SINGLE MEN'S CAMPS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 288, 30 July 1932, Page 6

SINGLE MEN'S CAMPS

(To the Editor) Sir, — Kaengaroa and eold, tents and ten bob a week, trees and toru trousers. These terms are synonym- j ous in ths minds of the single unem- 1 jioyed relief worker, toiling in the ' State forestry camps, under one of the Unemployment Board's numjrous ; relief sehexnes. No doubt the "Unemployment Board j would, if it were at all possible, usurp the power of the weather god, and . arrange favourable elimatic conditions on the Kaengaroa Plains. This being dut of the question we must acquit i the board of any blame in regard to : the intense external eold suffered by ; the men in the forestry eamps. The | tents and the ten bob a weelc do, | however, come within the jurisdiction i qf the board. These conditions are admitted and explained by the board as being the outcome of financial stress and industrial depression. In fairness to the State Forestry Department it may be said that the camps give no cause for complaint, and the food is well up to standard. Any worker having even the slightest knowledge of forestry work will sadly but firmly testify to the ruinous effect fern and manuka scrub has on the ordinary post-war material which goes into the manufacture of working clothes. It is over country clad with this destructive scrub growth that these highly p'aid citizens of New Zealand, must tramp in order to plant the future wealth of this fair Dominion. Once evsry two months each man must take the uppers of his boots and heave them on the rubbish dump, carefully saving what is left of the laces. His next action is to ? Well! Mr. Coates it's up to. you. This man requires new boots, new trousers, a coat to keep him partially dry, and blankets to stave ofF the bitter eold of a snow-laden atmosphere. The writer would mak > an appeal to all fair-minded citizens to see that this man and his fellow-sufferers, receive adequate clothing at least, in return for arduous toil. Representations have been made to the Unemployment Board through every accessible channel with a view to providing the single unemvloyed workers with clothing suffieient to ensure replacement of their own pitiably meagre supply. The result of these representations was the helpful suggestion from the Minister for Employment, that perhaps the local re-

tailers would arrange to give credit, until such time as the men had earned enough to pay for them. This, while yards of military clothing remain in the store as food for the eommn'cially unproductive moth. — il am, etc., SUFFERER 29/7/32.