NOT HEARD

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19985, 18 December 1934, Page 11

NOT HEARD

DEPUTATION TO COUNCIL

RECENT DEMONSTRATION

The recent demonstration of unemployed in Timaru was recalled at last night’s meeting of the Timaru Borough Council when a letter was read from the secretary of the Timaru Unemployed Workers’ Union (Mr F. Hilton) stating that at a meeting of relief workers on November 30 it was decided | to ask the Council that a deputation be received at the next meeting. The objects of the deputation were to discuss the matter of intimidation brought to bear upon the 27 men employed on the scenic road job on the day of the demonstration; also the matter of the deduction of the wages tax on the £2 promised to each man. The personnel of the deputation was Messrs P. Hay, P. Wild and G. T. Koller. The town clerk (Mr E. A. Killick) reported that he had replied to the effect that he had been directed by the Mayor to state that so far as the Mayor was concerned he was not prepared to receive a deputation as this matter had already been thoroughly discussed, and the Mayor regretted that the action of the Council in granting the extra work had not resulted in a better feeling. If, however, the majority of the Council was of opinion that the deputation should be received, that, of course, would alter the position. Cr. W. G. Tweedy said that there had been some suggestion of intimidation, and while he hoped that that was not true he thought that the matter should be cleared up. It was his opinion that when matters of that nature cropped up the Council should receive a report from the officers concerned. Chairman Explains Cr. W. H. Hall, chairman of the Works Committee, said that the Council had given unemployed men with five children or more extra work at the Scenic Reserve. On the day of .the demonstration he had been told by the borought engineer (Mr T. O. Fox) that it was likely that the men at the Scenic Reserve would join in the demonstration. He replied that so far as he was concerned the men leaving the job could stay away. It was their first day on the work, and Mr Fox carried out the speaker’s instructions. The men were working for the Council and not for the UnemI ployment Board. The Mayor (Mr T. W. Satterthwaite) said that the engineer should not have asked for instructions, but should have carried out what he did on his own. Cr. P. C. Vinnell said it had been stated freely that the men at the Scenic Reserve had been intimidated if not victimised. In his opinion the proper procedure would have been for the officer concerned to give the Council a report in the matter and the Council should be guided by what Mr Fox said. The Mayor, who was of the opinion that the matter was not important, reviewed the circumstances of the men's employment by the Council, and said that to want to stop work the day they started was not very much thanks to the generosity of the ratepayers who were providing the extra work for them. Support for the attitude of Cr. Hall was offered by Cr. P. B. Foote, who moved “that the deputation be not received and that the wages of the men be increased to cover the unemployment taxation.” The motion was seconded by Cr. J. R. Hart. Cr. Tweedy said he was satisfied with the explanation of Cr. Hall, who he thought had been justified in his attitude. The motion was carried, Cr. Vinnell, who considered that the matter should be further investigated in the proper manner, dissenting.