£2900 ON RELIEF WORK

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1930, Page 9

£2900 ON RELIEF WORK

VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS NEW PLYMOUTH SCHEME TO END. WORK AT TE HENUI CEMETERY, It was revealed at a meeting of the -New Plymouth Unemployment and Relief Committee yesterday that £2883 10s Id had been expended on relief work to date. Of thin sum £2,077 approximately was used in payment of wages and £BO6 in haulage. It was definitely decided, that the voluntary contributions scheme should cease oil September 5, the money for the week ending on that date to be collected the following week. The committee recognised its responsibilities to the people and was determined to keep faith with its promises, one of which had been to end the contributions scheme at the end of August which at the time the agreement was made, covered a -period of eight weeks. Collections had not been started until a week later than the date set down and that had necessitated carryinor the scheme one week into September. There were present at the meeting Messrs. P. E. Stainton (chairman), F. J. Hill, H. V. S. Griffiths, B. Thorne, J. Palmer, C- H. Burgess, T. McPhillips, G. Fleming, and O. N. Johnson and W. G Reid (honorary secretaries). FUNDS FOR NINE WEEKS. Air. C. Clarke, the borough engineer, notified the committee that the number of men at present employed on relief works in the borough was 71 'apart from drivers, of which there were 11, making a total of 82. With the subsidies already granted, there was sufficient money in hand to carry on the relief works for approximately nine weeks from Tuesday. If fine weather prevailed, this time would be reduced to eight weeks. Mr. Stainton reported that in company with the Alayor (Air. Griffiths) he had waited upon several business people of the town regarding contributions, and had not received one refusal. That spoke volumes for the spirit in which New Plymouth had met the requests of the committee. The committee had been fortunate,. continued Air. Stainton, in obtaining work for a number of the unemployed men outside the .borough. This had been due mainly to the fine co-operation of the Taranaki County Council. A number of men had also been placed on farms in the New Plymouth district. Members considered the committee fortunate to find such co-operation in the task of placing unemployed men.

SUBURBAN SEWERAGE CONTRACT

It was pointed out that by the cud of the eight weeks for ■which the coinmittce had almost enough money to carry on the relief works, the first suburban contract for the sewerage system at Fitzroy he ready to proceed and a lot of the men now upon the unemployed register and in receipt of relief work would be absorbed oy that work. This was what the committee had been aiming for all along, and at present, if things proceeded as /smoothly as it was hoped, it looked as" if "New Plymouth would have successfully carried the men over the bad part of the year. Mr. Stainton referred to the .work provided for a few men at the cemetery. These men were not suitable for heavier labour but the committee was just as concerned with the welfare of them and their families as it was with the more able-bodied men. The work there gained no subsidy from the department, but it was public work. The men tended the graves of old settlers, soldiers and people whose relatives had left the district. There were four men employed there at present in this general work. Regret was expressed at the wording of an advertisement which had been inserted in a daily newspaper by an official of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, The advertisement asked for assistance for 50 out-of-work carpenters because of “the failure of the Unemployment and Relief Committee to assist the skilled worker.” Mr. Stainton said that if there were 50 unemployed carpenters and joiners in New Plymouth he was indeed sorry to hear of it, but the committee had received no official intimation. He was sorry the society had not communicated with the secretaries before adopting such a course.

Air. Reid stated that there were only 14 carpenters on the register. Three of them., were single men, the others being in classes A, B and C. Of this number 12 had been given or offered work.