SUSTENANCE PAYMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21855, 18 July 1934, Page 14

SUSTENANCE PAYMENTS

MEN FIT FOR LIGHT WORK HOSPITAL BOARD ATTITUDE The responsibility of hospital boards in. dealing with applications for relief from B class unemployed men on sustenance was the subject of a memorandum issued by Mr. W. Wallace, as president of the Hospital Boards' Association, and received at a meeting of the Auckland Hospital Board yesterday. Advice was given to all boards not to depart from the arrangements made last .-.year, whereby all B class men were a charge on the Unemployment Board. Mr. Wallace said the amount given by the Unemployment Board in sustenance was totally inadequate. No provision was made for many of the necessities of life. He had recently interviewed a woman whose husband was receiving £1 16s a week in sustenance. They had nine children and were paying £1 a week in rent.

Mr. W. K. Howitt said it was scandalous that the deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board, Mr. W. Bromley, should tell men in Christchurch that if they were not getting sufficient sustenance they should apply to the hospital boards. M.r. Bromley was shirking his duties. Mr. Howitt moved that Mr. Wallace's action as president of the Hospital Boards' Association be endorsed.

In reply to a question by Mr. A. M. Laing, the chairman said the board's responsibility for relief began only with C class men, certified as being unfit for work. B class men were classed as fit for light work. "Scandalous as the position may bo for men on sustenance in the cities, it is infinitely worse for those living outside the metropolitan areas," said the Rev. W. C. Wood. He quoted the case of a man who had moved from Papatoetoe to Mangcro and had immediately received an increase of 6s 6d a week in unemployment pay, together with a grocery order for <ls 6d.

Mr. Wallace's memorandum was received and adopted.