UNEMPLOYMENT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18848, 10 April 1931, Page 6

UNEMPLOYMENT.

SCHEME NO. 5. the amended rules. By Telegraph —Press Association WELLINGTON. April 9. The Hon. S. G. Smith, who is Chairman of the Unemployment Board made the following statement to-day concerning the amended rules governing the operation of Scheme No. s: Prom Saturday next. 11th April, until 25th April, Scheme No. 5 will be suspended owing to the position of the Board’s funds, and in order to allow certifying officers the opportunity of completing the reclassification of the registered unemployed. Only those qualified under the new rules will be able to obtain relief when work is recommended. The new rules follow closely on the lines of the old ones, with the exception of three major changes. These are as follow: “(1) The adoption of the principle ‘No levy, no relief.’ “(2) Relief on the rationed basis of two, three and four days a week is now to be granted for three weeks only out of each four consecutive weeks; that is, for one week out of four no relief is granted. “(3) Married men and widowers with two dependent children are now only entitled to three days’ work a week, instead of four days as previously. “To bring the classification for relief into line with the generally accepted basis for the minimum wage and the Family Allowances Act. power is provided for a searching investigation to be made into the circumstances and financial position of all applicants in 1 order that only the genuinely unem- 1 ployed wage-earner shall obtain benefits under the scheme. In future, all , labour must be engaged through the employment bureau of the Labour De- ! partment, or through permanent Post Offices outside those centres. Where there is a branch of the Labour Department, local bodies are to continue to provide work for the unem- I ployed, but the Unemployment Board will exercise a closer supervision over , the expenditure. “The attention of local bodies has ; been directed to the necessity for insisting that work done under the scheme shall, wherever possible, be useful and necessary. “It is realised that certain sections of the community will experience hardship through being debarred from obtaining work under this scheme, but it has become necessary so to apportion relief that it shall be distributed only amongst those who have always been wage-earners, and are now without any income whatever. The Board has every sympathy with those who do not come within this category, but its funds will not permit of an extension of its operations. “The Board's policy with regard to wages under relief schemes remains the same, namely, the rate shall in all cases be determined by the local body, the Board refunding wages only up to the amount of the public works standard of relief rates for the time being in force, and where the rates paid by the local authority are in excess of

by the local authority.” APPEAL TO LOCAL BODIES. “Drastic revision of the rules governing the administration of the Unemployment Board’s relief schemes has necessitated the temporary suspension of Scheme No. 5,” stated the Hon. the Minister of Labour (Mr S. G. Smith), who is chairman of the Board, in an interview. “Advice of this suspension was forwarded to the local bodies of the Dominion on 2nd instant, but it is desired to again direct their attention, and that of the public generally, to the urgent need for complete cooperation with the Unemployment Board if the spectre of unemployment is to be kept in check. “The suspension of Scheme No. 5 will take effect on and from 13th April, and will continue in force until 25th April, and it is hoped that during that period local bodies will use their utmost endeavour to And work for the unemployed. For the past five months the Unemployment Board has carried a burden far in excess of that anticipated by the people of the Dominion, and in doing so greatly has relieved the strain on the funds of local authorities. In view of this fact and of the strengthened finances which local bodies may now rely upon at the beginning of their mw financial year, the Unemployment Board confidently appeals to them to carry the burden of finding work duiing the fortnight’s suspension of the relief scheme. “Help for local bodies in the prosecution of work will be resumed under the amended scheme, but in the meantime no relief work will be authorised by the Unemployment Board under Scheme No. 5.” RELIEF WORK ON FARMS. By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, April 9. In a statement to-day concerning the Uemployment Board’s Schemes No. 4a and 4b, which were devised primarily to encourage developmental work on farms, and induce some of the unemployed in towns to undertake work in the country, the Hon. S. G. Smith, chairman of the Board, said that up to the present date 2142 unemployed men had been absorbed in productive work under the schemes. The numbers of the men employed in farming and land development work under the Board’s schemes are as follows: Scheme 4a 15 15 Scheme 4b ** 2 00 Native Trust Properties 196 Lands Department 230 Total 2142 It was expected, as a result of the experience gained in farm work under these schemes, that many of the men now employed who had hitherto been engaged in city occupations would prove valuable recruits to the fanning industry. In any case, to the extent that the schemes have relieved congestion of unemployed in the towns they may be regarded as valuable factors in the restriction of the spread of j unemployment. In addition, there I was every prospect of an increase in primary products in the near future.