STEWART ISLAND DESTITUTE

Evening Star, Issue 22446, 17 September 1936, Page 18

STEWART ISLAND DESTITUTE

NO RELIEF WORK OR SUSTENANCE APPEAL TO GOVERNMENT DISREGARDED [Pee United Phess Association.] INVERCARGILL, September 16. In a Tetter to the ‘ Southland Times ’ Robert C. Hicks, of Halfmoon , Bay, Stewart Island, declares that the residents, 90 per cent, of whom depend o.n the fishing industry, are practically destitute. The majority nave not earned! one penny for. the months of July, August, and September through no fault of their own, as they have been dogged by adverse weather. There is no other industry at the island. A proposal for a public works scheme to absorb the unemployed was put forward by the Stewart Island County Council, and the Minister promised full investigation into the matter. They were now advised that the local public works engineer had reported adversely on the proposal, and neither he nor any other Government otlicial had gone near Stewart Island to investigate. Yesterday a telegram was received from the Minister of Labour (Mr Armstrong) stating that there would be neither relief work nor sustenance for' the iishermen at Stewart Island. “ The position at present,” Mr Hicks says, “is that the men (there are about 50 registered unemployed) are penniless. The storekeepers have carried them along so far, but they are going to close down, and when they do there is going to be trouble and the Government will be directly to blame. Something must be done and done quickly. The men have not asked for sustenance. 'They would sooner work, but sustenance is infinitely better than starvation. The Stewart Island County Council wired weeks ago offering to provide work for all the men if the Government would find the money. Meanwhile the men have paid their levies and wages tax on all they have earned, and now comes the bold statement, ‘No relief work and no sustenance for the fishermen.’ ” The Stewart Island County Council has written to the Prime Minister setting out the position as oulined by Mr Hicks. The council says it is hard to understand why the Minister of Labour should advise that no help can be given to destitute people such as the fishermen are at tho present moment. The letter says that the Ministers are failing to comply with their election promises when unemployed men in the Dominion are being refused work or sustenance. The letter concludes: — “ Tho council wishes to protest emphatically against the gross injustice of no reply to Stewart Island compared with the extravagant nature of relief supplied in other districts. The inclination of the residents is to leave tho island for some of the more favoured districts, but unfortunately, or fortunately perhaps, they have not the means to shift.”