RELIEF WORKERS

Evening Star, Issue 22451, 23 September 1936, Page 9

RELIEF WORKERS

CDST TO THE CITY AMOUNTS WITHHELD FROM RENEWAL FUNDS The provision made for relief workers is dealt with by the town clerk (Mr G. A. Lewin) in his annual report for the year ending March 31, !936. No diminution in the demands on the city for provision for relief workers is, unfortunately, to he recorded for the year to March, 1936. The total number of men registered at the respective dates may bo shown as follows :—•

March, June, March,

1935. 1935. 1936. Registered ... 1,406 1,679 1,760 Employed by City Council 848 1,110 823 When the estimates for the year 1935-36 were prepared in April, 1935, provision was made for about £14,000 to cover the cost of supervision, transport, and material on the lines of the immediate past years. Later in the year, however, with the view of supplementing the earnings of the men, special provision was made, and took effect from the first week in July. A fund of £32,000 was set up to meet the cost of granting a subsidy to the workers on No. 6 scheme to the extent of bringing their allocated weekly time up to standard rates, and for any other purpose that the council might determine. The fund consists of amounts withheld from payment to the renewal funds of the several trading departments as follows:—From the E.P. and L. account, £20,500; from the gas account, £7,000; from the water account, £4,200; from the abattoir account, £300; total, £32,000. At the time the subsidy was put into effect the City Council was holding itself responsible for finding work for 961 men on scheme 5, and, of this number, 629 qualified for the subsidy, the payment of which was restricted to men who had been on relief works for not less than six months, those employed for less than six months having to await the subsidy until they had become eligible under the six months rule.

At March 31, 1936, the position was that the City Council was dealing with 671 men on a weekly basis, of whom 663 were being paid the subsidy on their weekly allocated time to bring their pay to standard rates. _ The total cost to the council for the year proved to be as follows:—Cost of supervision, £8,782 16s 8d; cost of material, £1,507 5s 7d; cartage and plant, £3,662 17s; subsidy on wages (nine months), £14,190 17s 8d; total, £28,143 16s lid.