RELIEF SCALE

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1934, Page 8

RELIEF SCALE

TOWN AND COUNTRY

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER

THE CASE FOE GISBORNE

A request that the Gisborne relief workers under the No. 5 scheme should be placed on tho same scalo of remuneration as the men in the cities was made to the Minister of Employment (the Hon. A. Hamilton) today by a deputation representing the Cook County Council, the .Gisborne Returned Soldiers' Association, the Gisborne Borough Council, and the Gisborne RetailShopkeepers' Association. Tho speakers urged that the present rates of pay were inadequate, especially in view of the fact that there was very little casual work offering, and the unemployed and their families were suffering severely. 1 In reply, the Minister said that it would be quite impossible to grant the request. He pointed out that the Unemployment Board's allocations during the winter and spring had sometimes exceeded its income, and in the summer time it Was necessary to reduce the amounts. The country benefited more than the cities from . the board's other schemes, and there was no doubt that the need for relief was greater in the cities. One of the effects of introducing a uniform scale throughout the Dominion would be to attract men from farm work, which would bo undesirable. Mr. D. W. Colenian, M.P. for Gisborne, who introduced the deputation, said that tho averago rates paid in Gisborne under the No. 5 scheme were as follows:—Married man, with no children, 16s 3d per week; with one child, 18s 9d; with two children, £1; with three children, £1 2s 6d; with four children, £1 ss; with five children, £1.7s 6d; with over five children, £1 10s. In the cities the rates were higher and rations were provided. It cost just as much to live in Gisborne as in the cities.' Very little* casual work was offering. Serious trouble had arisen in the district. There had been strong feeling over the fact that the married men, on resuming work after the holidays, were each given a chit for half a day's work representing ss. ONLY AN ADJUSTMENT. Mr.. J. S. Jessep, deputy chairman of tho Unemployment Board, (who was present'with the Minister, said ;that the payment of 5s was only an adjustment over the four-weekly period. "You are trying to create the impression, and you did it in Gisborne, that that was the amount per week the men were \ receiving," he remarked to Mr. Coleman. • ', . : . Mr. Coleman: I have never said that in my lifei I went on to say that I knew, reasons could be given. The people of Gisborne felt that the relief workers were not getting a fair deal, Mr. Coleman continued. They were fully, in sympathy with the men on the question; of the allocation. , The Minister: They have been on quite a good basis in the past^ Mr. Coleman agreed that so far as earthquake and other relief was concerned the Government had dealt fairly with the district. He contended that the fact of a number of the men going into the Public Works camps would not help those who did not go. The^allocation for the district would bo reduced immediately. The Minister: All the casual work would be shared among'the remainder. ■ Mr.. Coleman: But this casual work does not exist. We ask you in all sincerity and earnestness to put the Gisborne %nen on the'same footing as the . city r relief * workers. THe conditions are identical. The .Minister: You cannot say the .conditions are identical. You are in the centre of a big country .district. SUSTENANCE AND WAGES. Mr. J. Jackson, Mayor of Gisborne; said that v nol. matter how much one deprecated the action taken by. the men one could not help sympathising with theni in their attitude. One could hardly ■ conceive how they existed on their wages. The whole of the business people of Gisborno realised that the men were up against it. The sustenance paid in Wellington and Auckland was higher than the wages paid in Gipborne. • , Mr. Jessep; said.that a married man without children received £3 5s a month in Gisborne. The same man on sustenance- in" Wellington because no work was available for him would receive £2 4s 6d a month. He said that there were over 100 vacancies'I, at present on.full-time pay in the Public Works camps in Gisborne. "Is there an unemployment problem at all when work is offering!" he asked. Mr. Coleman repeated that the position was not eased by men going into camp. Mr.'Jessep said that surely, the necessity for the same relief was-decreased. Mr. Coleman: We say that the necessity is not-decreased. , The men are starving. Mr. M. T. B. Hall, representing the Cook County Council and tho Gisborne R.S.A.', and Mr. E. T. Doddrell, representing the Gisborne Retail Shop-, keepers' Association, also spoke. The latter referred to the serious effect of the situation upon the shopkeepers. "GOOD MEN MISLED." Mr. Jessep: In Gisborne a lot of good men have been misled by men who call themselves leaders, and they have been badly led. It is an extraordinary position to find men on relief turning down Public Works camps. • Replying generally to tho deputation the Minister, said it would be quite impossible to grant.the main request for equal treatment with the cities. There did not appear to be any respect in which Gisborne differed from other centres on the, same allocation. The board had been over-spending its funds during the winter and spring, and it was obliged to. cut down its allocations in the summer, when the need for, relief was not so great. The East Coast had been. treated fairly generously in connection with earthquake and Other relief. The country districts -received more from the board's other schemes than the cities, and, although he was acountry man, he was bound to admit that the need for. relief was greater in the cities. There was the point, too, that the men would not go into the camps in their own district. If a, uniform scale of payment under- the No. 5 scheme were introduced the number dependent upon it would be greatly increased, and men would bo attracted from farms. He was afraid that the board could not adopt the policy suggested. ■ Referring to the Gisborne marchers, Mr. Hamilton said he'did not know what their position was.-1 The Government and tho board would do anything in reason to help the unemployed, but it was very difficult to get anything from them by means of demonstrations. A much better way was to discuss matters calmly round the table.