EMPLOYMENT SCHEME No. 4B

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 55, 7 March 1939, Page 12

EMPLOYMENT SCHEME No. 4B

MAXIMUM SUBSIDY INCREASED The Wanganui provincial office of the N.Z.F.U. has received the follow- , ing advice from the Employment Promotion Office: — “The Government has decided that in respect of applications dated on or after February 1, 1939, the maximum subsidy payable under Scheme No. 4B will be increased to 75 per cent, of the labour cost of the work. No subsidy will be granted on the cost of any materials, insurance, horse-hire, transport, explosives, implements, etc., involved, as the farmer is required to bear the full cost of these. “The classes of work in respect of which subsidies may be granted comprice:—(a) Bush-felling; <b) scrubcutting; (c) rush-grubbing; (d> stumping and logging; (e) drainage of farm lands, cutting new drains, and improvement of existing drains; (f) clearing noxious weeds; (g) sub-divi-sional fencing and other developmental work which would increase the carrying-capacity of the farm. In the case of scrub-cutting contracts, the subsidy generally is restricted to compact areas of scrub of not less than 15 acres, and a compass survey of the area must be carried out by a registered surveyor, and the tracing of such survey supplied to the inspecting officer on completion of the work. Compass surveys may also be required in respect of other works in cases where the department considers it necessary. “The principle of this scheme, which has been in operation for some time, will remain unaltered: that is to say, the subsidy in each case will still be restricted to an amount which is considered sufficient either to make the work an economic proposition or to bring it within the financial capacity of the applicant. In this connection it should be noted that no subsidy will be paid for the carrying out of “work which would ordinarily -be undertaken to ensure the proper working of farms, and which would! be done in the ordinary course of I events without assistance. “The only men to be employed are ♦hose registered as unemployed, and they must be engaged through Government employment bureaux; also the work must not be commenced until advice of approval to a subsidy is received. The men so engaged must work on a co-operative basis, and on no account may a farmer arrange for work with a contractor who will undertake the job and engage the labour required. “Farmers are to pay the full amount due to the contractors in the first instance, and will then be reimbursed to the extent of the subsidy due in terms of the approval. Stamp duty and wages tax must be affixed to receipts given by the contractors. “In view of the increased assistance now to be given, it is considered only I reasonable to expect farmers to provide sleeping quarters of some kind wherever it is possible to do so. Applicants for subsidy should be appraised of this fact, as the non-pro-vision of sleeping accommodation mayresult in seriously jeopardising their chances of obtaining labour for the proposed work. “Application forms are obtainable from any Government Employment Bureau, and farmers are requested to make early application, as a short period will necessarily elapse pending the inspection of the proposed work by the field inspector and the subsequnt coinsideration of the application by the Secretary of Labour, Wellington.”