UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3903, 5 February 1929, Page 3

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

MINISTERIAL REPLY TO HOSPITAL BOARD. Auckland, Last Night. The way to t'he solution of the unemployment problem lay along the road of land settlement on a large scale, coupled with an extensive public works policy, declared the Minister of Health (Hon. A. J. Stallworthy), When the Auckland Hospital Board asked that relief be given from the heavy burden imposed on charitable aid boards in consequence of appeals from men who could not find work. Palliative measures were insufficient in themselves, said the Minister. The problem would remain unsolved if huge grants were made to charitable aid boards .and matters left at the present. However, he .would communicate immediately with Sir Joseph Ward, so that Cabinet might consider easing the burden of the Auckland Board. •During the past ten months, the Auckland Charitable Aid Board had (expended £37,713 on charitable aid, said the chairman, Mr Wallace. Approximately half of that sum was spent in the relief of unemployment distress. Only £30,000 had been placed on. the estimates, from which the Minister could judge that the distress had been much more prevalent than had been anticipated. It was expected that before the financial year closed a total of £45,000 at least would be expended if the same rate of progress was maintained. Relief of unemployment should not be a tax on the local ratepayer,; declared Mr Wallace; it should be a national burden. Some boards were giving practically .no relief, but Auckland as the largest city was the hardest hit.