UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20172, 5 February 1929, Page 10

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

HOSPITAL BOARD ALARMED.

LARGE EXTRA EXPENDITURE.

RATE MAY BE INCREASED.

GOVERNMENT HELP SOUGHT.

Another increase in the hospital rate is likely unless tlio Auckland Hospital Board receives Government assistance in meeting the demands made upon its financial resources for outdoor relief, according to a statement by the chairman, Mr. W. Wallace, in representations made to tho Minister of Health, the Hon. A. J. Stallworthy, in Auckland yesterday.

In tho 10 months of the current year the board had spent £37,713 in such relief, Mr. Wallace said. Unemployment reliof had been given for about half that amount. Emphasising the seriousness of tho situation, Mr. Wallace said provision had been made in the estimates for the expenditure of only £30,000, but' the present indications were that at least £45,000 would be spent. " I hope the Cabinet will do something to relieve tho board of this drain," added Mr. Wallace, who claimed that such extraordinary relief should not be a tax upon the local ratepayer. Some boards were called upon to give practically no relief. The drift of the unemployed was to tho four chief centres, and Auckland, being the largest, suffered most.

" A National Matter." " We do not want to shirk our responsibility but the tax will become unbearable, and there will be a tremendous howl when the position is known," said Mr. Wallace. "We had to increase the levy last year, but wo had hoped to reduce it next year. The way tilings are shaping, however, a further increase in the rate will bo necessary unless the Government can come to our aid. It is a national matter and should be dealt with as such. We are not asking only for Auckland, but for all the principal centres."

Other members endorsed Mr. Wallace's remarks. Mr. E. H. Potter pointed out that Auckland was peculiarly situated, being a largo seaport city. The unemployed came to the seaport towns, whereas the inland towns were more or less exempt. It was only fair that the Government should meet out of tho Consolidated Fund all expenditure above ordinary relief. " Instead of contributing large amounts for people to do nothing, the Government should start works to employ men," said Mr. M. J., Coyle. "It is better that a man should earn his money than that ho should get a dole, which is practically what tho position now amounts

" It is a standing disgrace that this should continue, and I hope the new Government will evolve a scheme to employ these men," said Mr. Wallace. " An Absolute Tragedy."

" Without any reservation let me say that I have not shifted from tho ground on which I stood as a member of the Auckland City Council," said the Minister in reply. " Unemployment is a national question, and it has to be faced in that perspective. The present position is an absolute tragedy. I say that without hesitation, although I am a member of the Cabinet. The position is not at all complimentary to our statesmanship. Ido not intend to go into the causes. This Government is not to be blamed for tire situation as we have it. I am not suggesting that any other Government is to blame. It would be idle to try to place the blame. What we have to do is to devise a remedy. Tho salvation must lie along the lines of providing work for these men, and no longer bringing them under the necessity of taking charitable aid, which must be painful to many of them, perhaps to all of them." ,

A matter of policy was involved, Mr Stallworthy continued, and he was not ablo to say just what the Government would do. lie assured tho board that every member of the Cabinet, from the Prime Minister down, was alive to the present deplorable situation. But if the Government agreed to give huge grants to hospital boards throughout the Dominion, a colossal sum would be spent, and if the expenditure was only to bo a palliative, the situation would not bo greatly improved. Wliat Government is Doing.

Although only two months old, the Government had faced the position, and land settlement, public works and railway programmes on a large scale were being devised. " Once tho disturbed balances are readjusted all round, we will be ablo to get on a track where we can realise the ultimate destiny of Now Zealand," prophesied the Minister. " When we get 5,000,000 people in Now Zealand, all employed, we will be much better off than we aro to-day. Under a wiser migration system than has been followed in tho past, wo will attract the right sort of men to help build up tho wonderful resources of this country. " Is it better to dissipate our resources in palliatives, or to use every ounce of our reserves in a developmental policy, which will not only absorb tho present, unemployed, but load to permanent employment of a much larger community than wo have to-day?" asked the Minister. " I am not Minister of Finance, but I assure you every member of tho Cabinet is fully seized of tho terrific importance of meeting tho unemployment situation. Unemployment is a symptom of economic sickness. As long as wo have two people 111 the country to 0110 in tho town we will be all right, but to-day wo havo not 0110 in the countrv to one in the town.

" I will telegraph to Sir Joseph Ward to-day with regard to tho heavy demands on tho board's funds," promised Mr. Stallworthy. " Tho Cabinet is meeting to-day or to-morrow, and I will ask for some relief to bo given, but beyond that I cannot go." Mr. AVallace thanked the Minister, nnd expressed special appreciation that tho matter was regarded as a national one.