RELIEF CAMP CONDITIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21163, 21 April 1932, Page 8

RELIEF CAMP CONDITIONS.

The suggestion made this morning by the Veil. Archdeacon Mac Murray that a small committee of business men should investigate the conditions of the unemployment camps, is timely, and such a body as tho Chamber of Commerce would be doing a public service if it appointed two of its members for the task. Such a committee would be strengthened if the archdeacon himself could lead it, for his judgment commands the confidence of the public. Complaints about the living conditions of workers sent to rural districts are common. Often they are voiced in Parliament by members who accept them without question. Unemployi resit camps where only sustenance wages are paid have been singled out for special criticism. On account of past experience, many people are inclined to look for an ulterior motive or at least to suspect exaggeration of the discomforts arid privations. But many accept tho complaints as genuine, or, like Archdeacon Mac Murray, remain in doubt. There should be no doubt, and an independent investigation would either allay doubt or remove any causes for it that may exist. Four essentials the public insists upon—adequate nourishing food, warm, dry quarters, a change of clothing for every man and facilities

for drying garments. From inquiries made at the Aka Aka camps yesterday; it appears that many men have insufficient clothing and only one pair of boots. This must be remedied. The drainage work on which the men are engaged is not to be continued during the winter, but wherever winter camps are established the workers must be provided with a sufficiency of suitable clothing. Naturally winter quarters will have wooden floors in accordance with the usual public works system and doubtless there will be fireplaces and fuel. It is impossible to teach a man the art of making camp life comfortable. That he must learn for himself—though some men never learn it. It is impossible, also, to avoid the danger'of inefficient staff work, through which, even in the military world, the first few days in a new camp may be wretched. But with theso reservations the camps must be fit for human habitation, demanding no exceptional Spartan qualities, and the best method of assuring the people that conditions are reasonable would be inspection by the kind of independent committee suggested. It would be all to the good if one of its members had had military experience.