UNEMPLOYMENT FUND.

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19100, 10 November 1933, Page 11

UNEMPLOYMENT FUND.

ON SOUND BASIS.

DEMANDS REASONABLY MET.

OBLIGATIONS MET BY REVENUE

(Special to Times.) 'WELLINGTON, Thursday. The unemployment problem was referred to by the Finance Minister in his Budget speech last evening. He said that during the flnanolal year £4,213,000 was available for the provision of unemployment relief. The ■principal sources of this revenue were £429,000 from the general unemployment levy-, £2,471,000 from the emergency unemployment charge on wages and salary, and £1,120,000 from the emergency unemployment charge on inoome other than salary or wages. Against the receipt of £4,213,000, disbursements totalling £3,789,000 were made; £3,689,000 of this expenditure being on providing unemployment relief under various schemes ■operated by the Unemployment Board. Administrative costs amounted to 2.47 per cent on actual expenditure figures. Particular attention is being paid to the desirability of utilising as high a proportion as possible of unemployed relief labour on works of a reproductive quality, with the object oC oreatlng assets from unemployment relief expenditure. As examples of the practical results of this policy, I may mention the following useful works carried out with relief labour: 1900 miles of backblock roads formed, metalled, and widened; 1200 miles of farmland drains excavated; 158,000 acres of land cleared of scrub, bush, or logs; 6000 acres of sand-dune land reclaimed; and 35.000 acres of trees planted.

Over £IOO,OOO a Week. The present weekly rate of commitments is over £IOO,OOO, which is considerably In excess of the average weekly Income of the Unemployment Board. With the re-commenceruent of seasonal occupations In the spring and summer, together with the favourable influence anticipated from the effects of the subsidised building scheme, this rate of commitment can be lowered to enable the total expenditure over the year to be kept within the total Income. i It is estimated that the revenue w T hich will become available to the Unemployment Fund during the financial year 1933-34 will be £4,300,000, made up as follows: —General unemployment levy, £430,000; emergency charge on wages and salary, £2.870.000; emergency charge on Income other than salary or wages, £1.000,000. The per capita contribution of New Zealand taxpayers towards the relief is higher than in most other countries, and the Government Is pleased to be able to give an assurance that the present year’s requirements for unemployment relief oan be reasonably met by the financial resouroes to be derived from the present taxation. It is satisfactory to note that our unemployment flnanoes are on a sound basis and that, oontrary to the position existing in most other countries which have been afflicted with unemployment, the Dominion is meeting its obligations in this respect entirely out of revenue. When unemployment relief ceases to be a major cause of expenditure, assets and not interest debts will remain.