MORE WORK FOR SAME MONEY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19299, 28 September 1932, Page 9

MORE WORK FOR SAME MONEY

WORK OF UNEMPLOYED OUTSIDE CITIES. STATEMENT BY COMMISSIONER. The Commissioner of Unemployment (Mr G. C. Godfrey) has addressed the following letter to the Mayor of Timaru (Mr T. W. Satterthwaite>. as chairman of the Timaru Unemployment Committee: “I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, in regard to various matters affecting your Committee and have to reply as follows to the statements made: (1) The same treatment as accorded to other places is also extended to Timaru in regard to i information of general interest The { fact iliat the contents of confidential I circulars appear in the press of other | districts is simply an indication that those districts are not observing the | same code as your Committee has very commendably followed. (2) The reduction of the basic wage under Scheme No. 5 is necessitated by the fact that the rules of that scheme provide that the wage shall not exceed thaet paid by the Public Works Department on their standard relief works. As a matter of fact, the reduction now effected w : as overdue. Now that the worst of the winter is over, it is felt that the reduction will not impose that degree of hardship which might have been caused by its earlier enforcement. The fixation of fractional parts of days was a necessary corollary of the reduction of the basic rate. Complaints on this score have been received, but it is not generally realised that the fractional parts of days would be walked only where the allocation is sufficient to afford a full ration of work, which is unfortunately the exception rather than the rule. In any case, it is open to employing authorities to so arrange their work and the employment of men to avoid the necessity of men working less than a full day at any .time as long I as the maximum ration and the allocation are not exceeded. The funds at the disposal of the Board absolutely prohibit the extension of the City rationing scheme, as were this introduced in Timaru it j would not be possible to withstand similar applications from other districts. “I trust that this reply will assist your Committee in appreciating the reason for the alteration in the No. 5 scale, and also remove the erroneous j impression that in regard to circulars Timaru is being treated differently j from other places.”