CAMPS.

Evening Star, Issue 21742, 9 June 1934, Page 14

CAMPS.

A eew clays ago wo published an appeal for books and sports gear for the men of the Lower Poolburn Public Works camp, received from the wife of one of them, herself a resident of the camp.; The public is never deaf to such appeals. A fair stock of bobks has come, to hand, with a few packs of playing' cards, and will be forwarded without delay. There is no appearance yet of the “ old Soccer or Rugby ball, hockey sticks,” or implements of like kind which were also requested, but we have faith that they will come to hand. A )(arge proportion of the public are always ready to do what they can to help botjh the men in country camps, whose lot qan be specially hard in such weather as ■we have been experiencing, and the vfctims of unemployment in town who have their own rigours to bear. The! difficulty is to know how best to hdlp and, where assistance should be directed. The camp system in winter makes such a stern life at the best tljat most people probably would be gla.d to see it dispensed with as a form of relief for the unemployed, if that were possible. It requires every arnelOration that can be made 'for it. But leven the camp system may be maligned, and it would be a mistake to think that, in some perverse or careless fashion, officials w'ork to aggravate its severity. That impression might be easily formed because unemployment relief, in one form and another, has become a very complex matter. 1 A variety of committees take part in it besides the Labour Employment Bureau, and there is not the best co-ondination between them. One body very easily misunderstands what another body is doing, and so complaints that are made by individuals among the unemployed, based on misapprehension or half-statements, which' would make the system appear callous to the last degree, may often seem to be substantiated when imperfect inquiries are made. A few misconceptions can be set right here, as the result of all-round inquiries. Medical exemptions are being revised, and some men are being sent to camp now who were exempted earlier. There is a danger in that of unfit men being sent to camp, but the system is more safeguarded than some current accusations would imply. A man may be passed fit who can produce his own doctor's medical certificate that he is unfit. Such cases are referred to a third doctor as arbiter. If it is sickness in ffis family which makes a man unwilling to take camp work, a special division of the Employment Bureau inquires into that aspect. In either case the man is not made ineligible for any other relief work while his claim to exemption is tested. Provided that he has a prima facie claim, special work is found for him affording the same relief as he would obtain from the number 5 scheme. Another plan which might help, where a nervous wife does not wish to be left alone or fears too great a strain in the sole charge of a too youthful family, has not proved to be applicable in more than an almost insignificant proportion of cases. The proposal is made that a girl should be found by the Women’s Unemployment Committee who would live in the house and assist with the work, the girl to be paid by the committee. Almost invariably it is found that there is no accommodation for such a guest; there may be no bedding; nor is it possible to ensure in every case that the girl if she were sent would be a help. Misapprehensions exist as to the supply of boots. The Government does pot provide more than one pair in nine monthsf The second supply that- was ordered recently has not yet come to hand. Boots, therefore, for the most part, must be supplied by other agencies, .if they are supplied at all. Arrangements for a wife to go into camp are supposed to be made beforehand by the husband. If he omits to do that difficulties may easily be caused, and difficulties have been caused, but not arvoidably, when provision for wives has ffiacje a new phase in a camp’s development.

'All camps should have their books ajad some sports equipment. The Council of Christian Congregations has taken over this work, and makes appeals at intervals through its churches. But tie supply almost certainly is spasmodic. Some camps are reported • upon more frequently than others by ministers more or less in .the vicinity. The appeal from Lower Poolburn stated that there was “not even a book.” Donations that are left with the Y.M.C.A. will be forwarded, and there should be some system of keeping touch with all the camps. , We should be sorry for the camp that had not a wireless set, and there are times, apt to be forgotten, when wireless parts require to be renewed. The best news of oamps at the present time is that all of them except one, at Omakau, have their full complement of men and want no more. There is prospect, however, that- in August the big hydro works at tjie Waitaki, now employing about 760 inen, will be completed. More camps will then, presumably, bo needed. The whole system should be placed on the most tolerable basis, and all efforts to relieve the life of men in camps should be co-ordinated before that development takes place.