UNEMPLOYMENT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 2 December 1930, Page 6

UNEMPLOYMENT

OPERATIONS OF BOARD STATEMENT BY MEMBERS OH.) NOTION TO TERM "RELIEF , WORK" (My Telograrh—Special to "The Mail") AUCKLAND, Ist December. .An explanation of the £25,000 subsidy oiler of the Unemployment Hoard and allied proposals for unemployment relief was given at a well-attended conference of Auckland district local body representatives at the Town Hall this morning by Messrs G. Finn and O. Mcßrine, Auckland members of the board. Tho Mayor, Mr G. Baildon, presided. Mr Finn said that at the moment the Unemployment Board hardly knew where it was. Its work so far had been of a preliminary nature, including meetings with various departmental representatives and dealing with urgent appeals for the relief of distress in certain districts. It was realised that something must be done immediately without waiting to formulate a policy or frame regulations. It was therefore decided to make the subsidy offer,.and it was hoped that the local bodies would energetically take the matter up. Already applications had been received from Greymoutli, Christchurch and other places. In view of the position in Auckland it was recognised that that city would require a substantial amount. He was unable to indicate what the allocation would be until the application for it was received, but he' could say the board would do all it possibly could. It was hoped by mid-day to-morrow to sanction some of the subsidies so that work could be provided immediately in the districts affected. "You have as Minister of Labour a very keen man indeed," said Mr Finn. In his opinion the people also had a sympathetic Unemployment Board. It was not possible to please everybody, but the board would do everything it could to relieve the position. Mr Finn explained the functions of the board, and said, that the board desired to set up as little organisation as possible. It did not want to spend its funds in the payment of officials and it hoped to leave the bulk of that work to departments already established. "The day of relief work is past, and I hope that in the future all reference to 'relief work' will be omitted. Mr Finn in referring to criticism said: "I do not think it should be the duty of the board to say what the rate of pav should be. That is a matter that should be decided by the Arbitration Court and not by the Unemployment Board. Our function is to provide work. I think we can drop the words 'relief work.' It is no longer relief work and there should be no opprobrium attached to people who have to accept work provided for them by local unemployment committees or any local bodies. I hope before long the word 'unemployment' will go out too. Tie board has been called the 'Unemployment' Board. It should have been called the 'Employment' Board." STILL NEED FOR LOCAL EFFORT Mr Mcßrine said the members of the board were not present to discuss the l-clicy* but to obtain the views of the local "bodies' representatives on the Bnbddv proposal. Whether rhe board could 'succeed depended upon the support it received from the community. Although it was possible that exemptions from the payment of the levy would be fairly considerable, it was estimated that the board's income from the levy would e in its first year £OOO,OOO after allowance had been made for the cost- of .registeration and the cost of. collection, and this, witn the Government subsidy, would provide a net income of £1,200,000 for the provision of work, fostering of industries, and payment of subsidies. At the same time the relief of unemployment could not alone be carried out by eight men in Wellington, and every citizen would have to put his shoulder to the wheel and keep it there. There could be no diminution of local effort in the meantime. ,

Replying to a question concerning the present subsidy offer, Mr Mcßrine said he understood the money made available would be distributed by progress payments as in the past. Mr Finn referred to the board's second offer to provide a limited amount to subsidise work organised by local committees at the rate of .£1 for £1 on wages, and he said that possibly a third proposal would be made if it became necessary. • Mr Mcßrine said that portion of the present subsidy was available for private employment. Mr Finn expressed the hope that local committees would be set up without delav, because he believed that could materially assist in overcoming the problem. RELD2F DOUBLE-BANKING CHRISTCHURCH, Ist December. "I know of cases where men have sold their tickets for provisions from the Hospital Board so that they could sget money to spend on the pictures and other things." This was a statement made by Mr W. W. Scarff, of the Heathcote County Council, at a meeting of the Citizen's Unemployment Committee to-day. Continuing, Mr Scarff said that there was a good deal of double-banking going on between various relief depots and the Hospital Board. One day a man would go. for relief and the next day his wife or someone else would go, and there was no means of keeping a check on them."