RELIEF WORKERS' PAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22032, 12 February 1935, Page 11

RELIEF WORKERS' PAY

MINISTER'S PROMPT ACTION BOARD MEMBER IN OITY m MORE ADJUSTMENTS LIKELY No time has been lost by the Minister of Finance, the lit. Hon. J. G. Coates, in giving effect to the promise made to a deputation of the unemployed, which waited on him in Auckland on January 31, that he would discuss its representations with the Unemployment Board.

One of the matters submitted to the Minister was the differentiation in the rates of pay brought about by a recent decision by the Unemployment Board and another was the abolition of the ration system. After his consultations with the board the Minister has announced, as reported in the Herald yesterday, that it had been decided to reinstate the rationing system, including the issue of milk. He also indicated that he had arranged for Mr. G. A. Pascoe, a member of the Unemployment Board, to come to Auckland with power to adjust other difficulties.

Mr. Pascoe, who arrived from Wellington yesterday morning, said he had come to investigate tha whole position with the various officials in thp Auckland district. After he had made investigations it was possible that certain adjustments might be made. It had been suggested that Mr. Pascoe should meet the representatives of the unemployed who interviewed Mr. Coates in Auckland, but he said he did not propose to receive deputations as he would only be going over ground previously traversed. In any case, the matters placed before Mr. Coates had been put in writing by the relief workers' representatives. MARRIED MEN IN CAMP STATEMENT BY MR. BROMLEY [BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION*] WELLINGTON, Monday Among the requests placed before the deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board, Mr. W. Bromley, to-day by a deputation of relief workers were an increase of 10s a week for all relief workers and men on sustenance and restoration of the milk ration. The question of married men in camp was raised and Mr. Bromley was assured that the offer of the board to send 25 men from Wellington to Public Works camps, probably in the Nelson area, would not be accepted. "When men get into these camps they do not go away," said Mr. Bromley, who stated that the Public Works officer in charge of the Dunedin camps had received 149 written applications from old public works employees for employment in camps. "The pay is 10s 6d a day and you work six days a week, the average pay being £'3," said Mr. Bromley. "If you jiominaie 25 of your men we will see to it that the men get there. We will see that their wives do *not want until the first pay comes in."

]n response io a question Mr. Bromley stated that probably 8000 of the men now in public works camps were married.