SELF-HELP CAMPAIGN.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 1349, 15 December 1931, Page 1

SELF-HELP CAMPAIGN.

»- FOR UNEMPLOYED. MEN.

t,. CULTIVATION OF GARDEN PLOTS.

"The impossibility of providing continuous work for the unemployed has brought about a position freight- . Ed with grave results to the State and c to the individuals concerned," stated > 4 Ix \ J ' S ' J eSs ep, Deputy-Chairman of r the Unemployment Board, m oommentin ff upon the Board?s decision to . make it a condition of relief that 3 workers shall cultivate m their own time areas of land for the growing V)f x vegetables and thus assist to mainj tain themselves. I "Some people affect to believe," l continued Mr Jessep, "that the State . owes every individual a living; but ifj that were so the of the , community would have to yield, m.- . dividuality of choice of occupation [ and take (whatever! kind! \and contiir tion ofUiving the State might offer. . What the State owes is a fair chance . to every individual to make his own t living, compatible with the welfare of : the rest of the community. To the ex- - tent of its resources, therefore, the Unemployment BoafcT is going to give the unemployed an opportunity . to supplement their relief pay by i iposing on them a policy of self-help. "Thousands of residences through- . out the Dominion have small plots of ground attached where vegetables sufficient for the needs of a family are grown, but there are thousands of other similar areas where no attempts (or only spasmodic efforts) are made to augment the family income. "The practical possibility tof the scheme has been demonstrated by Self-Help Clubs m Stratford, m Taranaki and -m other localities, where the families of relief' workers have considerably benefited. „ "In cases where " workers have no ground suitable for the} growing of vegetables, local bodies an* local Committees are being' asked to endeavour- to secure for the use of workers areas of ground Jpr this purpose. It should be possible m some localities to arrange for community plots, where competitive efforts would result m direct benefits to the .individuals and the community. x "The basic idea behind the' Scheme," concluded Jessep, "is to save the men from the possibility of moral and physical » deterioration because of enforced idleness and at the same time to provide an oppor/ tunity of., securing additional income from directly-reproductive effort. The Unemployment 'Board earnestly solicits the practical cooperation of, all sections of the community m this self-help campaign, m the firm belief that if ;t is successfully carried through it will very * materially assist m lessening the hardships of the unemployed . during the coming year, and m providing useful employment m place of the present disastrous idleness." « . \