H.—35.

1933. NEW ZEALAND.

UNEMPLOYMENT BOARD (REPORT OF).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Leave.

REPORT.

INTRODUCTORY. Except to the extent that the generally unsettled world conditions may discount local indications, all the evidences appearing within the province of the Unemployment Board point to the fact of saturation level having been reached in Dominion unemployment. The Board considers, therefore, that, unless any new factor occurs to arrest the present rising tendency in the national income from the export of primary products, any change in the unemployment situation should now be for the better. The various unemployment schemes carried on by the Board have throughout been aimed at the prevention of undue suffering among those whom necessity obliged to accept relief. These, with their dependants, are a substantial cross-section of society, and the fact that the Health Department is able to report that no deterioration in the general health of the community has occurred over the period during which the relief system has operated offers assurance that unemployed citizens as a whole have been spared actual privation. At the same time, however, personal resources, particularly in the nature of clothing, have steadily diminished, in spite of the valuable work of unofficial relief organizations ; and during the year the Board made special arrangements for the supply of good-quality working-boots to relief workers. Further reference to this service is made later in the report. First care having been given to ensuring that imperative bodily needs were reasonably met, the next consideration has been the manner in which relief money is made available. A principal difficulty which has been encountered in the endeavours to realign the application of relief labour so that it will be directed mainly on to developmental works is an immobility of the groups of unemployed domiciled in the centres. In line with the established policy of the Board, however, the directing of a progressively mounting ratio of relief labour into definitely reproductive avenues has been steadily fostered since the presentation of the previous annual report. Progress has been satisfactory, but there yet remains between the point of present achievement and the objective of the Board wide scope for acceleration of the process. The predominantly pastoral and agricultural character of the Dominion has given these efforts, in the main, a natural bias towards land-development of a direct or indirect nature ; but the ramifications of the Board's activities have led as well to its extending assistance in a growing number of other spheres. PERSONNEL OF BOARD. No change has occurred in the personnel or constitution of the Board, whose members are : The Hon. Adam Hamilton, Minister of Employment (Chairman); Mr. James S. Jessep, of Wairoa (Deputy-Chairman); Mr. Walter Bromley, of Wellington; Mr. P. R. Climie, of Christchurch ; Mr. G. C. Godfrey, Commissioner of Unemployment. The three appointed members, Messrs. Jessep, Bromley, and Climie were reappointed by the Governor-General for a further term of two years from the Ist August, 1933. The reappointments were notified in the New Zealand Gazette No. 52, dated the 27th July, 1933. Mr. Malcolm Fraser, Under-Secretary of Internal Affairs, continues to be an Associate Member of the Boai'd.

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