RELIEF OF DISTRESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21984, 20 June 1933, Page 8

RELIEF OF DISTRESS

ENTHUSIASTIC PUBLIC MEETING

APPEAL FOR £IO,OOO TO BE LAUNCHED REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE APPOINTED In furtherance of the appeal by the Mayor (the Rev. B. T. Cox) for the relief of distress in the city dxmng the •winter months, a well-attended public meeting was held in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall yesterday afternoon, when it was decided that a. public appeal for £IO,OOO should be launched forthwith, a strong and representative committee being set up to arrange for the conducting of the effort. The meeting was convened by the Mayor, who occupied the chair, and among those present were representatives of the various social service organisations in the city and of the City Council, including Messrs F, Jones, M.P., and J. W. Munro, M.P. , In opening the meeting, the Mayo explained that it had been called to forward his appeal for the rehef of distress that had appeared .m the press. Representatives of the various social service organisations in the city, led by Dean Cruickshank, had waited on him, and had told him that although their associations were doing all they could, the strain was becoming too great for them to continue. They therefore urged that the City Council should undertake food relief for the men on the No. 5 scheme add their dependents, and also for the large y increased number of people outside the scheme who also, required relief so that the social service organisations could carry on their denominational charitable work, which they would be able to .do if relieved of the additional burden no imposed on them. It was estimated that there were at present 6000 people in the City X were underfed, and probably double this number poorly and warmed. They were inflicting a moral and physical injury on the the children were allowed to gr° w ill-fed and ill-provided with clothes and warmth. They must feed the people raise a generation of weaklings, and the present distressing, position could be met only by the provision of a fund adequate to meet the needs of the present winter. He did not suggest that they coldd de { take a scheme as ambitious as that of Christchurch, which aimed at *25,000 and anueared from the support already ac-corded-it, to be somewliat impracticable. He would suggest for Dunedin an appeal for a sum notHarger than £IO,OOO whicn would be sufficient for food relief fo:r «ie ■nort three or four months, inis was only a brief outline of the scheme, the operation of which could he WOTke out in detail.! The nucleus of the fund had come with a donation of £lO9 irom Mr Arthur Barnett, and there were pr - raises of further contributions. Dean Cruickshank, asked by the Mayor to explain the genesis of the scheme stated +h«t he had'been offered a cheque xor £IOO by Mr Barnett, but be did not consider that he was in a position to accept the donation solely on b « bal l °’ tt . a church’s mission. Moreover Mr Bai nett s original intention was that for tne . ministration of any f «n d , a committee should be formed over and above tne existing organisations. The fol owing.day he had convened a meeting at his home ot representatives of the most important of the city’s relief associations, and asked them it they would be prepared to stand down in favour of one big orgamsation, but they explained that they could no this as they were in honour bound to meet the obligations of. those them, and whose pressing claims they felt they could meet. They were unable, however, to deal with general relief outside their own orpnisations and thought that some further. effort should be made, expressing tbe opinion ba ; ever scheme was adopted should be munieaid h considered that £IO,OOO was rather a .large sum to aim at, and suggested that if £SOOO annealed for they would have a better chance of getting it He wished to advise that the Mayor's Rehef had come to an arrangement' between the Unemployment Board and t he ,. b , utch T’ whereby mutton would'be suppued to the unemployed at Id per pound with the exSon of legs, for which 2d would be charged. The sum of £SOOO would approximately allow 3s 6d per week for each of 2000 families for three months, and he suggested that the food providedbythis means should he distributed by the existing depots. Mr Mlndoe then moved;- “ That a fund for the relief of , d] stress during the winter months be organised and that contributions be invited trough the press, the amount aimed at to be £SOOO. Mr J. Gilchrist said he thought that the amount should be £IO,OOO Surely Dunedin could raise this. He had been told over and over again that Hunedm was the centre of the wealth of New Zealand. lj the fund were limited to £SOOO it would be gone in no time. He moved as an amendment: “That the amount be £10,000.” j. Mr H. L. Paterson, seconding Mr Mlndoe’s motion, pointed out that lmonths ago the Mayor’s Relief Committee had asked the public for £3600 to provide coal, clothing, and footwear cost pric for the unemployed. The actual result of the appeal was £IBOO, and while he di not say they should not go for the £IO,OOO, he thought that such an amount was impracticable at the present time. It had always, in past appeals, been a few willing ones who had helped, while othei s contributed nothing except only what they were compelled to give through taxation. They did not want to come again and again on those who were always giving, ine Mayor’s Relief Committee was at present issuing 80 tons of coal weekly, add without some relief this could not go on much longer. The Mayor: Mr Paterson did not explain that the coal is not given, but is supplied at Is per bag cheaper. Cr M‘lndoe: Where the cases aie necessitous, the coal is supplied free ot ° Cr° J. J- Marlow seconded Mr Gilchrist’s amendment. , Cr A. H. Allen said it was a pity that any amount had been mentioned. they wanted all they could get, and he would suggest a resolution along the lines ot that of Mr Mlndoe, without the mention of any amount.—(“Hear, hear. J Mr F. Jones, M.P., said he thought the amount should be £IO.OOO. Christchurch had launched an appeal for £20,000, and surely Dunedin was not so povertystricken that it could raise only one-httli of this sum. Allowing for the population of the city, they should make an attempt to get £IO,OOO, and n the tone ol the meeting that day was any indication they should reach that amount. Cr Allen asked that his suggestion should be considered as a further amendment, as he felt that they should have a clear issue, before them in order that thev could collect as much as possible. Cr Mlndoe announced his willingness to withdraw his- motion, and Mr Gilchrist’s amendment then became the motion. , ~ , Cr Allen then moved the following amendment: —“ That a committee be set up to solicit public subscriptions for t ie purpose of rendering assistance in the shape of food and clothing for those in need.” ~ ~ , . Mr J. W. Munro, M.P., said that, in his opinion, the amendment was a mistake, as those present at the meeting constituted only a handful of the people of (he city. The. great majority of the people not represented at the meeting had "no idea how badly a large sum of money was required for relief purposes, and if the appeal were couched in general terms he feared that the response would not he so generous as if a set snm_ of monev were aimed at. In his opinion, thev should make an appeal for at least £IO.OOO. , li , . Cr Marlow said that, although they might fix their objective at £IO,OOO, they would certainly take as much over that figure as they could get. The amendment was put to the meeting and lost, Mr Gilchrist’s motion being carried by a large majority. • Cr Allen asked if the Mayor would indicate how the funds collected -were to be distributed—whether by a special committee or through the present channels. , . , , Mr Paterson said that those who had been associated with relief activities in the past knew of the degrading influence of the sugar bag system, and no one would be better pleased if such were abolished than the various relief committees. He

felt that the best course to adopt would be to give orders through the various tradesmen by means of a coupon system. The Mayor said that they would have to ask the depots to assist them in the matter of distribution in the meantime as they had information in connection with the various families which had been in receipt of relief. Mr J. M'Crae suggested that if an appeal were made to the churches and the various sporting bodies a considerable amount of assistance might be received. Dr A. R. Falconer asked if the fund would assist Only those working under the No. 5 scheme, or if it would be applied to general relief, the Mayor replying that he understood that the latter would be the case. Dr Falconer then said that he considered the matter of general relief had not been sufficiently studied, and he thought that a civic committee should be set up to investigate the position thoroughly. The Mayor then read the following letter which he had received on the matter from Dr Falconer: — “In reference to the appeal made by you in the press for the assistance of the citizens for relieving the distress now prevalent in Dunedin, I would venture to suggest that the time has arrived when there should be a more efficient organisation of the work of relief in our city. In other countries where an efficient organisation has been developed the following principles are considered to be of paramount importance: (1) The relief in each individual case must be sufficient to maintain living standards; in other words, the relief must be adequate. (2) All applications for assistance must be investigated by competent and experienced social workers. (3) A central social service registry must be created if none already exists. In order that the best methods shall be taken to enable such principles to be adopted, I Would suggest that a civic committee be set up by you to make a survey of the social welfare administration of Dunedin. To my mind the best scheme for relieving distress has been evolved in cities adopting the system of (a) qualified hospital almoners, whose duty it is to acquire a knowledge of the home conditions of the patients for the use of the staff, and for the purpose ot co-operating with the voluntary social service organisations in the after-care of the patients. The hospital is the keystone of the social welfare arch in the community. (b) A public assistance organisation society, which would conduct a central registry and ensure that no overlapping occurred in rendering relief to individual cases, as well as ensuring that the field of work of each voluntary aid organisation adequately supplemented, without overlapping, the work of the official State and municipal (hospital board) relief organisations. The personnel of the committee a« suggested by Dr Falconer was as follows:— The Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and a member of the Uty Council, representatives, of the Hospital Board, Chamber of Commerie, and Trades and Labour Council, professors of public health and economics, the district health officer, and two representatives of voluntary aid organisations—a total ot it m suggested that the matter should first be referred to the Mayors Relief Committee, as it had all the neeessary information at its hand. The Mayor replied that they required a larger committee than the Mayor s relief ° r After at ßome further discussion it was decided that the following committee be set up, with power to add and to act. Messrs P R Sargood, P. L. Halsted, fj Marlow, A. k .Allen M. Silverstone, J. Hogg, K Wilkinson VJacobs, G. Crow, A. C. Matheson, and J. W. Munro, M.P.