URGENTLY-NEEDED RELIEF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 24 July 1929, Page 4

URGENTLY-NEEDED RELIEF

"GET ON WITH THE JOB!" (To the Editor) Sir.—So our "relief" funds for the earthquake sufferers are going to swell the funds of a Government department! Shades of Brunner, Kaitangata, ■ and Huntly disasters rise before us, Iwith their "relief" funds, and the generation they were meant to relieve, all dead. Is it any wander we are uneasy about the misapplication of our money? Upon what grounds does th 0 Government justify the placing of our gift in the hands of the Civil Servants for administration? Does the. Government think we are so stupid as to believe that the relief we so generously provided is going to be applied in accordance with our wishes when it gets into the hands of the rules-and-regulations gentry? We subscribed to the. relief funds to provide relief—speedy relief to- the sufferers; not to provide another fund for investment in one of tho forty-four Government departments. We expect the. relief funds to be spent. We did not subscribe them far the aggrandisement of civil servants. We expect the relief funds to be used forthwith, before the sufferers are old or dead. Our representatives in Parliamentshould see that our money is not hoarded up for the sufferers in the "greatest disaster of 1955." Only by Parliament recovering its power to govern can we hope to see Parliament doing its job. We expect our money to be spent on the sufferers by the recent earthquake. We did not stipulate that Tiie moneys should be controlled by rules-and-regu-lations men. Wo expected 'they would be controlled by men on the spot. Our British sense of fair play requires that the. proud, the timid, and the poor, will receive benefits as well as the forceful, the man with "pull", and the man in the. limelight. Only by local administering of the funds on the spot can justice be done. Administering by civil servants will mean the usual mismanageinent—benefiting the wrong people, neglecting the right people, and the. heart* breaking delay of rules-and-regulations. If a sufferer needs help, he is now required to "fill in a form." He needs the assistance of a solicitor. He must disclose all that the census enumerator and the income tax inspector demand. He must swear to all the statements under all the formality needed to fight a law-suit, and run the risk of prosecution for perjury if he makes a mistake. Did Wp subscribe our money to see this indignity, this tyranny, foisted on the sufferers? The inquisitorial nature of the proceedings necessary to obtain relief is a slur on the generosity of the public who provided the funds, and if the Government expects us to accept this tamely, it is mistaking the temper of the people. We have had quite OllOUgh of Government interference in business, The last elections showed that we do not want too much Government interference (which is Public Service interference) with this relief work. Tt, would allay our resentment if the local committees were given a lump sum each to get on with the job.—l am. etc. SUBSCRIBER, Nelson, 24ih July.