RELIEF WORK REDUCTION

Taranaki Daily News, 21 November 1933, Page 6

RELIEF WORK REDUCTION

PROTEST AT NEW PLYMOUTH ACTION OF THE MAYOR ENDORSED. UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION ALLEGED. BOROUGH COUNCILLORS’ OPINIONS Support for the action of the Mayor of New Plymouth (Mr. E. R. C. Gilmour) in his protest to the Commissioner of Unemployment at the reduction of six hours and a half in the weekly time to be worked under the No. 5 scheme was voiced by members of the borough council at a meeting last night. The inequality of the bases of distribution in the cities and the smaller centres was stressed as the vital consideration in the case of New Plymouth. In reply to the Mayor’s protest Mr. w. Bromley wrote on behalf of the commissioner that the review of the allocations lately made had had fairly general application throughout the Dominion and was necessitated by the excess of weekly expenditure over weekly income that the board had felt justified, in incurring during the winter. The expected decrease in the numbers of registrations with the commencement of the warmer months had not materialised to the extent anticipated, however, and it was now utterly impossible to maintain allocations on the same basis as that operating during past months. , , L . It was pointed out that the reduction in the case of New Plymouth was very slight compared with those at other centres, the variation being only 5 per cent. In monetary terms this represented a reduction of Is. 3d. a week only for B class men and Is. lid. a week for C class men, not Bs. Id., as had been stated. It was hardly necessary to point out that the board for the past two years had not been in a position to allocate to centres funds sufficient to provide all workers with, the maximum rates of pay permissible under the rules of the No. 5 scheme. While it was not possible to give any when these rates would again apply, the maximum allocation possible was being made to New Plymouth. . NOT ON SAME RATIO. The great grievance in the New Plymouth district, said Cr. P. E. Stainton, was that the allocations made for relief work were not on the same ratio as in the main Centres. There would have been no complaints forthcoming when the recent reduction, was made, he felt, if the allocations in smaller centres such as New Plymouth, were on the same basis as those in the cities. Experience had proved that the contention that there was more seasonal work to be obtained in the smaller centres than in the cities was not correct. That having been brought home to the Unemployment Board, it was surely a case for a review of the basis of allocation and for a more equitable distribution. It was along such lines that hfe thought the protest from New Plymouth should be maintained, Cr. Stainton emphasised.. The North Taranaki committee had done its best but had been unsuccessful in obtaining a review of the basis of allocation. Cr. S. J. Smith associated himself with Mr. Gilmour in the action he had taken. Though the board. claimed there would be only a difference of about Is. a week, even that meant much to men on relief work. ’ -■. It was explained that the would be more than Is., and that the board’s figures were misleading. Mr. Gilmour said one of the complaints he had against the administration of unemployment relief was that if a man obtained work other than relief work he had to stand down for three weeks before he could obtain relief work. That was too hard on the unemployed and was too long a period for a man to be without work. He would have nothing to live on in the meantime. If it were not for the hospital board and the Mayor’s relief fund he did not know how the unemployment funds would be. Cr. J. Brown said the relief worker was allowed to earn only £7 10s. a month. If he earned more he was penalised. Cr. Stainton: It is a penalty on him all the way through. Mr. Gilmour: If a man had the initiative to find outside work for himself I would give him a pat on the back, and not penalise him. Cr. Stainton: Absolutely. ■ The North Taranaki committee has done everything it can to assist : the men. But the committee is bound, and hedged about by regulations which' I am convinced are a hindrance to and a penalty bn the men. The Mayor took exception to the fact that many single men were paying the unemployment levy and were getting no work. The first consideration of the committee was for married men with families, said Cr. Brown. Many single men could get work in the country, but they were not willing to leave the town. INQUIRY INTO BOARD’S WORKING. OAMARU MAYOR’S SUGGESTION. By Telegraph—Press Association. Oamaru, Last Night. A representative meeting of the Oamaru Borough Council, Waitaki Hospital Board, Chamber of Commerce, retailers’ committee and business men this afternoon protested strongly against the reduced allocations in provincial towns for unemployment relief. The Minister advised through the member of Parliament for Oamaru that Oamaru’s allocation was only 5 per cent, lower than on the basis operating in October, there being no possibility of reinstating the October basis. The Mayor (Mr. Cooney) pointed out that Oamaru now had the summer allocation, which last year commenced in February. He considered a searching inquiry should be made into the workings of the board. It was unanimously resolved to make a strong protest and to take action with other provincial towns to place full information before the Government.