RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYMENT: A SUSTENANCE PROVISION.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 458, 20 May 1932, Page 6

RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYMENT: A SUSTENANCE PROVISION.

To-day’s Special Article

Rural Allotments Scheme and Other Work to Benefit Private Properties.

(III.) The following and succeeding articles review the effect of the more important of the emergency amending measures passed by Parliament during the session now ended. Aspects of unemployment relief measures are dealt with in the accompanying survey. The payment of sustenance allowances is provided for, but this provision has not been put into operation. The maximum rates prescribed are £1 Is a week for the contributor, 17s-6d a Week for his wife, and 4s a week for each child. i

/k CCORDING. to the relevant section of the 1930 Act, payment of sustenance would be restricted to contributors and to the period of unemployment. Except on the special recommendation of the board, after consideration of the special circumstances, the allowance would not be available until there had been fourteen days of unemployment, and its payment would not exceed thirteen consecutive weeks. Refusal to accept work offered would prohibit the receipt of the allowance, as would residence in New Zealand, for a period of under six months. It is an offence to attempt to obtain benefits under the unemployment relief scheme by fal.se representations, and the penalty is a fine of £2O. A little-known provision is that the board may make it a condition of employment that the wages earned shall be paid .wholly or in part to some person other than the worker for expenditure on the maintenance of the latter’s wife and children. A New Responsibility. By the legislation of last session, the board took over from hospital boards re* ‘sponsibility for the relief of distress arising out of unemployment, and the change-over, which is proving a slower process than was anticipated, is gradually being accomplished. Accordingly, the board has power to utilise its funds for the purchase of food, clothing or other necessities, and, if necessary, for the payment of rent for the benefit of the unemployed and the relief workers or their families or other dependents. At the dis* cretion of the board, supplies of food, clothing, etc., can be purchased and distributed by it, or documents may be issued to enable the people themselves to make the purchases. , Rural Allotments. The settlement of unemployed workers and their families on areas of cultivable land, so as to afford them an opportunity to provide for part of their sustenance, was also provided for in last session’s Act. Where the workers are unable to provide adequate sustenance they may receive allowances in accordance with the provisions of the 1930 Act quoted above, or be supplied with necessaries as proposed in the 1932 Act. Power is given the Minister of Employment to make agreements with owners or occupiers of land for their occupation and cultivation by unemployed workers and their families and for the erection of suit-

able dwellings. The object is to give these men an opportunity of becoming owners of small areas of lands in developed districts already provided with roads, etc. Each holding will be equipped with a cottage of the Public Works type. Wherever possible the holding will be part of an existing farm, and the farmer will be asked to co-operate in the provision of seeds and stock and the loan of implements. The areas will range fronj five to ten acres, and it will be possible for the section-holder to ultimately lease or purchase a small farm with his original holding as part of it, since it is proposed to take options over land adjacent to the first section. In the interim the holder will have a chance to provide his family with some of their food requirements. It is proposed to select also holdings of two acres and upwards, so located that the holder will be able tq obtain work on surrounding farms in the district. Security of tenure is provided by the understanding that financial arrangements between the Government the present owner will be completed before the sectionholder is placed. The Minister has power, where agreements are not entered into, to take land under the Public Works Act or the Land for Settlements Act, and also to erect dwellings and carry out other improvements, such as the provisions of water, light, drainage and other necessities, on all lands that come within the scheme. Authority is incorporated for an expenditure under the scheme of a maxmum amount of £500,000. Work on Private Properties. The Finance Act No. 4 of 1931 empowers local authorities, with the concurrence of the Unemployment Board, to undertake works in relief of unemployment for the benefit of private property. The cost of the works can be recovered from the owner or occupier either by way of single payment or payment by instalment, and the sum payable is to be regarded as a special rate. On the recommendation of the board, and with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, thf Minister of Public Works may ctrry out, as relief works, drainage, irrigation and reclamation and other works of- a reproductive character for the benefit of private property. (To bo continued.)