RELIEF WORK SYSTEM

Taranaki Daily News, 5 June 1935, Page 11

RELIEF WORK SYSTEM

INGLEWOOD DISCUSSION SOME MEN NOT FITTED TO WORK. ■’ ■ ' CLEARING OF NOXIOUS WEEDS. / Unemployment relief, particularly as it applied to the employment of older men and of men for whom it was not. possible to provide transport to send out with gangs that were not engaged on ordinary maintenance work formed the subject of discussion at the meeting of the Inglewood County Council yesterday. • . . . •. . The discussion arose when it was stated that a few men were employed on maintenance work, because it was not possible to send them out with the gangs. Cr. Gibson said it was a. problem; to , know what to do with those men. They were useless as far as the council was concerned. ■ , .. Cr. Grieve considered that the men could be made much more useful if, a strong foreman were placed over them, y It seemed to him that all the men were foremen.. V >= ‘ : The chairman, Cr. Corkill, pointed out J that the cost of transporting the foreman would be heavy and would have to be borne by the council. When the council put the men into gangs, splen- .’ did results had been obtained, results - y that they had never got before. He considered that some of the foremen should ' 1 not be in charge of the relief men, who.'-; were not so easy to handle as ordinary / employees. When men were engaged on./' standard pay, the foreman could tell them either to do their work or gel out. Cr. Jones considered that the council might just as well get rid of the responsibility of the unemployed men, and let some one else take that responsibility. / The ratepayers had to bear . the cost of; transport and were, receiving no benefit from their work in the way of road maintenance. The men were employed.' in taking off comers for the benefit of the travelling public. He was also definitely of opinion that hb matter how good a foreman ntight be, he .could not = possibly get the best out of the men. The engineer said the men would probably tell the foreman that , they were? only on sustenance payment If a couple / of good workers were put in a gang with three slackers, they would probably also slacken down after two or three weeks, as they would ask why should they, , “burst their boilers” \in order to carry three drones “on their backs.” DISCRIMINATION NEEDED. The chairman considered that there should be some discrimination in mak- . x ing up the gangs of unemployed. ( It would be far better to leave some -of the old men at home, as it was not fair, to ask them to go out and work under ' such conditions. Indeed they were not able to work. Considerable work was being carried out on the zigzag at Tarata - and he had frequently seen old men try-;', ing to work in the sunshine with their overcoats, below their knees., It was not fair, to ask such men to work. They wanted . the sympathy. of the? council ' ' rather, than its opposition. It 1 would eer-.-.., tainly have been far better to have left' those men at home and ;give them ! mdhey , for stopping there, than to put the council to the expense of transporting them., He understood, too, that the.men were I being’transported to: their work in open trucks and that they had asked, without success, to have canvas covers pro- > vided. He considered that the council ■ should have provided -them With such: comfort, particularly as the cost would be trifling. Indeed he considered that it _ was fortunate under the circumstance* if the men did not get very hot at their work, as asking them to get iqto an open truck to .be driven home, would probably result in them having to go to the hospital. , ' Cr. Jones i , suggested that when the chairman visited Wellington 'he should place the position before the Minister; of : Employment with a view to discussing - the conditions under which the council could utilise the unemployment relief labour, '■ .. _ Cr. Grieve, considered tliat th* men should be classified in gangs. Men who had not been used to handling pick and shovels could not be expected. to pro-. . duce as good results as men who had. He experience was that good navvies among the unemployed worked ‘ very ? ' well.' ■ ’V ‘ ~i ■*f '' The chairman said that he did not know what time the unemployed were supposed to get to work. They appeared io be coming and going all the time. ? TRAVELLING - TIME.' ' • -• U 1! '",i The ' engineer said unemployed were allowed travelling time on* way out of tiie. Unemployment Board’s funds. They were supposed to get to work at 8.30 < a.m. and return home at 5 pun. ' The chairman rerparked that there were any amount of clofhes and food , in New Zealand and there should be; ■, . no need for old men to be .sent out to . , those jobs. Councillors should take more interest in the unemployed and their problems and that was the reason why ’ he had urged at last meeting that th* council should set up «an unemployment . ’committee. - The council decided later- in the meeting to take the necessary steps to hav* the waggon covered. . S . Discussion on another aspect of th*/ unemployment relief question took place ; earlier in the meeting, when a letter >. was received from Mr. J. M. Ferriday, ; ■ inspector of noxipus ? weeds, New. Ply- ’ mouth, asking to be advised as to what ■ extent farmers had availed themselves .- of the assistance extended .to ' themv;hy the Unemployment Board, during th* . summer months, of relief labour in aa», ■ ? - attempt .to eradicate. ragwort in the Inglewood county.. ' , - /The clerk, Mr. H. W,-Martin, stated • that-ten or a dozen farmers ? had taken , advantage of the scheme, k the wages amounting tb about -£3O? ; ' -. ' . ‘ Cr. Jones said that was hot the farm- J ? ers’ fault. They could not employ the men owing to the difficulty of transport. . The engineer agreed that the transport ; ; problem had killed the scheme. - ' i Cr. Jones said that farmers would have taken all the men offering for the work if transport could have been arranged, r ; The engineer stated that farmers had Jold him that they' were/ not able to , leave their milking sheds to - transport the men either in the .mornings or th* evenings.- . .. . Cr. Jones considered that the transport should have been organised for th* farm-, ers. , Cr. Corkill said that the question of the ragwort was one that the council would have to take up seriously later. ?, The Government was not attending to the’ragwort on its properties,. * ' / Cr. Stachurski said that a y lot, of farm- , ers would have been prepared to board the men.-'