UNEMPLOYED IN AUSTRALIA

Hokitika Guardian, 24 May 1930, Page 7

UNEMPLOYED IN AUSTRALIA

- GOVERNMENT RELIEF WO I t KS. taxes on wages. SYDNEY, May 11. Th<> i u-t that the New South Wales Government has already launched a huge scheme of unemployed ivhof works at award rates, although the wages tax for that purpose nil I not he levied until next month, is an answer to the outcry in Labour circles about the Ministry’s ‘‘raid on wages.” A Government might or ]i-

mHly welcome all the publicity il [ could get in > connexion with such a sell-mo—a nraclie'l gesture of synP '.thy with those who have tramm'd •in vain the city and also the country in search of any kind of work. The Bavin Government cannot, of course, prevent the newspapers from writing columns ahvjt this big relief project, ns a first-class item of news, but it s disposition is not to p.-'n’t the scheme ill too rnsoate colours for fear that, the imcmpi’oved in other parts of Anstrilia will d'-scend Upon Nmv South Wales in countless thousands, anti only aeeentrr.te a position with which it now hopes effectively to grapple. Already sevoml thousand men have been put on the r-clamation of swamp lands, and the' levelling of frown lords intended for sale, and an add'Yenr.l IVJ.'VX) will be placed on p’ hlu' w-irks in the metropolis as scon a« nri-Miarpineiits can he made.

Enquiries showed that 400 painters were out of work. Those men are being given work on three days a •we n k repainting the schools. The Victorian Government also pro-ros.-s to impose a stamp tax on wages and a supertax on all incomes over £312, by which moans it is hoped to raise £BOO,OOO for unemployed relief.

The scheme is not yet law, but is pertain to become so, and quickly. The new revenue is expected to be coming in within a month. Everyone agrees that something must be done for the unemmloyed, and there are oyer 30.000 of them in Melbourne alone. Hungry and destitute men sitting about under leafless trees in the gardens, or—revolting sight—- ■ eagerly pawing about in garbage tins, cannot be left actually to starve. Now that all hands are to pay, the welfare of unemployed becomes a matter of almost fraternal interest between wage-ealuiers. A camp at Broadmeadows military depot, 10 miles from the city, has been suggested, but its remoteness from possible jobs suggests a rest cure.

Nearer accommodation is proposed in a splendid offer iby Hoyts Theatres, Limited, of six disused suburban theatres, capable of containing 300 beds each. Use of the buildings is offered to any social welfare organisation which will undertake the supply of beds, care of the buildings, and control of the occupants. The disused theatres scheme is likely to be further examined, and at once.