able-bodied men for whom it was believed private employment was available. The .information of the board was that most of the single unemployed men in Feilding would experience no difficulty in procuring work, and due provision will be made, either by way of developmental work or sustenance, for those who cannot obtain such work or who are unfit for such work.

THE NUMBER INVOLVED. ONLY A FEW. Interviewed by the “Standard” this morning regarding the above telegram, the Mayor of Feilding (Mr C. E. Taylor) said he was surprised that- such a feature had been made of an insignificant matter that involved fewer than a dozen men.

The position, said Mr Taylor, was that on the occasion of the visit of the Unemployment Board officials to Feilding on Thursday the borough engineer (Mr T. K. Hav) had reported that the farmers in this district were experiencing difficulty in getting men for farm work, and although there were 10 or 11 single men on relief in Feilding who •were suitable for this work they were awaiting an opportunity to get work at the Feilding freezing works. The board’s action had apparently followed Mr Hay’s report, and that was all there was to the whole affair, the speaker added. Continuing, the Mayor stated there was undoubtedly a big demand for farm labour in this district at the pre. sent time, but this was a state of affairs which he imagined would be more or less general in New Zealand at the moment. In any case, the position in Feilding was that the Borough Council could not go on finding work for these men to whom other employment was offering, and in the event of their not accepting other avenues of employment there were plenty of good developmental works or camps for them to go to when their relief job ceased m Feilding. PALMERSTON NORTH POSITION. It was explained to-day by the Unemployment Board’s certifying officer in Palmerston North (Mr W. H. Cadwallader) that the action taken in Feilding was a matter of routine only. The principle had always applied at this centre, where single men eligible for farm labouring work had not been placed on the relief scheme.