CHRISTMAS GRANT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 8, 7 December 1935, Page 2

CHRISTMAS GRANT

£IOO,OOO FOR UNEMPLOYED. AUTHORITY BY CABINET. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON. Dec. 6. A grant of £IOO,OOO tor the provision of a Christmas box to the unemployed was authorised to-night by the Eabour Cabinet. It was the first oiticial act of the new Government, thus fulfilling the promise of the Prime Minister (Jtion. M. J. Savage) that the unemployed would receive immediate consideration with Labour, in power. The first Cabinet meeting lasted for a little over two hours, and it is understood that only unemployment was discussed. Alter the mooting Mr Savage said. Cabinet had decided to authorise the Minister of Finance (Hon. W. Nash) and the Minister of Employment (Hon. H. T. Armstrong) to distribute a maximum of £100,006 among the unemployed lor Christmas. That would be m addition to the sum provided by the previous Government tor the payment of a Christmas bonus.

“Messrs. Nash and Armstrong will have to arrange the detailed scale oi distribution,” Mr Savage said. “Naturally it will be graduated, and married men with families will receive a larger share than single men. Anomalies are bound to arise in such a hurried payment, but that cannot be helped. All that matters is that the unemployed will be able to afford some of the decencies of the Christmas season which have been denied them in recent years.” Mr Savage added that so far only a Christmas bonus for the unemployed had been by Cabinet. The new Government would face up to the whole problem of unemployment relief rates and general policy early in the New Year. There will be no further Cabinet meeting until Tuesday. VACANCIES AVAILABLE. Exactly an hour after assuming the portfolio of Public Works this morning, Hon. R. Sempie was in a position to make an announcement of first importance to the unemployed. “I have found,” said the new Minister, “that there are vacancies for 1500 men at full-time work on various jobs the Public Works Department has in hand, and steps will be taken immediately to get these vacancies filled. The work available is in connection with the construction of aerodrome, landing grounds, and the like. “The question of wages on such jobs,” continued the Minister, “is purely a policy matter for Cabinet consideration. It must be obvious to everybody that the new Government ha 6 not yet had time to consider the question, but those men who are unemployed can rest assured that this matter will receive consideration at the earliest possible moment. In the meantime they should not hesitate about going on to the jobs I have just mentioned. They have my personal promise that questions of accommodation and wages will be the first matters for the consideration of Cabinet in the new year. “I do want unemployed men to understand clearly that they can go to these jobs with the utmost trust in the Government as far as the future is concerned.”

ELEGIBLE WORKERS. ' WELLINGTON, Dec. 7. Workers are eligible for the previous Government’s holiday allowances under the following schemes : 1. Scheme 5 workers employed on a rational basis, i.e., less than 40 hours per week. 2. Gold prospectors, including men employed on development work other than those employed full time (40 hours or more) at standard rates of pay. 3. Clerical workers employed in bureaux, local body offices, relief depots, etc. 4. Workers employed under schemes 4c and 4d (other than future occupiers under scheme 4c). 5. Camp workers and other men employed by State Departments and local authorities other than those employed full time (40 hours or more) at standard rates of pay.