SUSTENANCE PAY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20361, 19 July 1934, Page 9

SUSTENANCE PAY.

Provisions of the Scheme Outlined.

B CLASS MEN AFFECTED. Sustenance pay, a subject that has aroused protests throughout the country, has been in operation for about a fortnight now. The scheme, which was announced by Mr W. Brcmlev, present deputy-chairman of the Unemployment Board, relates to elderly unemployed men under certain conditions, and to those medically classed as less than 50 per cent efficient, known as B class men. "

The provisions payments are as follow 7 s: (1) Men over 60 years of age whose wives are in receipt of the oldage pension receive 15s per week, with the addition of 2s per week for each dependent child under 16 years up to a maximum sustenance payment of 26s per week: (2) men over 50 years of age may apply tor sustenance in lieu of relief w r ork at the rate of 10s per week for* single men, and 17s 6d per week for married men with wives not in receipt of the old age pension, plus 2s per week for each dependent child under 16 up to a maximum sustenance payment of 26s per w r eek, (3) men who are medically classed at less than 50 per cent efficient and for whom useful employment within the capacity of the workers cannot be provided may be placed on sustenance at the same rates and conditions as the men in the previous clause. In addition, men on sustenance receive rations of milk ranging from seven to twenty-one pints a week, according to family 7 requirements and responsibilities. Weekly Reductions. The scheme has been opposed on several occasions by 7 the Citizens’ Unemployment Relief Committee on • the grounds that the new payments involve large reductions weekly for men who are on relief w 7 ork before going on to sustenance. At one of the meetings of the committee the following figures were quoted by Mr W. E. Leadley to show the reductions thr.t sustenance payments would involve:—

The second, third and fourth lines refer to married men with children.

The B class men, w 7 ho are a charge on the Unemployment Board, may be briefly described as those who may be able to perform light work but who are unfit for heavy work. The men in the C class, who are the responsibility of the Hospital Board, are in an entirely different category, being totally unfit for relief work. Since the protests against the sustenance scheme provisions by various organisations,’ arrangements have been made to reinstate 200 men on work at Bottle Lake after they had been taken off and placed on sustenance. Furthermore, the City Council has resolved to give relief work to 30 men who were withdrawn from employment under the sustenance scheme. It is also understood that returned soldiers who were brought under the provisions of the sustenance scheme will be re-engaged on relief work. Already a number of men due for reinstatement have been restored to their work.

No. 5 Susten. Scheme. allowMarried man . 22/6 17/6 One child . 27/19/6 Two children . . 31/6 21/6 Three children . 36/23/6