RELIEF WORK PAY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 600, 2 November 1932, Page 8

RELIEF WORK PAY.

Board Likely to Reduce Scale. DRAIN ON RESOURCES. to the Star.”> 'W ELLINGTON, November 2. In accordance with plain hints given in Ministerial circles, an early announcement indicating a reduction in the scale of relief payments which operated throughout the winter, may be expected. Owing to the abnormal conditions i that prevailed during the past four months, the allocations were substantially increased to cope with the large number of registrations which were a feature of the unemployment problem during the winter. This placed an added drain on the resources of the unemployment fund to such an extent that at one juncture fears were openly expressed that, with the maintenance of the then existing standard, an increase in the wages tax would be inevitable. However, prudent conservation of the revenue available, together with the fact that receipts exceeded the estimate, enabled the Unemployment Board to forecast a surplus and to indicate that there would be no increase in the wages tax. It had been hoped, with the arrival of seasonal occupations and the possibility of an increasing number of men being absorbed into private employment, that it would be possible, before the commencement of the new financial year, to review the amount of the impost. “ A Tapering Off.” Since the arrival of spring there had been an unobstrusive lowering of the allocations throughout New Zealand, due in some instances to the easing off of requirements in particular districts. It has been laid down that, if the stability of the fund is to be maintained, this tapering off policy must be pursued for the remainder of the summer months. It has been stated that if the measures of relief remain fixed, the question of increasing the shilling in the pound tax would become one for serious consideration. Rumours have been current that a 50 per cent reducti6n in relief rates of pay is contemplated, but there is no foundation for this assumption. It is understood, however, that there will be reductions. PAY FOR LOST TIME. Attitude of Relief Workers’ Association. The question of securing payment to relief workers for time lost owing to wet weather is to be taken up by the Christchurch branch of the Canterbury Relief Workers’ Association, with the Citizens’ Unemployment Committee and various local bodies in the Christchurch district. The association views the loss of time and the deduction of pay for it as a serious matter to the unemployed, who are in financial straits even when they work their full allocation.

This morning a deputation from the association approached the chairman of the Finance Committee of the Waimakariri River Trust and made representations in regard to the cases of the men who lost time at the M’Lean’s Island camp last week. The deputation was given a, patient hearing, and Mr Manhire said that their representations would receive sympathetic consideration.

The association is given to understand that in Wellington relief workers are paid for lost time, and are not expected to make it up. It considers that some similar arrangement should be made locally, as otherwise the unemployed are likely to be much inconvenienced in a wet season. EMPLOYMENT OF BOYS. The question of finding work for boys, a matter that was taken up so thoroughly by the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, was not discussed at any length at the annual conference of the Associated Chambers of Commerce at Dunedin. Mr T. N. Gibbs, chairman of the Boys’ Employment Committee which organised the youth employment campaign, stated to-day that he had not brought the question forward, as he believed that any steps for the co-ordination of the work throughout the Dominion would probably follow on the report of Messrs S. Smith, M.P., j and A. E. Ansell, M.P., who had been I investigating the matter on behalf of I the Government.

The question of widening the scope of the Boys’ Employment Committee will be discussed at a meeting of the committee to-morrow afternoon, when a notice of motion to constitute the committee as a representative body independent of the Chamber of Commerce will be considered. It is believed in some quarters that the committee should be free to make its decisions without in any way committing the chamber, which was responsible for its initiation. MR JESSEP’S TOUR. (Special to the “ Star.”) WELLINGTON, November 2. Mr J. S. Jessep, deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board, will visit Christchurch at the end of next week. It is now nine months since Mr Jessep visited Christchurch, and he intends to put in some days in. the city. He will make a tour of the principal centres in the South Island, and will investigate the operations of the Unemployment Board.