DISTRICT BODY TO GIVE RELIEF.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19240, 29 November 1930, Page 33 (Supplement)

DISTRICT BODY TO GIVE RELIEF.

UNEMPLOYMENT BOARD URGES LOCAL ACTION. Per Press Association WELLINGTON, November 28. The Unemployment Board, in furtherance of its drive to afford some relief before Christmas to those suf-, fering through unemployment, invites, in a statement handed to the Press, the co-operation of all local unemployment committees, and urges the setting up of such committees where they do not already exist. The board suggests that the constitution of such committees should be representative of the following organisations:—Local governing authorities, hospital and charitable aid boards, Red Cross societies, religious bodies, all social organisations assisting in the relief of unemployment or distress arising therefrom, Labour organisations, employers’ associations, manufacturers’ associations, returned soldiers’ associations, representatives of the Legislature and the Labour Department, with power to add as determined by the committee itself. Methods Suggested. The committees can help—(1) By collecting and collating information affecting the problem of unemployment in their areas. (2) By organising individual effort on the part of citizens, by which unemployed will find temporary work, even if only for a few days at a time, on farms, gardens or other similar avenues. (3 By co-operating with and assisting the existing social organisations which are administering relief with a view to relieving temporarily the distress caused through unemployment, while affording the board time to explore fully the possibilities of stimulating productive employment, as well as organising the machinery which will be needed if it should be found necessary to pay sustenance under the Act where employment cannot be found. Subsidies. The board is considering a proposal to provide a limited amount of money to subsidise work organised through these local committees on the basis of £1 for £1 on wages only. If all avenues are fully exploited, the board hopes that every unemployed worker, willing and able to work, will get some employment during December and January. The board desires to emphasise that operations of local committees must be organised without any cost to the board In regard to the subsidies offered by the Unemployment Board to tide over the Christmas season in districts where unemployment is acute, the board, to obviate any misapprehension which may exist, desires to state that the amount offered, £25,000, is the total amount for all districts, and allocations in various districts will be made by the board, according to their need, at an early meeting, as soon as applications have been received and can be considered. It has been pointed out that either a certificate of registration or a coupon booklet may be accepted by employers as proof of an employee’s registration.