WORK FOR SUSTENANCE MEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23364, 2 December 1937, Page 8

WORK FOR SUSTENANCE MEN

PLACEMENT OFFICE OFFICIALS AN UNOFFICIAL EFFORT (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) ! WELLINGTON, Dec. 1. The efforts of the Placement Office officials throughout the Dominion to secure work for sustenance vmen before Christmas is purely an unofficial effort. This was stated by the Minister of Labour (Mr H, T. Armstrong) in answer to an urgent question asked by Mr H. S. S. Kyle (Opposition, Eiccarton) in the House of Representatives to-day. Mr:';Kyle referred to a Christchurch newspaper report of an appeal made to citizens to find work for these men between now and Christmas, applications for men to be made to the State Placement Service. He asked if the appeal had approval of the Labour Department. The Minister, in his reply, said the idea of requesting the co-opera-tion of private citizens originated at Auckland with the Placement Office there as a purely local and unofficial effort. It spread to other parts ,of the Dominion through the collaboration which existed between the offices. The scheme had not been before the Government and had not, of course, been approved by the Government. The Minister said he had decided when these unofficial steps came to his notice that the placement officers should not include the results in their .returns of placements, and that any odd days of work obtained by sustenance men under the arrangement were to be ignored when assessing their private earnings for the week concerned! v;

“The official measures on behalf of the unemployed at Christmas are substantial,” said the Minister, “They include provision for payment by the Government of the full wages; : cost, not of one day’s work but of at least four months’ fulltime work at standard rates of pay for all married men fit to take work. This money is available and local bodies have for some time been urged to take it up and provide jobs. Good progress has been made with this scheme, particularly in Christchurch, and only last week when : in Auckland I was • able to arrange with the Auckland City Council and other local bodies for nearly 1000 men to start before Christmas their period of full-time employment. The funds have been made'; available to make it possible for those men whose period of fulltime employment would ordinarily expire before Christmas to be carried bn for the time being if local bodies can provide the necessary jobs. Practically only single men and semi-fit men not able to take this full-time work remain as the subject of the efforts of the placement officers. No doubt many of these would find an extra day’s pay helpful. They will, in any case, receive Christmas bonuses in addition to their sustenance allowances in the same way as those engaged under the special subsidised employment scheme mentioned.” SLIMMING—OR JUST AFRAID TO EAT? Are you one of these unfortunate people who, through indigestion,, are forced to pick and choose every morsel of food at meal times? Eat what you like whenever you like, without the distressing pains of indigestion. Take Du Mauriers Digestive and Stomach Powder after every Instant in its relief, Du Maurier’s Is one of the most successful indigestion remedies of the day. Owing to its exclusive ingredients, including 25 per cent. English Colodial Kaolin, it is the safest and surest. 2s Packet. Listen-in to 4ZB at 9 p.m. on Friday and 9.15 p.m. on Saturday lor further particulars.—Advt.