OUTDOOR RELIEF.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21265, 20 February 1931, Page 8

OUTDOOR RELIEF.

A statistical appendix to the report of the Department of Health for last year, which has now been issued, supplies figures in regard to the amount of outdoor relief granted by Hospital Boards that must be regarded as arresting. After the year 1920-21, when there was financial stringency in the country, to the year 1925-26, the cost to the boards in outdoor relief declined steadily—from £62.1 per 1000 of population to £55.0. During the past four years, however, demands upon the boards for outdoor relief have increased considerably. In 1926-27 the cost was £92,852, or £64.6 per 1000 of population; by 1928-29 it had risen to £92.2 per 1000; and for last year, ended in March, 1930, the total cost was £140,065, or £94.6 per 1000. 'lt will be seen, therefore, that the cost increased by nearly 50 per cent, in so short a period as four years. Both the total expenditure and expenditure per head of the population now stand at a figure that is unprecedented in the Dominion. The increase is accounted for to a very slight extent —less than £SOOO per annum —by the fact that in the past two years the salaries of charitable aid officers have been included in the cost. The rapid upward trend has been due mainly to the increasing number of unemployed breadwinners who have sought and obtained relief from the boards. In 1928-29 the number of persons affected by involuntary unemployment who were assisted by the boards was 14,522, and last year this number had increased to 16,594. When the Unemployment Board was constituted Hospital Boards had some reason to hope that the claims for outdoor relief on account of unemployment would decline in sensible measure. A statement publicly made on the subject by the chairman of one Hospital Board indicated that this has not yet been the case. The

Unemployment Board is, however, now charged with the responsibility of providing for the needs of the unemployed in New Zealand who are capable of working. It is furnished with funds from all sections of the community for this purpose. A member of the Board expressed his confidence recently that every unemployed man in the country would soon have work to do, and if this anticipation proves correct there should be an appreciable diminution in the claims upon the funds of the Hospital Boards. It will be distinctly interesting to see the effect which the provision that has been made for the relief of unemployment through the creation of a special fund for that purpose will have upon the expenditure in charitable relief. The disbursements in outdoor relief have reached a disturbingly high figure, and the ratepayers in the various hospital districts, many of whom have suffered serious loss, will be justified in hoping that the peak of the expenditure has been passed.