CITY COUNCIL PROVIDES £750 RELIEF SUBSIDY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17879, 22 June 1926, Page 12

CITY COUNCIL PROVIDES £750 RELIEF SUBSIDY.

UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM IN CH’CH WILL BE EASED BY BIG FUND. The Finance Committee recommended the City Council night, to make provision for a sum of £750 on the estimates, to be subsidised at the rate of £1 for £1 by the Unemployment Committee, the total sum to be spent on works controlled by the council. Councillor <'. P. Agar moved the adoption of the report. It was decided to provide a subsidy of £750 for the relief of unemployment in the city and to make £250 available immediately. Councillor F. R. Cooke asked if money coming from other sources than the Unemployment Committee’s funds ■would also be subject to the subsidy. Unemployment was a terrible capitalist disease, and it was a reflection on their intelligence if they could not overcome Councillor Agar said he understood there was an amount of about £l3O held over from last year. It was not intended that that money should be subject to a subsidy, but all moneys handed over to the committee would receive the subsidy up to £750. Councillor E. 11. Andrews said that about £3O of what was held over from last year might have to be paid out to meet liabilities which were still the subject of negotiation. That left approximately £IOO available from last year. Already this year nearly £7C had been subscribed, and the committee hoped to be able to make a start on Wednesday morning. The. committee wondered if the council would pay a portion of the subsidy, say up to £250, in advance. There was no question about the money coming in from the t>ublic. Councillor Agar said that all the wages woftld need to be paid out by the council; otherwise the money would come under the heading of unauthorised expenditure. The Mayor said that, all money actually received by the council would be eligible to participate in the. subsidy. The report was adopted. On the motion of Councillor A. M’Kellar, a sub-committee consisting of the Mayor and Councillors Agar and Andrews was appointed to supervise the expenditure of the money on liehalf of the council A motion by Councillor Andrews that a sum of £250 of the .council’s subsidy be made available at once was carriedThe. By-Laws Committee, also reported that the Returned Soldiers' Association had applied for permission i to hold concerts in the Liberty Theatre on Sunday, June 27, and Sunday, July 4, when it was intended to take up a collection in aid of the association’s unemployment fund. Derry’s Band had been granted permission to give a concert on June 27 in the Liberty Theatre, but did not now require > the date, and the Returned Soldiers’ Association’s application had been granted. The report was adopted. STANDARD WAGES WANTED At a meeting of the Canterbury Labour Representation Committee recently it was stated that a worker who had been granted relief to the value of 10s by the Hospital Board had been ordered to give a. day’s work to the Domains Board in return. The meeting passed’ a resolution protesting against able-bodied men being compelled to work for less than the standard ruling rates of wages, as provided for in the Arbitration -Court's awards. REDUCED CAR FARES ASKED. It was reported at a meeting of the Tramway Board yesterday that the Unemployed Relief Committee had asked for free passes or fare, concessions for men employed on the relief works at Sumner. The Works and Traffic Committee reported that it could not accede to the request. “If it did,” the report continued, “then it could not refuse similar fare rebate to casual labourers intermittently working anywhere. but not on the relief works. It. however, offered to meet the committee’s wishes to this extent, that, the ordinary concession tickets could he used without restrictions of any kind, and that the board would refund i the purchaser for any rides unused when the relief work finished.” AN APPEAL FOR FUNDS. The finance appeal committee of the Christchurch Unemployment Committee is making a special appeal to the. various firms in the city and their employees to contribute towards the funds to help relieve distress through unemployment and to provide useful work. A good many of the city's industries close down or slacken off for a period of three months or so during the winter and that means, of course, the throwing of many men out of work. If sufficient money can be raised it is intended to employ men on works of a necessary or useful nature, some of which, if not. done by the Unemployment Committee, will have to be done by the City Council later on and paid for out of rates. Married men with dependents are to be given preference. The appeal is being made to the firms along the following lines: - (a) By a direct; donation. (b) By ten weekly or three monthly subscriptions from employees, the firms to consider subsidising the amounts. (c) In any other manner thought, fit. The appeal points out that a subscription of 6d per week from all adult employees over the period stated will I be of great assistsncc