UNEMPLOYED FOR FARMS

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1932, Page 8

UNEMPLOYED FOR FARMS

CANCELLATION OF 4a CENSURED.

MAYOR OF ELTHAM CRITICISED.

“That men over 40 years of age .should he eligible for employment under the No. 4a unemployment scheme,” was a motion carried by the Stratford executive of the Farmers’ Union on Saturday. It promoted strong criticism of the cancellation of the scheme, and Mr. L. Bunn took the Mayor of Eltham (Mr. Ira J. Bridger) severely to task over .the attitude he has adopted towards the scheme. .

'‘Mr. Bridger has complained that the people of Eltham have received no benefit from the unemployed, but he forgets that relief workers on farms in the Eltham district spend the money they receive at Eltham,” Mr. Bunn said. Mr. Bunn went on to say that a different spirit prevailed at Stratford, .where the Mayor (Mr. P. Thomson) tried to get the unemployed into the country.' If Mr. Bridger would copy Mr. Thomson’s example more good would be done. He alleged that the elimination of the 4a scheme was due to some extent to Mr. Bridger’s efforts. Mr. Bridger said farmers were using the men to help milk, 'but there was no objection to that under the scheme as long as the man employed was additional labour. There were cases where the relief worker was better at milking than at other farm work and it was only common sense for the farmer to use the worker for milking, thus enabling the farmer to devote his time to developmental work. ‘'ELTHAM ATTITUDE WRONG.” “The squeal at Eltham is in the wrong direction,, and if Bridger and others would try to put men on the land they would do some good,” Mr. Bunn said. “This means that the 4a men will come into the towns,” remarked Mr. J. Wood. “The scheme was not intended for the .benefit of the farmer and the Unemployment Board is ensuring that such shall not ‘be the case,” said the chairman (Mr. M. G. Trotter). “The board,” ho added, “views with alarm the increase in unemployment and it wants these men to be absorbed in permanent employment.” “And yet the Minister of Employment appealed to farmers to take men under the scheme,” Mr. IBunn said. The chairman said the Hon. C. E. Macmillan asked farmers to engage men for spraying ragwort and cutting blackberry, but when the farmers applied for men they were asked to give the workers a subsidy. Many farmers could not afford even to board a man, much less pay him extra, Mr. J. Wood said. Those were the settlers who needed men most, not the farmers who could afford to offer a subsidy. The chairman: That is my complaint. The farmer who is badly in need of men cannot get them because the man with financial backing can offer them more in subsidies. Mapy farmers have told me that they are fed up with the situation. The position is intolerable. Mr. Bunn referred to the new scheme under which a farmer could have not less than four men at a time. That, he said, was all right for the settler with a large amount of work to be done, but he did not think that at the present time suitable men were available in the (Stratford district. Mr. E. Marfell indicated that he had always favoured the 4a scheme, and while he knew it was open to abuse it had to be admitted that any scheme on similar lines would suffer from the’ same complaint. Farmers who could afford to employ labour without assistance should be above applying for men under the scheme, he added. The secretary (Mr. H. A. Hunt) mentioned that he had been a member of the Stratford Unemployment committee since its inception and he could not remember any cases of the scheme’s having been abused. DROWNING AT MATAU. EVIDENCE AT THE. INQUEST. “This is one of those unfortunate cases which are purely accidental,” stated the coroner, Mr. W. L. Kennedy at an inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death oif Clyde Matthias Smith, aged six, at Stratford on 'Saturday. The boy was drowned in the Matau stream on Tuesday. Evidence was given .by Edward McCoard, farmer, of Matau, who was one of the party who helped to take the body out of the stream on Friday. He said he was a member of the search party and was present when the body was found. The body was clothed in a singlet and top shirt. The boy had a strong liking for water, amounting almost to a mania with him. Arthur Dickson Smith, the father, said the boy was missed at about 8 o’clock in the morning. 'Witness said he tracked him up the stream, which was about two chains from the house. He saw tracks along the bank and where the boy had been sitting in the edge off the water. He picked up a piece of scone the boy had dropped, and searched the stream for some distance. He then returned to the house and rang the nearest neighbour. The boy had not been seen there. The neighbours joined witness in the search and he then rang the police. A towel taken from the house was found. Witness was present when the body was found four days later about 10 chains from the house. The boy was six years old and was subject to fits. It was a habit of the boy to play 'by the stream. Usually the stream would be from one to two feet deep, but at this time it was about five feet deep with a very swift current. It was probable that the boy had been sitting on the side and had had a fit and fallen in. Constable Colbourne said he assisted in the search. The stream was flowing very fast and was very dirty, being full of stumps and logs. In delivering the verdict of accidental death Mr. Kennedy expressed sympathy with the boy’s parents. ASHLEY BENEFIT FUND. The total standing to the credit of the Ashley benefit fund at the Stratford office of the Taranaki Daily News is £l5 18s. The fund was instituted in aid of Mrs. G. Ashley, widow of George Ashley, who was drowned in the Waitara River near Kiore. Previously acknowledged ... £l5 8 0 Sympathiser (N. Plymouth) 10 0 £l5 18 0