BUILDING SUBSIDY

Hokitika Guardian, 13 June 1933, Page 5

BUILDING SUBSIDY

move Defended s REFERENCE BY MR JESSEP. (Per Press Association—Copyright.) BLENHEIM, June 10.' An important rererence was made i by air j. a. jessep, aeputy-c*mirmaix a or tne Unemployment Luani, to tne ’ new tmilumg suosidy scheme in reply* f nig to diticism levelled at it. in do- :• so lie clid. not mince matters, but i staunchly defended the move as one ; designed to assist an industry which, 3 lie asseited, liacl been adversely af- . leeted probably more than any other r single branch of business in the Doi million by the depression. He con- • tended that the action taken by the' board was more tiian justified by ciri cumstances. . ' There is no trade worse off at present than the building industry,” he said. Pit is nearly dead. It is estimated that not 10 per cent. —a libera] estimate would be 20 per cent., but reliable men say 10 per the men formerly engaged in the building trade are in work in the trade to-day, Taking it at 20 per cent, we have 80 per cent, of the tradesmen idle. The board, after a lot of thought, decided that from our point of view there was no trade that we could attempt to' stimulate, no trade that would relieve" pressure on the unemployment funds more, and I want to stress that point and would induce men. who have funds to spend to start spending them now in the building trade. Some criticism has been levelled at the scheme from this point of view, that .we are going to put money into the pockets of men who can well afford to put up a building, perhaps a big building. Well, that is not our point of view. We really are asking the assistance of any man who lias money to spend in now. After all labour on a building, a big building particularly,. i s -a small part of the total expenditure." r Mr Jessep said that the building scheme was not the only one under which the board Was subsidising heavily in order to get 'the men on to useful work. ‘‘Under Scheme 48,” he pointed out, “we are asking assistance of any man of means anj I sav that quite distinctly. I don’t care if he is the wealthiest man or institution in - j New Zealand. If lie will do developmental work of any description which under ordinary economic conditions would not .be done we will pay 50 per cent,, of the cost. That applies to the drainage Qi lands, bush-fellmg, scrub-clearing and so on. We welcome the man who will, pay his' 50 per cent. We can stand up to all the criticism that comes along. We may indirectly he assist-, mg the man with money, but otherwise he is not going to do the jvdrk, Wo are, in fact, very willing to find our 50 per cent, and we consider it some of the best type of work we are doing in New Zealand to-day.”

MARRIED MEN AND CAMPS. BOARD TO CONSIDER MERITS. WELLINGTON, June 12. Official inquiries made to-day indicate that although the Unemployment Board is anxious to fill various relief camps, there is no intention of dealing harshly with married men .whose circumstances are such as to cause hardship for them if they leave home. It was pointed out that in many cases, exemotions had already been granted, and other eases will be considered on their merits. It was stated that men will he able to do a full month’s .work in two or three weeks, returning home for the remainder of the month, and enabling them to earn extra money during their absence from camp, without the disability respecting relief work.

CHRISTCHURCH RELIEF FUND. BENEFACTOR’S UNDERTAKING. CHRISTCHURCH. June 12. The fund being raised for relief of distress in Christchurch by a. committee of businessmen has now reached £4.868 os Id. An anonymous benefactor has undertaken to look after twenty families for the winter. The families which were allotted to him by the secretary contain 17,3 children. ’ ' 7: