THE UNEMPLOYED

Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3271, 12 March 1931, Page 5

THE UNEMPLOYED

COMPARISON WITH THE PAST. When the Hungahunga Drainage Board was discussing unemployment schemes at its meeting on Thursday, Mr W. Hallett said that they were not cofnparable to the schemes put into . operation by R. J. Seddon and Balance, under which 122 sections of land were settled at Whangamomona. To obtain' work at 6s per day, or a maximum of 9s per day, if working under contract, it was necessary to take up a section, and the men were put to work makihfi first pack tracks and then roads for opening up the land. said Mr Hallett, had altered >%ery much and to-day a man earning £2 a week had to make a contribution in order that anotheryman would rer ceiye 14s a day. Replying to a remark by Mr F. E. Hughes that until the cost of living came down a man could Hot live on very much less than 14s, Mr Hallett said that in the days pf which he spoke at Whangamomona a cwt. of flour cost 365, a 401 b. bag of sugar 12s, lib. of tea 2s 6d, lib. , of .butter 2s 6d, a tin of milk Is and lib. of candles Is, so that apart from rent there was no difference in the cost of living as between then and - now. To this Mr Hughes replied that there would be no use in putill;! ting many of the unemployed of today on the land. They would not be able to keep themselves warm. *We had city men at Whangamomona.” , said Mr Hallett. Mr Hughes: “ There is too much spoon feeding - to-day.”—-Te Aroha News.