UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1930, Page 9

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

DISBANDMENT OF COMMITTEE. WORK AT NEW PLYMOUTH. The New Plymouth Unemployment Committee after functioning actively for over five months was “wofind up” on Saturday morning. An executive consisting of the chairman (Mr. P. E. Stainton), the secretary (Mr. W. G. Reid) and tlie chairman of the works committee of the Borough Council (Mr. J. Brown) was appointed to supervise- the unemployment relief work until the appointment in the near 1 future of a district committee, of the Unemployment Board.

Those present at the meeting were Messrs.. Stainton, ,H. V. S. Griffiths, C. Carter, G. W. Palmer, B. Thorne, C. P. Smith, Brown, F.. J. Hill, J. McLeod, G. Fleming, T. McPhillips and Reid (secretary). *’ Apologies were received ■from Adjutant McKenzie and Messrs. R. Fulton and O. Johnson. One of the functions of the new Unemployment Board would be to set up district committees, the chairman explained. After consultation with the Minister of Labour it had been considered advisable for the committee simply to go out of existence and be connected to the new committee by a small executive, in accordance’Svitli the opinion of the works committee of the Borough Council. The meeting had been called urgently because the board met on Tuesday, and it would ibe necessary for the executive to obtain some allocation to continue relief work over Christmas time.

DETAILS OF THE WORK.

Mr. Stainton outlined the activities of the committee since June 2 when this season’s work commenced. Since that date the registrations had totalled 336, with 827 dependents, divided as follows: Class A, 90 ■ (434 dependents); class B, 73 (208); class C, 133 (185) and class' D, single men, 40. Work was not found for the single men; the committee had found work for 279 of the 296 men and the others were recent registrations. The committee’s record was a fine one. The amount spent on wages was £5814 19s 5d and, with £733 14s 5d spent on borojigh teams, £1092 7s 4d on hired teams and £123 6s 9d on sundries, £7764- 7s lid had been spent in five months. The works Committee was doing everything possible to employ the maximum number of men. The present wage total was about £250 per week, but the last few weeks had been very broken by bad weather. Including the Subsidy to come, there was £675 still available and this would last till the beginning of December. Mr. Brown stated' fresh Government authorities would be necessary as the' presept ones were exhausted. In ' accordance with' the custom of previous years the committee voted £5O to'the New Plymouth Relief Association. Mr. Stainton said the Minister of Labour was applying for a £1 for £1 subsidy on the money, which would be appreciated as the association’s funds were depleted. The graut would help a great deal and be money w.ell spent.. To., some extent the association’s work relieved the Taranaki Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. THE OBJECT ACHIEVED. On behalf of the relief workers, Mr. Stainton thanked the committee, which had achieved the work it had set out to do. At best that work was only a palliative. Gratitude was due to the Government for its generous assistance, and, to the works committee, the borough engineer and the secretary, Mr. Reid, who had for some of the time been assisted by Mr. O. Johnson. Mr. Reid had devoted a great deal of time to the secretarial work. Personally Mr. Stainton thanked all the members,- who had worked well under difficult conditions and in times of great stress. The schemes adopted in New Plymouth had been productive of ideas that, properly applied, would benefit New Zealand. The Mayor of New Plymouth, Mr. Griffiths, endorsed the chairman’s remarks. The occasion should not pass without the community’s thanks being expressed to Mr. Stainton for the able way in which he . had carried out the duties- of chairman of the committee. That work had required a great deal of time and thought. The secretaries were also to be conrm**«ied. As workers’ representatives Mr. Thorne and . Mr. Fleming specially thanked the committee for the impartial manner in which the problems had been handled. The - gratitude of ’the Department -of Labour was expressed by its representative, Mr. C. P. Smith. The committee had always assisted the department in the fullest possible manner. Mr. J. Brown thanked the committee for its co-operation with the charitable aid board. Mr. Reid had helped them greatly in determining the really needy cases. The chairman asked that any members of the present committee should agree

to give their services on the new one if. requested to do so, as their experience would bo very useful. If it were known that individual members of the committee were willing to co-operate with the new committee, in showing it hqw the work was done in the past, suggested Mr. J. McLeod, such knowledge might be of great advantage. It would be a big factor in assuring the success of the new scheme.