RELIEF WORKERS’ “SMOKO”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 139, 15 June 1931, Page 6

RELIEF WORKERS’ “SMOKO”

THE conduct of the relief workers at Ashburton, who took over an hour’s “smoko,” reveals two very serious defects in the system of relief work. In the first instance the giving preference to the destitute worker over the man who has a sense of responsibility and has saved something against a rainy day, naturally brought about the congregation of the wasters on the relief works. This was where the whole of the system of relief work was wrong. No account was taken of the quality of the men. The ranks of Ihe penniless are, of course, not wholly composed of the ne’er-do-wells, but the ne’er-do-wells are sure to be penniless at this juncture, and being in difficulties is just the tonic they need to help them conquer their malady. The second matter for concern is the lack of authority possessed by the foreman on the job. That he had to endure a situation in which he was evidently openly defied, and seemingly had no power to terminate the men’s employment, reveals that, the arrangements for the control of the job was unsatisfactory. Herein also is illustrated the unecoaomic quality of relief expenditure. How much more productive of results would have been the same labour employed by an individual contractor who had to look for his own profit out of properly managing the workers which lie employed. The conclusion to be drawn from this incident, therefore, is that relief work is wasteful, and that the better course is to promote private enterprise as much as possible.