CAMP INQUIRY

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20219, 1 February 1934, Page 9

CAMP INQUIRY

COMMISSION’S REPORT TO MAYOR. Conditions Condemned. JUSTIFICATION OF MANY OF MEN’S COMPLAINTS. A justification of the men’s complaints regarding the conditions in the | Public Works Department's single men's camps in Canterbury and a ation of the conditions obtaining in the forestry camps, is contained in the report of the commission set up by the Mayor (Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P.) to investigate the single unemployed men s relief camps at upper and lower Lewis Pass Road, Lake Sumner Road, Hanmer and Balmoral. The members of the commission are Messrs Henry Kitson, H. T. Armstrong, M.P., and j. W. Beanland. The camps on the Lewis Pass Road and Lake Sumner Road are under the supervision of the Public Works Department, and those at Hanmer and Balmoral are supervised by the State Forestry Department. The members of the commission state that their inspection was as thorough as they deemed necessary to cover the following matters: (1) Living conditions, (2) food, (3) health, (4) compilation of wages for work performed as laid down by the Unemplovment Board and the Public Works Department, (5) general remarks. The report states that in the No. 1 upper Lewis Pass Road camp there are 38 men housed in tents, many of the tents ha\*ing become torn and ragged. Boards for side walls and floors should be tongued and grooved. Doors should supplied, as tent-flaps are useless. The kitchen and living room are as clean and well-kept as possible under the dusty conditions which prevail. The food and storerooms are disgraceful. No proper fl3'-proof storage is available. Conveniences are too close to the meat ho"use. Quality of Food. The chief complaint at the camp was the lack of variety in food, especially of meat. Pickle tubs would remove this complaint. Enough food per man was provided, but with more care in cooking there would be an improvement. The health of the men was good, but some four or five were not fit to be at the camp. The committee recommended regular visits by a medical a nand that, on his report, unfit men be removed to the forestry camp at Hanmer. A few medical stores should be provided. It was found that the complaints that all men were not equal as regards work was substantially true, but it was impossible to divide gangs equally There was no evidence of selecting men and putting them in one gang to act as pace-makers.