LOWER SPENDING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21458, 4 April 1933, Page 10

LOWER SPENDING

UNEMPLOYMENT FUND CONSERVING THE FINANCES lhe position of the unemployment fund was stated yesterday by the Minister of Employment, the Hon. A. Hamilton. The fund might bo said to bo m a healthy condition, but the Unemployment Board's finance was an extremely difficult matter to deal with, he said. "Supposing the board had immediately to meet every commitment it had entered into up to date and that its revenue were to cease suddenly, the state of the fund would bo that the board would bo something like £IOO,OOO to the bad," said the Minister. "Putting it another way, if the board were to meet only every commitment as far as the expenditure up to date was concerned, ignoring future commitments, and were to collect all its revenue due to date, some of which is outstanding, the result would be that the board would be about £IOO,OOO to tho good. A third way of stating the position is that if we take the cash balance in the fund at present, ignoring commitments entered into, but not brought to charge and only taking into consideration the revenue collected, there would be a cash balance of probably £300,000. These figures vary daily so that it is necessary to refer to them as approximate figures." Mr. Hamilton said that up to about seven weeks ago and from the time he assumed the portfolio of employment tho board's weekly expenditure had been in excess of its average weekly income. During the winter the expenditure had been greatly in excess of the income. While the board's average weekly income was approximately £70,000 tho weekly expenditure reached the enormous sum of £91,000 for a short time. Not until seven weeks ago did tho board manage to bring tho expenditure within the weekly income and now it was spending slightly below its weekly income That was what it had been striving for.