UNEMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE DISCUSS NEW SCHEIE

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 5566, 3 February 1931, Page 8

UNEMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE DISCUSS NEW SCHEIE

Board Looking to Local Bodies to Provide Work

Mr. J. A. Nash, M.P., presided at the meeting of the Palmerston North Unemployment Committee yesterday, and there were also present Messrs A. J. Graham (Mayor), A. E. Mansford, J. Lowdcii, B. J. Jacobs, J. Hodgens, O. Mandeno and P. T. Robinson.

Mr. P. J. Small, a member of the Unemployment Board, was also present at the invitation of the committee

In extending a welcome to Mr. Small, the chairman thanked him for liis untiring efforts on behalf of the unemployed, and expressed the hope that tho board would eventually arrive at a solution of the problem at present facing the people of the Dominion. Mr Nash also thanked Mr. Small for the assistance he had given the speaker personally and asked him to give the committee a .'slight indication as to what the new proposals of the board meant.

Mr. Small thanked the chairman for the kindly remarks regarding his efforts and the efforts of the board as a whole. He wished to refute the suggestion that the board had loafed on the job. It bad met for. B 0 days and had placed £2500 a day into the pockets of the workers —a fairly big undertaking. The people who had been criticising the board, said Mr. Small, had failed to comprehend the magnitude of the task with which it was faced. He thought the committees throughout New Zealand realised the position, and the people of the Dominion owed a debt of gratitude to the individual members of the unemployment committees. They had been up against it, having no funds to run on, and the board was grateful to them for their self-sacrificing work on behalf of the unemployed. In regard to the new scheme, full details of which had been published and which would come into operation at once, Mr. Small said that the board looked to the local bodies to find the work. At the same time, the board appreciated the fact that local bodies had exhausted their spending power and that they had used every effort to find further work; also that it would not be fair to saddle the ratepayers with further taxation. Knowing this, the board had decided to find the necessary money to give single men t>vo days’ work each wcck at the ruling rate of wages for the work undertaken; married men with one child, three days’ work each week; and married men with two or more children, four days ’ work. The board looked to the local bodies to find the work and, if possible, to employ these men for an extra day. The board did not wish the work to bo in the nature of a joke, but tho .members felt certain that useful employment could be found for these men outside the general work of the local bodies.

Under the farming scheme, continued Mr. Small, the idea was to take single and married men out of the cities and to place them on the land. It was thought that farmers would be able to place them in work of a reproductive nature, though it was not intended that permanent hands should bo put off to make room for men engaged under tho scheme. The farmer would be. required to keep these men and the board was prepared to find 15/- a week for single men and 55/- a week for married men where tho employer provided a house. Further than that, the No. 2 scheme had been extended until the end of February and. would probably operate much longer. In answer to Mr. Mansford, Mr. Small explained that though intended primarily as a relief measure, it was hoped that the men from the cities given work on farms would eventually decide to stay on the land. The money found by the board was intended as a subsidy on the worker, who would be kept by his employer. Mr. Mansford expressed the hope that the board’s efforts in this connection would be aimed at the production of national wealth. : The Mayor: If a borough wisehd to put 100 men on next month, would there bo any difficulty about finance? Mr. Small: No. Mr. Nash, speaking of the Fitzherbert bridge-Tokomaru main road proposal, said the Kairanga County Council had been offered a £2 for £1 subsidy but had turned it down. He asked if the council would undertake the work on a £3 for £1 basis. The county chairman had said he was not sure the county would agree to the raising of the necessary loan at the present juncture. Mr. Lowden asked if the new scheme would be carried on after the end of March.

Mr. Small: I am of tlio opinion that the scheme may go on for months. The chairman thanked Mr. Small for his attendance at the meeting and extended him an invitation to attend regularly. The members of the committee would be only too pleased to have his assistance. Tho chairman moved that the unemployment figures be made public, and this was carried. Mr. Nash: What arc the figures now? Mr. Lowdcn: At present the unemployed number 462, 284 of them being married men. Mr. Lowdcn added that it was gratifying to know that the men placed in work had given great satisfaction. The people employing labour were so pleased with the results that in many cases they were making the effort to extend the time of employment. Employment for Youths Mr. Bobinson quoted tho case of the youth under 20 not able to register or provided for by the provisions of the Act. He moved that the board bo asked to make provision for these boys. The motion was carried.

The chairman agreed to take up the matter of the Fitzhcrbert bridgo-Toko-maru main road again ■ with the chairman of the Kairanga County Council. Alienating Public Sympathy

The Mayor said that although the members of the committee were doing all in their power to enlist public sympathy, he had received reports from reputable citizens that the remarks of some of the speakers at the unemployed demonstrations ou Saturday nights were alienating the sympathy that the committee was trying-, so hard to foster. Mr. Mandcno promised to look into the matter.

Mr. Bobinson asked what steps were being taken to find employment for the worklcss of Palmerston North when the new scheme came into operation on Monday. The Mayor, in reply, explained that he had already asked the engineer to prepare a scheme of works in the city, and that other local bodies would be allied to do likewise, -