RELIEF WORKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20986, 24 September 1931, Page 12

RELIEF WORKS.

Sir,—Any fair-minted person should willingly admit that ft»o Government has tackled the unemploymV't problem in a serious manner, the people l l le minion being at present (fcixed to tent of £2,500,000 per junsftm for the unemployment fund. In addition to this ratepayers contribute to the hospital and charitable aid boards administering relief to the needy. Now, while ifc must be admitted that among those clamouring for work are men who are earnest honest, and who are worthy of all the assistance that can be given them, there can be no doubt that there is a growing arn\y in our cities who have the idea that the State should maintain them and wlv se last desire it is to obtain work. At a meeting hold in Auckland on Monday oiV of the speakers, a young man, said that*, single unemployed men had to "scrounge round the street corners picking up scraps here and there," and in the next breath declared he would not go into a Government camp because ho could bring proof that they were required to sleep in tents with mud on the floor and no boards to walk on. He described the camps as "most degrading." lo my mind ai. honest man would prefer the camp to "scrounging round" the streets and waterfront, eating the bread of idleness at the cost of those, who do work. It is no use mincing matters. These single men must be told plainly that if they do not take the work offering in the Government camps they must fend for themselves. The genuine workers of this country are carrying too heavy a burden to waste any sympathy on those who would rather prey upon the State, the local bodies and their fellow men than do hard, honest work. A Toiler.