UNION OF UNEMPLOYED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21507, 2 June 1933, Page 11

UNION OF UNEMPLOYED

CONFERENCE IN WELLINGTON VIEWS ON POLICY MATTERS [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON. Thursday . The national conference of unemployed workers of New Zealand concluded yesterday. The constitution of the organisation was adopted and the name is to be the National Union of Unemployed. A provisional national council was appointed with the following officers:—President, Mr. F. E. Lark (Auckland); vice-president, Mr. J. Clancy (Hawke's Bay); secretary, Mr. S. Vellas; assistant-secretary, Mr. R. Hedgeland (Wellington); . treasurer, Mr. D. McLaughlan (Wellington). The Dominion is to be divided into 14 areas each with a provincial council sending one member to the national council. The conference condemned married men's camps on moral and social grounds. Regarding unemployment among adolescents, it was decided to urge that they bo not eligible for relief under the Unemployment' Act. It was stated that the Government could emploj youths and workers under various relief schemes at the basic rate of wages if the funds of the board _ were increased by profits from banking and insurance organisations, and it was a recommendation to the Government that this course be adopted. Delegates from country districts drew attention to the allocations, stating; that country allocations were 10s. to 15s lower than those in the city. Extra work, as suggested by the. Minister and the board, was not available in the country, as farmers round country towns employed men under No. 4 and No. 4A schemes. It was suggested that the Unemployment Board as at present constituted should be abandoned. The only cure for the present situation was tho payment of sustenance, as outlined in the 1930 Act. Abuses had arisen by local bodies getting work done under No. 5 scheme which would have been done by workers employed at a basii; wage.

KATES IN FORESTRY CAMP DISSATISFACTION AT ROTORUA [llY TKLEGRAPQ —PRESS ASSOCIATION] * ROTORUA, Thursday Dissatisfaction has been expressed among relief workers in the l-totorua district with' tho scheme to place 160 married men in a forestry camp on tho Kaingaroa Plains. Married men with no children are to receive 25k a week; those with one child, <'K)s; thoso with two children, 355; and with three or more children, £2. Tho mer. contend that the rigorous conditions on the plains mako the minimum expenditure on boots and clothing ai least 25s a month and that tliey are unable to keep themselves and their families on the rates offered. Resent ment is also expressed at the statement that men refusing to go to the camp will be refused sustenance. Men are refusing tho work and the matter has been taken up with the "Unemployment Board by the local unemployment committee. IRRIGATION SCHEME THE ASHBURTON COUNTY [nv TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] A S LIBURTON, Thll rsday The Minister of Employment, the Hon. A. Hamilton, has approved ol the Ashburton County Council's scheme of afforestation and the improvement of water-races in several portions or the countv. The council's object is the development over a large area of an irrigation supply to practically every farm, j