UNEMPLOYMENT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19670, 12 December 1933, Page 10

UNEMPLOYMENT

N. Z. CONFERENCE SUGGESTED PROPOSAL NOT FAVOURED IN TIMARU At a meeting of the Timaru Unemployment Committee, which was held last night, a letter was received from the Mayor of Gisborne, forwarding a copy of a letter which had been sent to the Municipal Association, suggesting the holding of a Dominion conference of representatives of municipal bodies to discuss the unemployment problem. The wTiter asked that a telegram be forwarded immediately if support for the proposal was forthcoming. The Mayor (Mr T. W. Satterthwaite > who presided over the meeting, said that he had not sent a telegram, because he did not wish to accept any responsibility. Mr H. G. Naylor: It refers to municipalities. does it not? The Mayor: It does to an extent. The letter was sent to me as Mayor, but I thought I would bring it before this committee. Mr Naylor said he thought the matter was one which the committee should support, for a lot of good might come from such a conference. From time to time it had been made evident that all over New Zealand Unemployment Committees were dissatisfied with the methods employed in meeting the problem. A conference such as the one proposed would be very useful, for at it a committee could be set up to draft something which would be acceptable to all committees, and if this was sent on to the Government, it would carry more weight than individual protests. He moved that the proposal be supported. The Mayor: Who is going to pay the expenses? Matter for Council. Mr S. Lang suggested that Mr Naylor should embody in his motion that the matter be referred to the Borough Council for favourable consideration. If that was done, he would second the motion. Mr Naylor agreed to the suggestion. The Mayor: I don’t know that it will do any good. Mr Naylor: It is the principle of the system that is in question. Mr Lang: We would not hesitate to appeal to other committees. Mr H. J. Mathers: I think it is opening up far too big a question. It opens up the whole economic aspect, and that is a matter for Parliament to tackle. We might be wiser to let well alone. Mr P. B. Foote said that there were many reasons why he was not prepared to agree to the matter being referred to the Council for favourable consideration. In the first place there was the question of expense. He felt that what would happen was that there would be far too many at the conference: there would be a lot of hot air: a number of pious resolutions would be passed and they would get nowhere; and there was an extreme danger that if any extra benefits were to be derived that they would go to the four centres, and the smaller centres would be left out in the cold. Although they had not got all they wanted, or all they thought they were entitled to. he felt that they had been given a fair deal so far as the

finances of the Board were concerned. Motion Defeated. Mr Lang disagreed with the statement that they had had a fair deal. The committee had passed resolutions expressing dissatisfaction, and that they had received scant courtesy from the Board, and he was heartily in accord with the request of the Mayor of Gisborne. He had never taken up & parochial attitude so far as unemployment was concerned, and he did not want to see anything come to Timaru at the expense of some other centre. After further brief discussion, the motion was lost by six votes to four, the voting being:— For—Messrs Lang A H. Moore, Naylor and Father Murphy Against—The Mayor. Messrs R B. Hart. Mathers M. Little. Foote, and the Rev. J. Milburn Stewart.