NEW SOUTH WALES DOLE

Taranaki Daily News, 20 June 1931, Page 9

NEW SOUTH WALES DOLE

COST FOR PAST YEAR. TOTAL OF £1,681,870. Sydney, June 0. Giving evidence before the Select Committee of the Legislative Council, which is inquiring into the Amending Arbitration Bill, the chief accountant of the New South Wales Treasury, Mr. R. J. Colvin, said that according to the Treasury bocks, £1,681,879 was spent by the Government on food relief for the unemployed from July 1, 1930, until June 5 last. During the same period, said Mr. Colvin, £2,149,387 waa spent on relief works throughout the 'State. Thus, in round figures, about £460,000 more was spent on relief works than on the dole. Replying to questions by the chairman of the committee, Mr. E. H. Farrar; M.L.C., and Mr. W. Brooks, M.L.C., Mr. Colvin said that the applications for the dole were increasing, and it appeared that the cost for the whole of the current financial year would be at least £2,000,000. The dole was being paid out of the Unemployment Relief Fund and not consolidated revenue. The last treasurer, Mr. Stevens, had advanced £500,000 to the fund from the Treasury, and this amount was gradually being paid back. An amount of £234,826 was still due to the Treasury from this advance. The figures quoted by Mr. Colvin are illuminating as showing what the people of New South Wales arc paying by way of unemployment tax to keep the State’s vast army of unemployed. A bright feature of the whole business, however, is the fact that there is an increasing reluctance on the part of the unemployed to accept the dole ’without attempting to make some return for it in the way of work performed. . Unemployed persons in various parts of the State have already done a considerable amount of work for local authorities in payment for the relief that they have been afforded by the dole, and in manv instances they have assisted the local hospitals by carting firewood and performing other tasks. By this means they retain their self-respect and arc able to feel that they arc performing »ome useful function for the community instead of being a constant drain upon its resources while making no return.