UNEMPLOYED FUND

Hokitika Guardian, 29 September 1932, Page 3

UNEMPLOYED FUND

A iSURPLIJB ANNOUNCED. REVENUE ABOVE ESTIMATE. WEIiLENGTON, September 28. Thie Unemployment Fund iis in a i healthy cooidition, according, to .a brief . yet.- important aniaysia of the. final! ■ 'operations of the Board, given' % Mr • I Hamilton, Acting Minister of fenployi "merit, in the House, to-day. It is reliably foreshadowed that the actual re-. i venuie will exceed the estimate, by a , 4uarter of a million, and that-a suirpcus of £IOO,OOO is I'ikely. ; , i An. increase in the special taxation iis not anticipated: • The Minister said it was difficult to make the statement as full and as definite as might be desired, becuuse, at any rate,. large amounts of money •were either in the process of being received, or of being paid out. ; The particulars given, howevei’, would be sufficient to indicate the general position of the fund. When, in May last, the tax on wages, salaries and other . incomes was raised to a shilling in, the pound', it was estimated that the Board’s revenue, from all sources, would be about £3,600,000 for the year ending April 30, 1933,' The Board could now form a reasonably, accurate estimate,, and from the revenue, received so far, it was considered, safe I to forecast it approximate at £3,850,boo in this period, prior to •; the I raising of the tax the Board had *’revenue: (including subsidy;; from ■ tlieConsolidated' Pund), which was estimated to allow for a weekly the tax from May 1 last, this Board was provided with .tine estimated revenue, permitting a weekly 'expenditure of v £69,000, In June, it became ‘ evident that the isum would not r meet the reasonable needs of thg regI istered- 'utiemplloyed. Cabinet, therefore; authorised a weekly .experjliture up' to £91,000 ddring July, August ' and Setpemfcer. It has been oriticipated that this would tide th© Board ‘ over the most difficult months of the yehri, after which it was hoped there would be an appreciable improvement (in tlhi© unemployment situation, and j the Board would be enabled to balancr its exendituiro with the revenue. The ’ period for which the extra provision- • Was made would terminate at the end ' of the present month. : To -illustrate the heavy burden at present- being carried, the Minister Supplied details setting out*(he ' ;expericliture allocation from iAie fund in the four weeks ended Sentember ,10, 1932. Under Scheme 5, the’ . amount ' was '£20,.409; the number registered of Unemployed in N the week eii(Jed, September .3 being 49,380 .iyorking,.”aud; isibaridmg downi Otlner ; scfoiues : and' accounted!-for £Bs’6o6, mimber,pf- men employed'being -16,'785. That represented a toitai expenditure allocation of £353,915 for 73.410 uriam"pibyed,! off laifc! tlie i-ate' of £459,000 per ’annum. ■ , .... ...

Poiniting, emit; detailed state- ’ montg as to the-position of the fund !‘ would be found in the amriual; report, [.the Minister added: It will' sufiioa ito say here that if all the commitments ferit -rekl into ibiy the Bojird—talring | irito account the work that has been i fnrrtishedj but riot yet paid for, larid ” the forward work committed, b,ut which is still in. progress of completion —were met there would be excluding. 1 thfe revenue received in advance, if I surplus of over £100,0Q0.. This beaHthy I ppsi'tiori of the fund woukh give .a I reasonable hope to anticipate that rip , further taxation would be- necessary I, this financial year. This will, ot ' necessity, depend upon the calls made ! oil the fund during the remaining six ( months of this . financial year—that iis from October to March 1. Such; (calls may consist of an increased numy ! her of registered unemployed. It ib| j reasonable, however, to hope the pi e-1 ' sent number of approximately 73,000 I should ble very materially reduced during the summer, months. If this takes) place-, the-present taxation should provide sufficient’’revenue to meet' require-: ments. . ...

Continuing the Minister disclosect that the burden of administrative costs of the fund was very moderate indeed. In the first- instance, use was made wherever practicable of suitable clerical -workers from the ranks of the unemployed, with the result that a consJcTferable amount of clerioal work was being carried out., by these work-: ere. ‘ Again, owing to the practice operating, where at all practicable through existing government or 10-oe? body organisations, expenditure on administration was kept within a very rel-tsonabl'e compass.

Dealing with the total expenditure/ under all headings in the periods December 1, 1930, to March 31, 1931, and : April 1, 1931, to March 31, 1932, th' 1 Minister recorded ' the following figures;— For the first four months elide- 1 ' March 31, 1931, administration expenses £9315, or 2.17' per cent, of the total. Board member s’ fees and ex--proses £2034, or .47 per cent, of the total. Belief schemes of £418,181, or 97.36 per cent, of the total exnend'!;tnre of £429.530. For the year ended March 31, 1932, administration.; ..lei'"- | nonses were £52 388, ; or 2;30 per cent, of the total. Board members’ fee' I mid expenses £2.627. or .12 per cent, Belief schemes £2.108,522; *or 97.53 per' oCiit. of the total expenditure of ! £2,273,537. These percentages lmv" j been calculated upon actual ex.nend’ - -' I tore in such financial year, which i>’j eluded the utmost and unpaid at March 31 in on oh year. I ‘'‘ft is questionable i.f, any other part lof the world, the financial arrpn'mI ments.of the Government for h.a.ncllljrcr the unemployed problem arc as sound