UNEMPLOYMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21646, 17 May 1932, Page 8

UNEMPLOYMENT

LOCAL RELIEF ACTIVITIES ENCOURAGING GOLD PROSPECTING It is probable that the Unemployment Board’s scheme with reference to prospecting will be put into operation all over Central Otago, and as a result men will be taken from unproductive works and placed in jobs with the ultimate possibility of securing good returns for themselves. At the present time a camp for prospectors has been opened at Cardrona, the supervisor of the scheme being Mr G. Burrows, who, until recently, was postmaster at Cromwell. Last week 25 men were sent forward by the Department of Labour, and there are vacancies for another 75 married or single men. Single men are paid at the rate of 15s a week less -9d a week for insurance, and 10 per cent, of the gold won has to be handed to the Government in return for the outlay it has made. Married men are paid 30s a week less Is 6d a week for insurance, and they, too, have tr hand back 10 per cent, of the gold won. The department is transporting the men to Cardrona, and the first day they go to Cromwell, where accommodation and food are provided for them, the remainder of the journey to Cardrona being undertaken the next day. It is seated that prospects for the men of augmenting their ordinary wages are very bright, and with the opening up of further camps in Central Otago it is likely that many of the unemployed will be absorbed in this direction. WORK FOR TO-DAY The following groups will report for work under the Works Departmenf at 8 a.m. to-day:—s33, Wharf street, at French street; 534, Wharf street, at tip. VACANCIES IN RELIEF CAMPS The 39 vacancies which originally existed for single men in the Wairuna camp have now been reduced to 20, while at #makau the 28 vacancies have been reduced to 10. Single men’s groups are being disbanded, and the men are being offered vacancies in the camps as they occur. If a man is supporting a widowed mother or can produce a doctor’s certificate that he is unfit to withstand the rigours of camp life he is offered other work, but others who will not go to camps when the opportunity occurs are being refused further relief work except on farms under scheme 4a. The majority of single men are refusing work in camps, although there are some who have accepted it as being the only means of making the best of a bad job. PROPOSED STRIKE APPEAL BY THE MAYOR. “I want to make an appeal to relief workers to refrain from striking,” said the Mayor (Mr R. S. Black) yesterday. “It would be sheer foolishness on their part, and those who would suffer most would be their wives and children. The relief workers would be very ill-advised to allow themselves to be inveigled into a strike by ’a few malcontents, as such a step would only occasion them a loss of wages to no purpose.’ Mr Black said that a strike would estrange the sympathies of the public, who in Dunedin had given so well to the depots. As was known, an effort was being made at present to canvass for funds for blankets and clothes and to establish district depots, and a strike would not help the campaign. The relief workers knew his opinion of the revised rates of pay, and he thought they should continue working under protest. A strike on relief works would relieve the Government only of the present payment of so much money in wages, and, as the jobs were not essential, a stoppage would not affect the general public, but only the men themselves and their wives and families. It would be a great pity if the sympathy of the public were lost ns the result of a strike that would do no one any good, and if the depots Had to be closed through lack of supplies. THE STAND-DOWN WEEK STILL OPERATING IN SUBURBS. With reference to the continuance of the stand-down week in the suburbs and the consequent demands being made upon the_ hospital boards for assistance, the chairman of the Otago Hospital Board (Mr W. E. S, Knight) sent the following telegram to the Minister of Employment (Mr J. G. Coates): — “Advise immediately when stand-down week is to be abolished in suburban districts. You definitely stated hospital boards would be relieved of responsibility for unemployment, yet application still made.” The following reply was received from the 'Minister:—“Replying to your telegram, instructions have been given to apply revised scale and conditions unemployment relief including the abolition of stand-down week, and at first this is put into effect in cities, gradually extending further as can be arranged. In the period of transition it is necessary that hospital boards give reasonable consideration to necessitous cases.”

On receipt of this reply. Mr Knight despatched the following night-letter telegram:—“Transition abnormally long, now extended from six weeks to four months, with prospect of fhrthcr extension, which is unfair to hospital boards, as their funds are not elastic. Unemployed in suburban districts are no different from city dwellers, therefore no reason why standdown week should not be abolished forthwith in suburbs as well as cities. Demands again being made upon hospital boards, whereas you definitely intimated that the boards would be relieved of responsibility for unemployment. With present meagre unemployment relief rates, assistance still desperately required in all cases. Understand local food depots about to close. No provisions in this board’s current estimates to meet extensive demands. If you desire hospital boards to provide sustenance I presume they will be reimbursed by Unemploy ment Board, and please authorise. In any case. I urgently ask that unemployed rates be increased and that the stand-down week be immediately abolished.”