IN DIRE DISTRESS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 521, 2 August 1932, Page 7

IN DIRE DISTRESS.

Unemployed Wait on the Mayor. ‘‘INADEQUATE RATIONS." Complaints of inadequacy of rations under the Government scheme, and statements that the majority of the unemployed were in dire distress, were made by a deputation representing the unemployed who waited on the Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P.) this morning. The* Mayor, after pointing out that due credit should be given to the work of the vohitary relief depots, outlined to the deputation the plan whereby the Mayor’s Relief of Distress Fund would bear the cost of the issue of rations during the next fortnight, while an investigation into the Government system of relief in Christchurch was being carried out by the actingchairman of the Unemployment Board (Mr J. S. Jessep). Messrs H. J. Otley (chairman) and Mrs T. Green and Mr W. S. Wharton, (secretary) represented the North Canterbury Hospital Board. Members of Parliament, other than the Mayor, who were present were Messrs E. J. Howard and 11. T. Armstrong. The Citizens’ Unemployment Relief Committee was represented by Messrs J. S. Barnett, J. F. Eames, and the Rev F. T. Read. Typical Case Cited. Mr R. M. Macfarlane, who introduced the deputation, said he regretted that Government members of Parliament were not present. The Mayor: Were they invited? Mr Macfarlane: I rang them up on the telephone, but there may have been a misunderstanding owing to the alteration in date. A letter of invitation was sent to the Citizens’ Unemployment Relief Committee.

Mr F. Grant, president of the Unemployed Workers’ Movement, said that he would take the case of a man and wife and one child under sixteen as a basis. That man was entitled to a total of £5 12s 6d for the month. The following estimated expenses per month did not include food, clothes, medical expenses, or tram fares: Rent £3 10s, coal 15s, gas 12s, electric light 4s 6d, life insurance 6s Bd, unemployment levy Is Bd, and newspaper 3s, a total •of £5 19s 10d. Food was estimated to cost £1 3s lOd per week, or £4 15s 4d per month, making a total

of £lO 15s 2d. Where rent could not be paid there was an extra £1 for removal expenses. “ A Gigantic Failure.”

The relief scheme in New Zealand was a gigantic failure, continued Mr Grant. The unemployed were longsuffering and patient, but the time might come when they would throw

off the yoke. In Great Britain, where men were on the dole, they were not afraid to accept work. Mr P. R. Climie, a member of the Unemployment Board, had stated in the speaker’s hearing that men who looked for work were to be commended. However, Mr R. T. Bailey, officer-in-charge of the Labour Department at Christchurch, had told him that he was allowed to make £5 12s 6d per month and no more. Donations for relief were not given by those who should give, and it was not right that persons should stand for four or five hours to receive the small rations meted out to them. Lass Rations Available. Mr 11. T. Armstrong declared that it was nothing short of a crime to have taken the administration of relief from the Hospital Boards, and the sooner the Unemployment Board subsidised the Hospital Board and allowed it to issue rations, the better it would be. New Zealand, stated Mr E. J. Howard, M.P., was in such a chaotic condition that one could not get at the man who was responsible for the issue of rations. The Mayor, in asking the deputation to be fair to the voluntary relief depots, said that the reason why less rations could be given this year was because there were fewer people in a position to give, and more persons seeking relief, than was the case last year. Hundreds of families were assisted through the Mayor’s Fund, and 1000 homes had been visited on that fund’s behalf in the last three months.