ABUSE OF THE DOLE SYSTEM

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1930, Page 9

ABUSE OF THE DOLE SYSTEM

MEN WHO HAVE HAD RELIEF. With the National Unemployment Fund another £10,000,000 in debt, and the prospect of further borrowing necessary in a few months, inquiries have been made by London Daily Mail reporters on the abuse of the dole. In one casd a man has been chargeable to the guardians, on and off, since 1922. Altogether he has received £4a9 in out relief. In 1921 he lost a good job through a dispute with his employers, and is reported to have done no regular work since. His four children were born while he was in receipt of poor relief. Last March he came into unemployment benefit under the new Act, receiving 345. a week. In another case a man has a record of 17 weeks’ work in five years. His wife, at the end of her patience, reported to the relieving officer: “He does not trouble to look for work.. He has misused the relief money and at times left home.” This man is now getting 325.—and no questions asked —from the Unemployment Fund. A third case is that of a man who had a relief record under the guardians dating from 1923. In 1927 he was convicted of being drunk while in charge of a motor-car, and his license was suspended. When he has been drunk his wife has had to lock herself and her children away from him. To-day he has the dole —30s. a week. A fourth man who is now getting £2 a week from the Unemployment Fund has a “relief” record dating back to 1926. It has not been continuous, but has had breaks during which his wife worked to keep: the home together while he looked after the baby. The relieving officer acquainted with this case says that in his opinion the man will now “go on for ever,” adding, “if he went for a job I don’t suppose anyone would take him.” So demoralising is this system becoming that another man with four children, all born “on relief,” and who has received a total of £615 from the guardians, actually threw up a job, giving as an excuse that lie was annojed by members of my family who are unemployed.”