BETTER JOBS SOON

Northern Advocate, 7 February 1936, Page 2

BETTER JOBS SOON

“Conditions on public works are shortly to be improved. There will be a rush on public works soon, and those who are in will be right there. It is possible there will not be enough to go round. Get in while the going is good. That’s good advice.’’ —So Mr H. T. Armstrong, Minister of Employment, told a deputation in ‘Auckland today.

Answering a request that men on relief work should bo paid 10/ a week extra, Mr Armstrong said that personally he might think that was not sufficient. The Government, however, could not do the impossible, and he asked that the men shou’d nave patience while tbc Government r,de the necessary financial arrangements. “We are carrying the baby,” he said. “Let me tell you this: the Unemployment Board is paying the full cost of some of the new public works, and it is paying nearly the full cost of others. Before the present Government came in—just before the last election — when things were suddenly given a move forward, and men were taken off relief jobs and put on jobs at standand rates, all the reserve of about; £1,500,000 was eaten up. When we came to operate the fund we found that our income from the unemployment tax was £67,000 a week, and the expenditure .was £IOO,OOO weekly. We are carrying on that rate.”