PROVIDING WORK.

Wairarapa Age, 2 October 1935, Page 4

PROVIDING WORK.

DETAILS OF THE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMME. ——- AERODBOMES AND VABHHXSb UNDERTAKINGSSTATEMENT BY MINISTER OF EMPLOYMENT. NEW PLYMOUTH,. October L. The Hon. S. G. Smith, Minister of to-day announced: further instalment. of the. Domi-nion-wide programme. of - works oni which the Unemployment Board,, in collaboration with various Departments, has been, working for several months.

A striking project,:.,iij which; MrSmith has found an opportunity of expressing his practical interest in aviaitfi#n, while seeking u <tOo providfr- useful and payable employment for men now On relief works,, is a-' comprehensive piau for the eonstruebiou: of" a string pf forty aerodromes and' 64' landing grounds, estimated to cost £600,000, of which the labour cost will 1 be paid 1 by the Unemployment Bbard; The-scheme jsnsures the completion of aerodromes br landing grounds already in course of and • ff>rr tile* comtmencement of a much larger number. }They are planned/ from* data and exIpert advice made available' by the (Public Works and' Defence Departments, to extend - from Waipepakauri, in the far north, to Stewart Islland. The works will be carried 1 out. on a full time or rationed ’basis according to the absence or exteat of unemployment in the areas concerned;. proposed landing grounds beitig mostly in places where there is no considerable* amoiunt of unemployment, will be generally on a. full time basis* An important feature from the viewpoint of the men who will be engaged is- that labour will be paid for on the basis* of I2s a day for marcieclf men and for single men.

CommentiMg*on« the the Minister said ib 1 was an- endteavoiwr to meet the growing needs of aviation as a means of 1 , transport. The principal requisite . complete' safety was the provision, of adequate landing grounds along the air routes. Other proposals accepted by the Unemployment' Board 1 as suitable for the receipt ef substantial labour cost assistance .from its funds include the destruction and removal of willows from the Hoteo River COhura) and three of its tributaries to eliminate flood dangers froint, ihrge areas of agricultural lands,, the reclamation of over 1400 acre&sof mud flats in the North Auckland district, the widening and metalling of, tfie Rotorna-Waikaremoana through the Drew era Country to the East Coast Railway, curve and. grade easements to reduce the operating costs of State railways, the constractoin of a new 60-foot by 30 font, bath at the Government hot springs at Morere, the reclamation of 92.. acres of tidal flat at the mouth of We Hutt River, the irrigation of 40,000 acre% of the Maniototo Plains in Cenjtr.al Otago*, the roading and thinning of State forests,' the continuation for ithicty-three miles of the Westland iGreat South Road from Weheka to jßxuce Bay. A wide range of other works has also been adopted, including (considerable additions to mental hospijtate.

“The interests' of the workers have been kept in mind by the Unemployment Board," said Mr. Snaifth. “In framing the programme of works, apart from the increased rates of pay which' will apply, the board! has sought as far as possible to avoid the necessity of men having to maiatain themselves away from honm>. Outside of the programme of Government works, local bodies have been some time encouraged to seek out awd put in hand local works on a fuR time standard rate basis, with thft aid of a 35s a week subsidy for raawted men. When it has been necearary, owing to lack of such works, to leek further the board has given special attention, to projects which would be near enrnwh to permit men to travel out and back each day, or Tailing that, at leas* to return to their home frequently. The aerodrome eonstruetion programme in particular has been framed with these points atinjl.”—(P.A.)