UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

Taranaki Daily News, 12 July 1929, Page 13

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

NEED FOR NATIONAL SCHEME CITIES SEEK LARGER SUBSIDIES. PREMIER REVIEWS DIFFICULTES. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night, A request for £1 tor £1 subsidy on unemployment relief expenditure by the lour principal local authorities of the Dominion instead of merely the cost of labour as at present, was submitted to the Prime Minister this morning by the Mayors of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Alternative suggestions for State aid were also suggested. Sir Joseph Ward repudiated any obligation on the Government to provide for the relief of unemployment but promised that Cabinet would give consideration to the representations. He referred to the need for Parliament to consider a national scheme for meeting the problem. Introducing the deputation, Mr. D. G. Sullivan, M.P., referred to the Government’s offer ci £25,000 to each. of the four centres and pointed out that in order to qualify for the subsidy under the conditions imposed it was necessary for the citizens to find approximately twice the amount of the subsidy. There was a growing indisposition on the part of ratepayers -to increase their financial liabilities. The Government was asked to ease the position so that city councils could put works in hand without such a large qualification. The position in the centres was put by the Mayors in turn, each having much the same difficulty. It was difficult to find work to comply with the conditions on which the subsidy was offered.

In the course of his reply Sir Joseph Ward said it was beyond the ordinary means of the country to provide for large sums of extra expenditure. He pointed out that while cities had difficulties in regard to unemployment relief, so had he as Premier very material ones. If the unemployment the cities were dealing with was the only unemployment in the country the position would be a comparatively easy one to meet, but the Government was also providing for thousands of others independently of city corporation relief worxs.

He was not prepared to give an offhand answer in regard to the contract system but Cabinet would consider it. He thought the time was coming when the Government would have to consider making permanent provision for unemployment. They were getting into a position when a big scheme was required to deal with the problem on national lines.

Sir Joseph mentioned the railway construction policy and said they had yet found members of the House of Representatives crying out for no further expenditure on the railways—when the stopping of works would mean more unemployment. Parliament would have to be consulted and a national scheme formulated.