UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

Taranaki Daily News, 6 December 1930, Page 9

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

NORTH TARANAKI ORGANISATION COMMITTEE TO WORK WITH BOARD MACHINERY FOR ADMINISTRATION Machinery for the immediate operation of the Unemployment. Act in North Taranaki was designed at a representative conference of local body delegates held in the New Plymouth Borough chambers •■blast night. A central.committee and an executive were formed to administer the Act, ancl the procedure to be adopted was regulated by a series of resolutions. The arrangements made will, it is nn- / derstood, operate for two months. It was stated that the district was the first in New Zealand to take such action. Reference was made to the fine work accomplished by the unemployment committee, which now goes out of existence. The experiences of the committee were used in framingmany of the draft proposals. \ It was decided that each local body represented should organ- ■ ise a sub-committee in its own district. The matter of organisation was left in the hands of the representatives of the local bodies present. The sub-committees were to co-operate' with the central eommitte. . Each representative was to forward to the central executive the names of the sub-committees. It was suggested that the farmers and other employers of labour should be requested to get in touch with the representatives of their particular districts with - regard to the work to be done. It was also suggested that farmers should get in touch with the Farmers’ Union secretary about ar- ■ rangements for work.

The Mayor (Mr. Griffiths), who presided, said that in furtherance of the /desire to give work to unemployed be- • fore Christmas the Minister of Labour

. , had held a round-table conference with " ,v local body representatives at New Plymouth last Saturday and had suggested the formation of a central committee. ‘ As a result of the Minister’s suggestion this conference was called to formulate *' scheme to co-operate., with the Unemployment Board in providing work' immediately and extending over'-the next two months. There was nq need for him to stress the urgency -of the matter. The draft proposals had been put together by a sub-committee appointed at the. round-table conference. Acknowledging'a, copy of the draft resolutions sent; : him by Mr. F. T. Bellringer '(town clerk), the Hon. S, G. ■\ Smith; Minister. of Labour, telegraphed from Wellington“ The members of the ;■ -Unemployment "B-oard .specially asked ? 47'me ■to convey tp you their thanks for ife>the draft, proposals you submitted in •'fe regard'to local-/committees and an expression of their appreciation of your .work and the amount of time and thought you devoted to it. It has been suggested, that, with some -additions based on- Press Association statements concerning .eheme No. .2 appearing in to-day’s papers, your draft will prove - «. model set.” 1 , >*: delegates'r'wtrdi _New Plymouth f' : Borough Council, Messrs. H. V. S. Grifi fiths, J. Brown, .F. T. Bellringer; Taranaki County Council, Mr. J. S. Connett; Waitara- Borough Council, Messrs. E. A. George, T. Ewens; Inglewood Borough Council, Mr. J. W- Winfield; Clifton '•;'* County Council, Messrs. H. A. Foreman and N. 0. Fookes;' Inglewood County Council, Mr. A. Corkill; Egmont County Council, Mr. W. C. Green; Taranaki Hospital Board, Mr. S. Vickers; Labour | Department, Mr. C. P- Smith; New Plymouth unemployment committee, Messrs. P. E. Stainton, G. f Palmer and ' W. G. Reid; Farmers’;Union, Mr. H. E. Blyde; Returned Soldiers’ Association, Mt. E. J/ Cai¥; ; ; Mr., .J.; W'.. Darby. The I. Labour .Council was' the only body in- ! vited tb 'the’'bpnference' that was not represented. - “ ’ /:'

DECISIONS - OF~ THE, ; CONFERENCE.

The resolutions as amended and adopted and .(die discussions upon them, follow:-r : ’

(1) .That in the opinion of this meeting it is useless to attempt to deal with

the unemployment question in New Zealand unless legislation is passed effectually £o prohibit any influx of labour from, outside' countries, whether forming ipart .of • the Empire or not. ■ . ■.A'-'//.■

Mr. Vickers said’ this proposal was j.! most important. It was obvious that / they could not afford to find work for unemployed from ./other countries. This matter was urgent and ho suggested it ‘S might be put into operation by Order- / in-Council. '

; (2) That a committee be appointed to co-operate with the 'Unemployment J Board in regard to unemployment in Northern Taranaki, comprising the boroughs of New Plymouth, Waitara ri and Inglewood, and the counties of i. Taranaki, Egmont, Clifton and Inglewood.

“Does the committee represent those alone?” asked Mr. Blyde. It was felt that these were the. natural .boundaries of the districts, Mr.. Griffiths'.". ■ It. did not - necessarily confine them.to .within .those'limits; ' There ’ would, ./probably be-three committees in Taranaki, said Mr., Stainton, one.at. New Plymouth, one at Stratford and one at Hawera. ... - '

(3) That this committee be termed “The North Taranaki Unemployment Relief (Central) Committee” and consist of one representative from each of the following local bodies and associations, etc: New Plymouth Borough Council (Mr. Griffiths), Inglewood ' Borough Council (Mr. Winfield), Waitara Borough Council (Mr. George), Taranaki County Council (Mr. Con-nett),-Egmont County Council (Mr. Green), Clifton County- Council (Mr. Foreman), Inglewood County Council _(Mr. Corkill), Taranaki Workers’ svi.<<Council (to be appointed), Taranaki !.’? Employers’ Association (Mr. Darby), .tv! Taranaki Farmers’ Union (Mr. . /’v Blyde), Taranaki Hospital Board (Mr. Brown), New Plymouth Returned Goldiere’ Association (Mr. Carr), and ' the New Plymouth Unemployment Committee (Mr. Stainton); together '.V with the inspector ci labour for New ? Plymouth (Mr. C- P. Smith) and Mr. W. G; Reid (ex-secretary New Plymouth Unemployment Committee); such committee to have power to add to its numbers from time to time.

. A central executive of the main committee was appointed -as follows:

Messrs. Griffiths, Stainton, Connett, Reid, Brown (representing the Hospital Board), a. representative of the Taranaki’ Workers’ Council and the inspector Of labour. It was stated by one or two representatives that they would have to obtain the approval of their counties but that they would be prepared to act. ~ Did that mean that everyone mentioned then would automatically come on the body? asked Mr. Palmer, who • was nominated for'the committee. Yes, said the Mayor. Mr. Palmer said he would have to withdraw from the work now. He had hetped as much as he could but did not want at this period to tie himself down. Mr. Griffiths spoke highly of' Mr, Palmer’s services. , _ , Mr. Bellringer asked Mr. Palmer if I he would reconsider his decision as the scheme was just-a relief measure over. Christmas until the end of January. The’ committee would like to have the benefit of his experience. Mr. Palmer said he would be pleased to act in a tempor-«, ary capacity. •. . FUNCTIONS OF COMMITTEE. (4) That the functions and duties of I, the North Taranaki Unemployment Relief (Central) Committee be as follows: (a) To collect and collate jn-. formation ’affecting the problem of unemployment in the North Taranaki district; (b) to organise individual effort on the part of residents of the district with the object of finding temporary work for unemployed men if only: for a few days -at a time on farms, gardens, and in : such other aveI nues: as,'opportunity;-,may occur; (c) J. to co-operate with and’ to assist ex-, ' isting organisations /. which are .administering .relief • (d) to administer any fund granted by the board to the committee and approved, by the Minister of Finance, for the purpose of subsidising on a £ for £ basis labour engaged in the district through the committee for works coming within the. following description: Country ■work—(l) Improvements to and . maintenance of land by way of stone clearing, stumping, draining, fencing, rush grubbing and.burning, gorse and. noxious weeds grubbing or cutting or spraying, scrub cutting and work of a similar nature; (2) harvesting; (3): ploughing and harrowing after clearing only, city, town and borough work,/gardening, wood chopping, section clearing, sub-soil drainage, trenching and clerical; work. . (e) To exercise a general -supervision over-all labour engaged through the committee; (f) to co-operate with the board in all matters relating to the relief of. unemployment as the board may from time to time desire; (g) to classify labour offering and to keep a register of all unemployed men, setting out therein particulars of work offered' to eh ch -man, stating whether he. accepted such work, and if so whether he made a reasonable effort to give satisfaction; (h) to report to the board the names of any men declining work or deliberately performing' their work in an unsatisfactory manner; (i) .to appoint local committees in various parts of the district, the duties of each local committee to be as follows: (1) To obtain and supply to the central committee local information required by it in regard to any of the functions of the central committee as above enumerated; (2) to supervise any labour engaged through the central committee for works in the sub-district in which the local committee functions; (3) in all matters relating to the relief of unemployment in the sub-district to cooperate with the central committee in such manner as the central committee shall from time to time indicate.

Mr. Vickers suggested that amongst the various duties of the committee should be included the classifying of labour. A sub-committee could be set ■up to report to the board the names of men unsuitably employed or not uoin<r their work properly. not the carpenter employed in carpentering work have to be paid award wages? asked Mr. Winfield. If that was going to take place there would be great difficulties, said Mr.’ Vickers. He considered men employed under the scheme should •be cut adrift from the ordinary labour. wages. The matter was dealt with under a special labour clause, said Mr. Griffiths. The committee decided to- insert, the words "to classify labour offering in clause (g). - What was meant by the words in the draft of the note qualifying advances “provided the farmer first executes a security in the form prescribed by the board for one-half of the amount of the wages to be paid?” asked Mr. Vickers. What was the form prescribed? Some form would have to be sent to the board, said Mr. Bellringer, and it would probably hive to be sent through the local committee.

RULES FOR ADMINISTRATION. The committee decided that in the administration of any fund granted by the board to it the central committee shall be guided by the following rules:— 1. No work shall be subsidised unless the same be first approved by the central committee and the labour for such .work be engaged through the central committee. 2. The rate of pay shall bo mutually arranged between the employer and the , employee and the subsidy will not , exceed 7s. a day. . y > “I take it that will mean that if by mutual arrangement a man is working for 12s. a day,” said Mr. Vickers, “the subsidy would be 6s. a day.” That made it plain, said Mr. Stainton, that the scheme was separate from the arbitration awards. 3. Subsidy shall be upon labour only, and shall not include Supervision or transport unless specially approved by the central committee. 4. Where a farmer is unable to provide the amount required for the payment of wages for labour engaged through the committee; the committee may (provided the farmer first executes a security in form proscribed by the board for one-half of the amount of the wages to be so paid) arrange for the payment of the whole of such wages. Note: The committee recommends that legislation should be introduced next session to provide that any advances made as set out in paragraph 4 shall be a statutory charge on the land. The amount advanced should be repayable in instalments spread over such period as the board shall prescribe.

In its original form the note clause read that the advances set out in paragraph 4 should be a statutory charge taking precedence of any mortgages on the land in cases where the advance did not exceed £3O and in cases exceeding £3O where the mortgagee Agreed to the advance in writing. In view of the fact that this was only an emergency commission for two months, how did they expect to get statutory permfssion. in that time to make it the first charge on the land? asked Mr. Vickers! The clause .meant that the first mortgage, on the .land became the second mortgage. He did not see how it' could be brought into operation in that short time.

The note was drafted with the idea of helping the farmer who could not find half the money, said Mr. Griffiths. Mr. Stainton thought it was inserted to include all farmers. The' idea of the sub-committee was to put the machinery clause in so that if a farmer could not pay half the money he should not be debarred from the scheme. It was to help the poorer farmer, said the Mayor. The mortgagee profited by the work done on the farm.

It was only fair that the Government should have some safeguarding clause to lend its money on, said Mr. Connett. The only point ivaS should the £3O be granted without the permission of the mortgagee. ' The z mortgagee was having his farm improved by £6O, said the. Mayor, and was being prejudiced to the extent of £3O. ■ ■ Mr. Blyde pointed put that work such as harvesting would not benefit the mortgagee. He. wished to know what sort of security should, be daken over the farm. Perhaps it could be done simply by an extension . of’i.the i intermediate credit system. . The form of the security should not be difficult to find, said Mr. Bellringer. There-were already., other statutory charges on-the, land;; such as power board charges.. • ... The point he; wished to make, said Mr., Blyde, Was'that sb far nothing was before them showing how money could be advanced to fanners for work such as harvesting, / which would not benefit the mortgagee,',/when the farmer could npt .pay.haS the cost. ' QUESTION OF REPAYMENT. The clause said the amount advanced should be repayable, said Mr. Green. No farmer was going to pay 7s a day for unessential work and then repay it. afterwards. '

;■ ‘iSurely/we are at cross purposes over this, thing,”-said' Mr. Connett. He instanced the case of a farmer who wantted to stump/ some land. Say it cost £6 an acre, the .Government would give, not lend, him £3, and if he could not find the other £3 himself it would lend it to him. ; ;./ - ■;<

Mr. Green; But he will have to pay it back., .... ■ :>■' ... £ Mr.' Connett: But the Government gives .him £3 and he has to pay back, only if he borrows the balance. The meeting;- decided to delete the portion of the'clause' dealing with the sum pf the advance. .That would leave ’it to the ...board itself to find some means for security of: lending the money, said Mr. Connett-.

,Mr. Connett raised the question of the transport of men to their work. Mr. Bellringer pointed out that the rules allowed for subsidy on transport in special circumstances.

(5) Payment of subsidies will only be made on labour for 'the purposes hereinbefore mentioned and upon compliance with the following conditions; Labour exchanges or local committees must issue a card to the employer stating the maximum subsidy authorised and advising him of the names and particulars of the men sent to him for the work offering. The employer also will sign the, card after the work is finished, signifying that he has paid; the employee a certain sum. The employee will then, in accordance with the stipulation of the board, take the card to the executive of the local committee, one of whom shall be a Government officer approved by the Unemployment Commissioner. This officer will make out a voucher for the subsidy due and certify it as correct >for payment by the local post office, as well as attaching the original card. i (6) Subsidy on wages will, be granted for work that would not otherwise be undertaken and not for work , that would be carried out in the ordinary course of industry, this not to apply to country work as defined -in 4d. Mr. Blyde said it would be very hard for a farmer to prove the subsidised work would not be done otherwise. Mr. Bellringer said he did. not think ■that was intended. At hie suggestion it was decided this clause should not apply to fanning operations. MUST REGISTER AT BUREAUX. (7) The committee will only find work under this scheme for unemployed men who are registered at Government labour bureaux. (S) All work for which a. subsidy is given must be finished by tha end of January, 1031. The question of the amount of work the counties would have to find was raised by Mr. Foreman. There was little that required doing at the time in the Clifton county. It was explained that the county councils were not bound to find work. As far as the country districts were concerned sub-committees would be set up in each district to find out the work offering. The idea of having representatives of all the local bodies attending the meet-

ing that evening, eaid Mr. Staintdn, was to ensure complete representation on the central committee. Mr. Connett said he interpreted it to mean that their presence on the committee: was to indicate the importance of the work and to indicate to their constituents that the local bodies were willing to db-operate with the board. The operation of the scheme would relieve the work of the Hospital Board, said Mr. Vickers. The work/ of the New' Plymouth Relief Committee had already, been a great help to the board. “I don’t know what we should have done without it,” he eaid. Mr. Stainton eaid the New Plymouth Unemployment Committee would now go but of business automatically. Mr. Griffiths said Mr. Stainton would have to act on the central committee. They would all be very sorry to see him sever his connection with the work in which he had earned the admiration of all sections of the community.

(9) That it be a recommendation tb the board that the small contract system be adopted wherever possible.

Mr. Corkill said he believed if the work could be done on the small contract system there would be more chance of getting better worth out of the work of the men. Otherwise it was bringing the best man down to the level of the worst man.

Mr. Fookes explained that such a. system was in operation in the Clifton County and worked very satisfactorily. A point that had been exercising the minds of the farmers, said Mr. Blyde, Was that some differentiation should be made in the grants to single men and men with dependents. They felt that the single men should not get the same rate as the ■ man with dependents, the 14s a day. Mr. Bellringer pointed out that under the Act by mutual arrangement the amount could be less than 14s a day.

Mr. Blyde then withdrew his recommendation that it be a recommendation to the board to differentiate in the rate to be paid for single men and men with dependents. ' (10) That before an application for employment could be dealt with, the applicant must have three months’ residence in the Taranaki district.

(11) That it be a recommendation to the board that subsidy be also granted on small contracts to be let by farmers for the works enumerated.

The cultivation of town plots was suggested by Mr. Blyde. Town dwellers made very- little use of the amount of land about their houses. The unemployed could perhaps do something towards cultivating their land and the committee could assist by distributing seed and so on. They could then grow vegetables to help keep them in the winter months. • Mr. Griffiths said some of the unemployed had applied for vacant sections in the town, cleared them of noxious weeds and cultivated them.

Be'fore the conference dispersed Mr. .Griffiths said the unanimity of the delegates was most encouraging. This, he said, was the first move to give the Act a fair trial.

At a meeting of the central executive after the general meeting Mr. Stainton was appointed chairman and Mr. Reid secretary. The executive was appointed, as follows:—Messrs. Stainton, Griffiths, Connett, Reid, Brown, 0. P. Smith (Inspector of Labour), and a representative of the Taranaki Workers’ Council.

In moving the appointment of Mr. Reid Mr. Stainton spoke of Mr. Reid’s industry. ' ‘ . On the motion of Mr. Griffiths it was decided to place on record the meeting’s appreciation of the time, thought and labour put\into the drafting of the regulations by Mr. Bellringer. The regulations drafted by him had been sent to Invercargill and the whole Dominion was indebted to him.

- - The question of transport was raised by Mr. Connett. 'Tt was explained that for harvesting and group work in-the country-the men might be taken out by a lorry formerly used by the Relief Committee. ~ .

——« i EMPLOYMENT, IN TARANAKI. x

COUNTY’S PLANS TO GIVE WORK.

Applications from the Taranaki County Council to the Unemployment Board for subsidies on work for the relief of unemployment were considered at a meeting of the council yesterday. The council had already forwarded art application for authorisation of work on the Manutahi Road. It decided yesterday to forward a .further application for work on Castle Hill, Mangorei. They had discussed the. matter of the Manutahi Road work at the last meeting of the council, said Mr. Connett. He had seen the Public Works engineer on Tuesday and he was concerned that the council was not taking quicker action in the matter as he was afraid the sit-ting-of the board might be over before the application had been made. He had gone out to the road with the county’s consulting engineer, said the chairman, and they had got full particulars.- As the board was meeting last Wednesday he had taken it upon himself to set the ball rolling. The Public Works engineer had said he would send forward his recommendation of the work. The matter had been fixed up and the ■ application ♦ was wired that afternoon. So far the council did not know whether it had been favourably received or not. The cost of the work would be £6OO, the county’s share being . £2OO. The work would consist of skipping the metal right across and making a deviation. -/ The work would employ 15 to 20 men and more .would have to be put on at the metal pit. The work had to be completed before January 31. AJI the organisation was ready for beginning the work on Monday and a wire had been sent to the Hon. S. G. Smith asking if the work could be put through. , The council confirmed the chairman s action in carrying on the negotiations. Since then they had thought of the Castle Hill proposition on the Mangorei Road. The engineer had estimated the work would cost between £l5O and £lBO. Extra wqrk on the hill would bring the total cost to about £2OO. The chairman said he had got into touch with the Public Works at Stratford which was prepared to support the application if any more money was available. If the council got £2 for £1 subsidy its share for the work would be £6O to £7O. The work would consist of cutting back the corner on the south side and lowering the hill. Employment would be given 12 men, The council decided to forward the application to the Unemployment Board. POSITION IN CLIFTON COUNTY. UNEMPLOYMENT “VERY SMALL.” The amount of unemployment in the Clifton County was very small, stated the engineer, Mr. N. C. Fookes, at a meeting of the council yesterday. No major works, he said, were required to absorb unemployed labour. He had been able to place in casual work county residents who required assistance. The men employed on Government relief works on the Rerekino and Okau Roads were all outsiders; numbering about 60. A copy of the Unemployment Board’s circular inviting local bodies to take in hand special unemployment relief works to tide over the Christmas period was received by the council, as was a copy of the unemployment relief scheme proposed by Mr. I. J. Bridger, Mayor of Eltham.