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Hokitika Guardian, 19 September 1932, Page 8

p'here co*>t of living and wage scales ape mudh f higher in the town® than in the country, it is indeed a fatal error ; and dire, necessity is a’ready bringing the conviction home. .’%ISE MOVE IN NEW ZEALAND .“In New Zealand the* wise administrators of the fund raised by special taxation appear to be assuming authority to neglPct' the' scales' prescribed. They accept, the offers of farmers to house and feed -men for whose work they cannot pay,- and pay out pf the fy!nd only such pittances as are ab?ollntply needed,, l In some provinces of Clinadfl, .necessity is also bringing into being ‘grub-staking’ employment of tfiis odder.

“Where scales of wage for provided work which, vary with th.e number of dependents have been centrally ordained, a strange paradox: is in full evidence. Here we see relief workers marching out on strike and riotously piotesting. The scale 1 for the unmaried men, and for those with only one dependent, is naturally below the market rate prevailing in the towns; and, seeing that all bear, when in other em- ' ploymenik an especially heavy income tax for the sole purpose of’ providing i'tlie relief workers, it cannot be denied that these strikers have some reason on, their side. ‘‘ln communities which have assum- ’ pdf a measure of responsibility for providing work or maintenance (and are bearing taxation for the purpose), many employers are retrenching sta'ff in tiie slacker periods of the year, of■ten when no such retrenchment was undertaken before the public funds were saddled with- responsibility. It wpjuld clearly have been possible in some of these instances to maintain the practice of past year.

WHAT BRITAIN MAY LEARN conclusion of chief value to us.” says Mr Roberts, “which may be drawn from oversea observation, is that, difficult though'it may seem, priding is also desirable in the~ insurance. May it not be that France has soqiething to teach here? There, grading is automatic because administration is not centralised. We are perhaps siiSfficientlly convinced that meeting the trouble by, providing public works is not only a short-sighted policy but also one which we cannot afford to pwrsu®.”