OUTLOOK IN VICTORIA

Taranaki Daily News, 11 May 1933, Page 5

OUTLOOK IN VICTORIA

PAYMENTS IN SUSTENANCE. REDUCED BY £10,685 A WEEK. In view of the decrease in sustenance payments in Victoria, amounting to £10,685 a week, equivalent to more than £500,000 a year, when compared with the figures for the peak period of July last, there is a possibility of a further reduction in unemployment taxation in the coming financial year. A reduction of 10 per cent was made in the current financial year. The Premier, Sir Stanley Argyle, said lately that- this possibility would be considered when the Budget was being prepared, but much depended upon the result of the meeting of the Loan Council this month. "Loan funds for the relief of unemployment may not be available for next year, or they may be curtailed drastically, in which case it might be necessary to provide for relief works out of the special unemployment taxation fund, which this year has beep, almost exclusively devoted to sustenance,” Sir Stanley Argyle continued. "The decrease in sustenance is very gratifying. It shows that we are beginning to reap the harvest for which the Ministry has so earnestly laboured. When the relief works now authorised, amounting to. considerably more than £1,000,000, are in full operation during the winter, we may hope for a further decrease in ’sustenance. Everything is taking shape as we hoped, although we cannot express satisfaction with the general position of unemployment. The undertaking of centenary works doubtless will improve the situation/