WINTER RELIEF

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18041, 18 March 1933, Page 6

WINTER RELIEF

COMMITTEE’S PROBLEM ARDUOUS TASK AHEAD 400 FAMILIES NOW IN NEED With the passing of the mouths there has been no diminution in the hardship caused in I lie community by lack of employment, and tne central committee wim li lias undertaken the control of relict measures faces a most difficult task dining the coming winter. I ne meat stocks contributed last year, as the result of a magnificent effort by the farming community, have been exhausted, and practically Lire sum total ot relief now available is represented by the yield ot the gardens especially estaolislied last year to lurnisii vegetates. Before the coming of the winter months, the committee will have to take steps to refurnish its laider, and particularly to replenish the stocks of tire staple items, meat and potatoes. T .as people of this district have been so ungrudging in their support of the Central Relief Committee m the past two years that a renewal of the appeal lor help must be a matter <ji reluctance to members of the committee. Nevertheless, the situation demands that action be taken to avoid serious hardship among the people most affected by unemployment.

At present there are 400 families receiving such help as can be given from the stocks of the central depot in Carnarvon street, and with the advance oi tile winter, it is anticipated, the numbers of needy cases will increase. There may be some new proposals of a helpful nature advanced at the annual meeting of the relief committee next week, but it seems certain that ouce again the staple relief will take the form of meat and potatoes, issued as often as stocks cun be accumulated. The problem of relief of distress lias been reduced to essentials, the people in real need must be scared from hardship as far as possible. In the renewal of its appeal, which seems an inescapable necessity, the committee will have the satisfaction of knowing at least that it has spared the public from exploitation during tne past two years. At one time there'were a number of organisations endeavoring to provide piecemeal relief to cases of various classifications. The position lent itself to exploitation by a minority ot applicants whose original need might have been great, but whose anxiety to secure all possible assistance was injurious to the interests of their fellow unemployed. When the Central Relief Committee was formed, the first care was to see that all cases were tabulated, in order that each case should receive a due measure of assistance. Further, the creation of the central body enabled private citizens to satisfy themselves from an ollicial source as to the bona lides of applicants for assistance. These considerations alone justify the existence of the committee, and entitle it to support in the excellent work it has done and is prepared to continue.