SUBSIDY OF £2000 FULLY EARNED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17905, 22 July 1926, Page 4

SUBSIDY OF £2OOO FULLY EARNED.

PUBLIC THANKED FOR GENEROUS RESPONSE TO UNEMPLOYMENT FUND. 1 he public subscriptions to the unemployment fund organised by the Citi- ° mm * ttee having now reached £2019, the subsidy of £2OOO granted by the City Council has been fullv earned, making a total of £4014 thus available c?t\- 1C unemplox-mcnt in the A report to this effect was presented at the weeklv general meeting of the committee held to-day. The Mayor (Mr J. K. Archer) presided and there were also present. Messrs C. 11. Hewlett, A - E. Leadley, 11. Worrall, F. C. Ellis. K- B. Owen. A. R. Galbraith, E. 11. J' oun S. E. O. Qucrec and the Rev F. Rule. Mr Hewlett, chairman of the. Finance Appeal Sub-committee, reported that that position of the board to date was as follows:

" I think we must all feel very gratified with the result and that the money has -been subscribed so generously," said the Mayor. “ The whole of the City subsidy can now . be claimed. I think it shows a very fine spirit on the part of the citizens of Christchurch. ” Mr Worrall moved that the committee express appreciation of the response of the general public. Mr Andrews, in seconding the motion, said that the members of the executive took every opportunity of expressing the thanks of the committee to the public. " Although the public have responded very well I don’t want them to call a halt, ” said Mr Hewlett. The committee needed another £3OOO or £4OOO to deal with the unemployment problem in the city. They were getting the money in very well but they needed more. Mr Leadley asked if there was any chance of getting more subsidies. He was not referring to the City Council but to other local bodies. lie was wondering if it would be possible to obtain subsidies from other local bodies, as they would act as an incentive to the public to continue subscribing to the fund. He expressed his appreciation of the way the public had been subscribing to the fund and remarked that it spoke well for the way the SU £? Cr iP,v° n Hsts had been organised. Mr Kills said that the credit for the success of the financial appeal was due very largely to Mr Hewlett, and b ? uquets "’ore to be given away should'be givem *° " hom the >' Mayor: We all appreciate fully icr/t f S but 1 think-the secret ■of our success has been that we are all united. rteSwi m ° ti ° n ' vas carried and it was tw d ° draw..attention to the fact £3OOO “ 4SSo m if U lt was ed to d dea°l th e e f r . blem Ve ’ y " lth tIIC unem P lo yment proMr Hewlett; remarked that the comId! th C c had ”- 0t i been able to deal with al the married men yet. There are the „ a hundred married men on . the unemployment register. WHERE MEN ARE WORKING. Mr Hewlett reported that the allocation of the men on the relief works was as follows:—Richmond Domain 13, nycr bank, city, 9, reserve No. 212 vY ainoni, 25, Bottle Lake 22 river bank. Woolston, 11, Spreydon Domain on pleton s R° a d 25, Beckenham pool 29, Riccarton City Council 6, Lyttelton Borough Council 7, Heathcote County Council 6, Papanui railway reserve 4 a total of 161. Since the committee had commenced its activities 183 men had been given employment, of whom 22 had since secured work elsewhere, leaving 161 still employed by the committee. The executive, said Mr Hewlett, had decided to build the number up to 200 and intended to put on another forty inen this The position would be again reviewed in a week’s time. Mr Leadley: Are these all married Mr Hewlett: They are all married. Mr Rule: Is there any chance for single men? I am being bombarded by them all the time. Mr Worrall: So am I. NEEDS OF SINGLE MEN. Mr Hewlett said that that was one of the reasons why the committee needed more money. The executive hoped to be able to bring down a, report dealing with the single men in a week’s time. Mr Owen reported on the action taken by the executive in telegraphing to the Minister of Public Works, suggesting that the Menzies Bay Road work should be available for single instead of married men. He said that the position of single men was the gravest problem now before, the committee. The executive had given considerable. thought to the matter. A number of the men were fine, clean, upstanding young fellows who were well worthy of assistance. Many of them were boarding and were unable to_pav for their board.

!\lr Ellis said it was a mistake to send married men to places like Kaikoura and Menzies Bay, because it was hard for them to keep two homes going on a wage of 14s a day. He thought that those jobs should be made available for single men. Mr Hewlett said the committee was able to deal effectively with the married men. Their trouble was in regard to the single men, but the executive. hoped to be able to do something The matter was referred to the executive to deal with. Mr Worrall said he thought the executive should be empowered to employ single men for short periods in order to assist them. At present the single men were cut out from the committee’s work and they were also cut out from the Government work. And to make matters worse for them some employers, probably believing they were doing the right thing, were putting Off single men in order to take on married men. He suggested that the executive be given authority to employ single men for short periods: The Mayor said he thought that that was understood. THE RELIEF DEPOT. A report on the work carried on at the relief depot since it was opened last Friday was presented by Mr Owen. The report stated that Miss Cardale had undertaken the duty of visiting familes in distress and was rendering splendid assistance in this respect. Hundreds of garments had been sent

into the depot, besides boots, bedding and furniture, and a good deal of food had been received. Gifts of money totalling £59 16s 6d had also been sent to the depot, and it was being used for purchasing coal and foodstuffs in addition to what had been donated. The report was received and the subcommittee in charge of the depot was given authority to deal with the money that was being received. Mr Ellis said there had been some criticism of the depot. It had been complained that there was too much prying into cases, but he was satisfied that the criticism had been met and that the depot was doing good work. Anybody in need of assistance could obtain it in five minutes. Mr Andrews asked if the sub-commit-tee in charge of the depot had considered any means of collecting goods. He knew of cases where people had goods, but no means of sending them The Town Clerk (Mr J. S. Neville) said that the council had arranged to bring in some goods. Mr Owen said that the matter had been taken up with the Master Carriers’ Association, and the carriers were assisting. UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES. Mr Queree reported that the total number of unemployed registered at the Government Labour Bureau was 226, comprising 103 married men with an aggregate of 230 dependents, and 123 single men with 16 dependents. The new applications received this morning totalled 14, and seven men had bcen placed in employment. The report of the women’s branch of the Government Labour Bureau stated that since Tuesday morning, when the branch was opened, 26 applications for employment had been received. Six of the applicants had been sent to employment, and twenty were still on the register, as follows:—Thirteen domestic workers, two clerical workers, one waitress, one bookbinder, one shop assistant, one dressmaker and one factory hand. Two new applications were received this morning.

Public! subscriptions re- £ d ' eelved 2014 1° 10 C “S h e a'^ U .. 000 0 0 £4,014 10 10 Wages, etc., pak/tffjuly 16 743 11 0 Wages duo week ending July 23, say 550 0 0 1293 1 9 Balance available £8,721 1 . Riccarton Borough Council . . 50 Lyttelton Borough Council and Harbour Board .... 75 Ileathcote County Council . . 50 s. d. 0 0 £175 0