RELIEF WORKERS' LOT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 224, 21 September 1928, Page 6

RELIEF WORKERS' LOT.

I think that it is about time the public was acquainted with the injustice inflicted on main south road workers, whose families and homes are for the .most part situated in Auckland. These men for months and months have been doing excellent national work 011 our main highways, converting whqt Was once the most disgraceful main road in New Zealand into a first-rate road, and because they happened to be started on relief wages, 1/6 an hour, when our depression was at its worst have still to put up with this beggarly wa»e' not sufficient to satisfy the demands of themselves and families. I often pass these men and can say that they are honest toilers and their work is a credit to them and far superior to work done for many counties and local bodies where a living wage is paid. I understood that in 110 case for the last nine or twelve months has their average pay exceeded £3 a week, and to ask a man to support his family and pay the ruling rent in Auckland besides his own food bill of 22/6 per week on this v.age is a disgrace to our Government, which fixes wages and enforces payment of it for other employers. A LTRPTt? AT. "Tired of Waiting" complains that little is being done for the unemployed and asks why relief works cannot be started in town.