SINGLE MEN’S CAMPS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17944, 23 November 1932, Page 4

SINGLE MEN’S CAMPS

BOROUGH COUNCIL’S MOVE NO NECESSITY IN GISBORNE BOARD TO BE APROACIIED The Borough Council last night decided to write to the Unemployment Board stating that there .was no necessity for sending Gisborne unemployed single men to camps because there was sufficient work in Gisborne for them. This decision followed Ihe hearing of a deputation from the unemployed workers’ movement. The deputation comprised Messrs. Joyce, Turbitt and Goodson. Mr. Joyce said iho conditions of the camps were unsatisfactory, and the men would be better oil in gaol. If the camps were to go on, reasonable wages and conditions should be provided. He referred to a number of protests throughout the country on the part of prominent men to the camp system. No one would object- to reasonable entyps, but if the single men’s camps were proceeded with the married men would have to follow. The single men who refused to go to camp were now refused work in the town. The average single man in town was paid Os a week, but Mr. Coates had stated that the expenditure per man in camps would be £1 10s a week; this did not seem like conserving the funds of the Unemployment Board. BREAKING THE RULES Mr. Turbitt endorsed the previous speaker’s view that, if single men were forced into camp, the married men would have to follow. Mr. Jossep had broken all the rules by inaugurating the camp system, for lie appeared to be trying to make himself greater than the Creator, who had said of marriage, “Whom God hud joined together, let no man put asunder.” The camp system for married men was breaking up the homes. It might be said that in a national emergency the single men should do something. The single men did nutobject to camp. They went into camp during the war, but better conditions ruled in the.camps then. He himself was a member of the Imperial forces, in which he was assured of at least, a shilling a day; they were not- certain of that in unemployed camps. A section of the public looked on the unemployed as a crowd of wasters, but lie maintained that he had met some of the finest men in their ranks. The unemployed workers’ movement was doing all it could to hold them in check, but he did not know how long that could go on. The single men were in an infinitely worse position than the married men,” and, he added, “we arc bad enough oIT, God

knows. ’ ’ Mr. C. E. Goodson said a committee was canvassing the businessmen for their support in opposition to the compulsory camps. lie did not wish to use threats, but lie wished the council to imagine what might occur if little dissensions were organised, and he said all knew what happened a little time ago to startle the country. A man was boss in his own home, but it appeared as though Mr. .Tessep wished to be boss in all the homes in the country. Mr. Joyce, in reply to Cr. S. V. Beaufoy, said that at Hangaroa sonic of the men under contract had earned up to 38s a week,-but others had earned only 22s a week; Mr. Jackson put it down at 30s. The store would take about 15s. Then thc-re were the 10s a week camps. Cr. Beaufoy: Is that at Matawai?

Mr. Joyce: Yes, and also at Tangoio

He added that men had earned from 3s to 7s 6d a week in these camps and the maximum earnings were 10s a week. OBJE.TCT IN VIEW The Mayor, Mr. D. W. Coleman, congratulated the deputation on the concise manner in which it had stated its case. The council had appreciated the work done hv the unemployed workers’ committee, and its activities throughout wore an indication of the control the executive had over the members of the unemployed workers.

When the council discussed the . matter later, the Mayor said he had a good deal of sympathy with the men. He knew that some men earned as low as 5d a week, and quite often the earnings were scl to 7d a day. The contracts were set for the average navvy who was used to that type of work, but now men who had never done such work were on the jobs. He did not j believe they had arrived at the stage i when it was necessary to send the ,111011 out. The council sent in a requisition for a certain number of men, but it was not being allocated half those it asked for, and while there , was work to be done in town, he did ' not see the necessity for sending the I men to the camps. 1 Cr. J. W. 11. Holmes said the Gov- , eminent had no doubt some object, in

| view. The Mayor said the argument was (used that the work in the town was not of a reproductive nature, but he could say the council’s work was all of a reproductive nature. | Cr. S. V. Beaufoy said the camp system was a disgrace to the country. At Matawai, some of the men were working with bags round them. The Mayor said the Matawai camp compared favorably with others. Cr. Beaufoy said that if the Matawai camp compared favorably, the others must be a disgrace. The men were not a pack of wasters, and he had gone into some of thei homes where the conditions were a disgrace. Many of the men did not have blankets to take with them, and he opposed the sending of the men to camps. The Mayor moved that tho'council writo to the Unemployment Board stating that thoro was no necessity for sending the unemployed of Gisborne to the camps, for there was sufficient work to be had in the town.

Cr. Beaufoy seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.