UNEMPLOYMENT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 69, 12 November 1931, Page 6

UNEMPLOYMENT

GRAVE POSITION MINI5TER STRESSES NEED FOR MORE PRODUCTIVE WORK ROTORUA COUNTY ATTITUDE The Rotorua County Council, at its monthly meeting yesterday, devoted considerable time to a consideration of various aspects of. the unemployment prohlem. In this eonnection a letter was received from' the Minister in Charge of Unemployment (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates), pointing out the very grave nature of the position and asking for suggestions from the Council as to steps which might be taken in the county area to divert relief work into more productive channels. The Minister outlined the steps proposed by the Unemployment Board in this eonnection, and requested the ehairman of the council (Mr. H. P. Ford) to forward to Wellington any suggestions which. the Council might care to make as to suitabl? blocks which might be brought in for closer settlement in the Rotorua district. Into the Land "The number of men registered as unemployed in New Zealand has reached the alarming total of more than 50,000," stated Mr. Coates. "Of these, upwards of 40,000 are engaged part time uiider the Unemployment Board's No. 5 scheme which is mainly road work with pick and shovel. If account were -taken also of the men, other than relief workers, employed by the Government, and local bodifes on road construction and maintenance, the number engaged in this class 'of work would be still further increased. It is a state of affairs which we cannot tolerate. New Zealand cannot afford to support the volume of unproductive work disclosed by the present figures and a concerted effort must be made to move men into productive industry very largely this means farming. 'Our task is to move men 'over the fence onto the land'." Continuing, the Minister appealed for the support of all county councils, which by reason of their local knowledge and acquaintance with district conditions were peculiarly able to render assistance in tackling this very difficult position. "Our problems, as I see them, fall under two main heads," stated the Minister. "(1) The bringing into use of new land, whether Crown property, neglected land in private owvnership, or occupied lands suitable for closer settlement and (2) the absorption of additional men and the increase of production on existing farms. "Under the first heading, county chairmen, might compile a statement regarding any land which they judged would be worthy of consideration and in this eonnection, the Minister stated, officers of the various Government Departments would give any assistance in their power. The letter then proceeded to suggest the lines along which land suitable for closer settlement might be classified in forwarding reports. Existing Farms So far as existing farms were concerned, it would'' be realised that while breaking ih new land was import^nt, the GoVernment must look mainly to existing farms for absorbing men now unemployed or engaged on relief work on a-contract basis. Comments from the Council as to the working of these schemes in the Rotorua district would be welcomed and any suggestions as to their improvement would be appreciated. In some districts, attention would have to be given to the question of providing accommodation for men with families and it might be possible to do something in this direction by providing inexpensive cottages on sections of land of from one to five acres. The Minister stated that he had in mind hutments of the type used by the Public Works Department, which could be placed on land which would carry a cow or two and which would be so located that the occupier would be free to take work on any or a numher of nearby farms. As a first step it might be possible to explore the possibility of having small sections allotted by owners of land, such sections to be perhaps vested in the County Council or other appropriate public authority. Explore All Avenues "Other lines of approach and pther matters demanding attention, will I am sure, occur to you," concluded Mr Coates, "and I will welcome your fullest possible suggestions. I am satisfied that if headway is ,;to be made, we must explore to'the utmost, not merely projects for the development of large areas, hut also minor improvements and minor developmental work. ' Such smaller schemes indeed are in many cases likely to be more immediately reproductive than larger schemes and are apt to be overlooked unless they are searched out by men with intimate local knowledge. "One final word I should add and it bears upon the vital subject of finance. The total income of the Unemployment fund, including Government subsidy on a fifty-fifty basis, is £2,500,000 a year; the present outgoings are at the rate of almost £50,000 weekly, a sum which cannot easily be reduced while we have 50,000 unemployed men (additional to the women and young .people) and thus the whole income is already being absorbed. We propose to find a sum of £500,000 .to be definitely earmarked for the purpose of moving the unemployed on to the land or other productive industry. That is a. limited sum, even if the full sum were allotted to countries, and' of course, it cannot be so divided as to give an equal amount to each county. These figures are inserted in order that all concerned may be aware of the limitak'ons under which we are working. The basic facts to remem-

ber are that every man transferred fom unproductive relief work to work of a productive value means a change from a national liability to a qational asset." Inexperienced Men "When Mr. Coates cuts down the cost of running this country to half, we may get somewhere," remarked Cr. J. E. Martin. "The trouble is, so many of these men are inexperienced. They generally fall into a drain or get something on top of them and get hurt." Cr. W. Steele. It is just like a new horse, sir. You have got to break him in to your ways of working. It was finally suggested by the ehairman, that the Council should suggest to the Unemployment Board that a file classification of the un-. employed should be carried out in order that farmers might have an opportunity to obtain experienced labour and not inexperienced men who were often in the long run, more iyCr. Martin: The trouble is that the f armer is cleaned out. He has no money to avail himself of these things. Prices are failing all the time. With fat lambs and pigs, it is scareely worth while driving them to the station. Blocks Discussed In aceordance with. the suggestion contained in the Minister's letter, various blocks suitable for closer settlement in the district were discussed by councillors and it was decided to forward information in this eonnection to Wellington. The question of assisting men who are at present unable to develop their farms sufficiently to secure an adequate living was discussed and it was finally decided to suggest to the Board that the No. 5 employment scheme be extended to enable these settlers who have heen forced to seek work off their properties to remain no them carrying out developrnental work. A sub-committee consisting of the ehairman, engineer and clerk, was set up to obtain the information requested by the Minister and it was suggested that individual councillors assist by supplying any relevant information in regard to suitable blocks. Work on Farms A further letter was received from the Acting Postmaster (Mr. H. C. Smith) , outlining a new scheme which had been drafted hy the Unemployment Board. Under this scheme, . local bodies were empowered to utilise labour made available to them under scheme No. 5 on developmental work on farms, where the f ormer, owing to the depression, was unable to do this work himself. Work particularly mentioned in this eonnection was creek clearing, eradication of noxious weeds, serub eutting, etc., which might have a district as well as an individual value. In doing such work for farmers, it would be competent for the local bodies to obtain from the farmer a contribution at least sufficient to recoilp it in respect to its outlay on supervision and transport. It might be possible to arrange with the farmer for supervision, insurance, transport, ahd perhaps accommodation for short periods. Also the workers might be given a full week's work in return for his weekly allocation plus food and accommodation. The farmer might be asked to make a contribution towards the cost of work, a promissory note for the amount agreed on being accepted. The matter of inquiring into this scheme was left in the hands of the county engineer. Local Donation The Council also discussed giving assistance towards the proposal to provide against the exigencies of the coming season by carrying out potato planting in the borough for the assistance of unemployed men. The ehairman mentioned that the Borough Council was pushing the scheme ahead and that an area for planting had already been selected. He had not committed the Council to any assistance as it must be realised that the Council had very heavy responsibilities in meeting the requirements of the ratepayers in its own district. After a brief discussion it was decided that the Council should make a donation of £5 towards the fund for the purchase of seed potatoes and materials.