NOT UNDERSTOOD

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 137, 8 December 1930, Page 3

NOT UNDERSTOOD

ME. BROMLEY AND FOXTOtf

A reply was made last night by Mr. AY. Bromley to the statement made on Saturday by the Mayor of Foxton (Mr. M. E. Perreau) %n reference to Mr. Bromley's comment regarding conditions in the town of Foxton. "Wrong deductions seem to havo been made," said Mr. Bromley, "in connection with a reference to the position at Foxton I made recently at Dunedin. ■ Unemployment has affected every part of the Dominion, and each town and city considers its own position the worst. At the commencement of the meeting in Dunedin it was stated by the chairman that the City Council had reached its limit financially, and could do no more. I pointed out that Dunedin was not by any means the most badly affected jilace in New Zealand, and said that in my opinion, the place worst off was Foxton, where they depended almost entirely on the flax industry, which had been idle for some time owing to the sharp fall in the price of hemp. I further stated that it was unlikely that they would get any advantage from the Unemployment Board's offer of a subsidy, which was then ■under consideration. According to my advice, the reason for this was that no rates had been paid, nor had they even the means to pay storekeepers. Things, I said, were in a deplorable state, and it would be the board's duty to see how far it could help. My statement was not intended to reflect in any way on the people at Foxton. On the contrary, it was an admission of the need for symphathetie consideration and the fullest measure of assistance being given. I cannot understand how it was possible for my remarks to have been given such an interpretation."