UNEMPLOYED DEMONSTRATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21538, 9 January 1932, Page 7

UNEMPLOYED DEMONSTRATION

DEMAND FOR ADDITIONAL RELIEF TOWN HALL AND HOSPITAL BOARD BESIEGED. Over 400 unemployed took part in a demonstration at the Town Hall and the Hospital Board offices yesterday, when a demand for additional relief was made, and although the board was unable to accede to the demands of the unemployed, it agreed to interview and consider necessitous cases. The chairman (Mr W. E. S. Knight) also forwarded the following telegram to the Prime Minister (Mr G. W. Forbes): — “ Deputation of over 400 waited on the board demanding more assistance than is provided by the Unemployment Board. Single men represented to lie in desperate straits now relief depot closed. Married people with families also in sore straits. Strongly urge that you extend relief granted by Unemployment Board each week and also for fourth week.”

The mass meeting at the Town Hall was organised at a meeting held the previous night, and the demonstration was the outcome of the Unemployment Committee’s refusal to admit Mr Ballantyne, one of the spokesmen of a deputation which waited on the committee. The relief workers congregated at the corner of George street and the Octagon shortly before 10 a.m., and entered the Town Hall, posting themselves round the committee room at the head of the stairs. The case for the relief workers was put to the meeting by Mr C. M. Moss, a member of the committee, who returned a quarter of an hour later and announced that the committee was willing to hear the deputation provided that Mr Ballantyne was not one of the speakers. Uproar followed immediately, and some bitter remarks concerning British justice were passed. Mr Ballantyne’s voice was heard above the rest in a vigorous denunciation of the committee’s attitude, and scores of relief workers surged into the committee room and endeavoured to force a hearing on the members. In this, however, they were defeated, as the meeting broke up and there was an exchange of angry words between the intruders and those of the committee who remained—Messrs F. W. Mitchell, C. M. Moss, and M. Stevenson. .Mr Ballantyne then indulged in a vigorous denial of statements which had been attributed to him against several members of the committee. Mr Mitchell said that the committee was doing all it possibly could for the unemployed of Dunedin, and nobody could expect it to do the impossible. The discussion continued for a while, and Mr Mitchell then withdrew, leaving Mr Moss to carry on. The latter replied to several speakers, and in response to a woman’s account of starvation in several homes she had seen, Mr Moss emptied his pockets of all the money he had in his possession and threw it on the table. The money was refused, members of the crowd declaring that they wanted work, not charity, ' Mr Moss was told that the committee should refuse to accept funds from the Unemployment Board, unless there was sufficient money to provide ample, work for all. DEPUTATION TO HOSPITAL BOARD. The crowd then organised a march to the Hospital's Board’s offices in Hanover street, and by the time they arrived a number of policemen had taken up their stations in and outside the building. A deputation headed by Mr Braitbwaite was heard by Mr J. Jacobs (secretary), who replied to a request that foodstuffs should be supplied to each worker to the value of from 10s to £1 in accordance with the number of his dependents by saying that the hoard’s instructions were that no’relief could be given. In conveying this information to the crowd, Mr Braithwaite remarked that the Auckland Hospital Board had nearly gone bankrupt trying to help the city’s starving people, and that other boards in the north were doing far more in the way of giving relief than the Otago Board. “ They will help the woman wdiose husband deserts her,” he added; “but they will not help the men who stand loyally by their wives and children.’ 1 The crowd remained for over threequarters of an hour, and it was then decided to meet again in the afternoon at the board’s office with women and children from homes where help was needed. In the afternoon members of the board consented to receive six representatives of the unemployed, and after conferring for about an hour the board consented to give a hearing to the more necessitous cases, who were admitted one by one. Superintendent Eecles and six or seven police sergeants and constables were present again, but the crowd was an orderly one. A section at the rear started to sing “The Red Flag,” and a few here and there joined in, but the performance was a dispirited one which faded out towards the end. Mr Seurr, one of the board members, had a hostile reception when he left the building, but it was purely vocal and not very ill-natured. Once, when the subject of the Deep Stream camp was mentioned, a loud declaration that gaol was better than Deep Stream was heartily applauded. It was a good-tempered demonstration, however, and the crowd remained on friendly terms with the police. The board promised to consider the necessitous cases on individual application and to do its best to see that nobody suffered. It stated, however, that it was not in a position to give organised relief and rejected a demand for £1 for men with wives and families, 15s for married men with no families, and 10g for single men. One of the spokesmen at the deputation addressed the gathering after the conference and said that the deputation was not prepared to accept those terms, but demanded relief for everybody. The board, however, had said that it was not in a position to give something to everybody, as it had neither the goods nor the money. “ I also put the case to the board, said another spokesman, “and pointed out that the reason we are unemployed is not through any fault of our own, but through the failure of the capitalistic system, of which we are the slaves. One member of tho board told us that there were any amount of unemployed not m need of assistance.” Cries of execration greeted this remark, and the member’s name was demanded. “I don’t know his name,” replied the delegate, who added that although the board had promised to consider a _ few necessitous cases it was not in a position to listen to any proposal of organised delegate stated that Mrs Macdonald had said that the single men would not starve if they went to the Deep Stream camp. , , , Uproar followed this remark, and when it had died down it was announced that Mrs Macdonald had promised that babies of 12 months and under would be supplied with free milk, where needed, from the Plunket Society’s rooms. Several other unemployed men addressed their fellows from the steps of the building, and one declared that it was not right for the few to benefit at the expense of the many. “I say it should be all or nothing,” he added amid applause. “We have gone far enough with a few individuals getting benefits from the Town Hall. We have to stand together for the masses.”—(Applause and cries of Hear, hG s r i hope a lot of single men here will fight for their rights,” said one man. “If they are an asset to us in war time I say they are an. asset in peace time. We must stand together—united we stand, divided we fall.” The gathering was urged to meet at the Town Hall the following day and put the position to the Mayor, and to go from there to the Hospital Board. UNEMPLOYED WORKERS’ MOVEMENT

A meeting of the Unemployed Workers Movement was held on Thursday night in the Y.W.C.A. Hall before a large attendance. Mr W. Ballantyne, who occupied the chair, gave a short account of the business done since the last meeting. The secretary (Mr F. O’Eorke) read out the balance sheet, showing the financial statement of the movement. This was adopted. Correspondence was read from the national secretary, Unemployment Workers’ Movement, Wellington, the Chamber of Commerce, the Education Board, Mr G. A. Lewin (secretary of the local Unemployment Committee), and Mr H. E, Holland (Leader of the Opposition). The letters were received. A resolution was carried to the effect that a

branch of the Women’s Unemployment Movement be opened. Mr Matbieson gave a report on a demonstration. Messrs Ballautyne and Braithwaite gave reports on a deputation to the Hospital Board. Mr E. J. Clark and Mr MMurray tendered a report on a meeting of the local Unemployhient Committee. A deputation was appointed to meet the Unemployment Committee to deal with complaints from groups arid various other matters concerning the unemployed workers. It was agreed to hold meetings in the Queen’s Gardens every Friday night, and also on Sunday afternoons.