HIGHER RELIEF PAY

Taranaki Daily News, 13 February 1935, Page 14

HIGHER RELIEF PAY

REQUEST BY WELLINGTON UNION. RESTORATION OF MILK RATION. By Telegraph—Press Association, Wellington, Feb. 12. Amongst the requests placed before the deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board, Mr. W. Bromley, '.o-day by a deputation of relief workers were an increase of 10s a week for all relief workers and men on sustenance and the restoration of the milk ration. The question of married nen in camp also came up. Mr. Bromley was assured that the offer of the board to send 25 men from Wellington to public works camps, probably in the Nelson area, would not be accepted. It was pointed out that the loss of milk through the cessation of the ration outweighed the increases in cash payments. A man with three children, for instance, drew another Is 6d but lost 14 pints of milk. It was suggested that half a pint of milk should be issued for every member of a family. “When men get into these camps they do not go away,” said Mr. Bromley. He added that the public works officer in charge of the Dunedin. camps had received 149 written applications from old public works employees for employment in the camps. The pay was 10s 6d a day and the men worked six days a weeK. The average pay was £3 a week. “If you nominate 25 of your men we will see to it that the men get there and will see that their wives do not want until the first pay comes,” said Mr. Bromley. In response to a question Mr. Bromley stated that probably 8000 of the men now in public works camps were married.