“END OF OUR TETHER”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 713, 12 July 1929, Page 10

“END OF OUR TETHER”

Unemployed Relief Works CITY COUNCIL IN DESPAIR A STATE bordering on despair now characterises the efforts of the City Council to find further schemes for the relief of unemployment in Auckland. One councillor declared last evening, with a gesture of hopelessness, that The city had arrived at the end of its tether as far as finance was concerned. The former city engineer's proposal to complete the Waterfront Road met with a mixed reception. Some councillors favoured raising' a loan, others wished to wait and see what success attended the Mayor’s negotiations with the Prime Minister.

The sub-committee appointed three ( t weeks ago to explore all possible j s schemes by which the Government I subsidy of £25,000 might be obtained j reported that the acting city engineer, Mr. J. Tyler, had prepared several , g small projects involving an expendi- > ture of £26,593, and carrying an i b estimated subsidy of £6,954. The ! ? committee, having considered the ! waterfront road, could not recommend ; c its prosecution at the present time, | b but had requested the Mayor to pro- j ceed to Wellington to place before Sir Joseph Ward the small works men- j t tioned, with the object of at least securing the subsidy estimated by the | £ engineer. Cr. E. J. Phelan, speaking on the I n report, said there had been discussions ! 1 on such works time and again. ! i *Y am going to make a suggestion, but it will not be popular,” he said, s “It is that we can raise money by loan. We are spending more than ° £60,000 on parks alone, giving lux- L uries, and we cannot continue under such a system. There are big schemes [ for the future. One of these concerns , 3 Belgium Street. Now. we have T reached a certain stage of development in connection with the Water- «. front Road, but the question is going t no further at the present time. Much c as we desire to spend money on parks, we should be paying it out on some- j. thing more useful. We should be going on with the Waterfront Road. T in my opinion, and we should not allow such a proposal to be held over c for two or three years.” Cr. Phelan said the report could be held over with beuefit, saying that such public questions as were involved l were being taken piecemeal. J “The only businesslike way,” Mr. t Phelan went on to say, “is to raise a j special loan. If the public wants these things it should be made to pay for them. I suggest the holding over of £ action pending the return of the * Mayor.” “ END OF OUR TETHER” c i “We have arrived at the end of our 1 | tether,” declared Cr. Ellen Melville, I with a gesture of hopelessness. “We 1 ; are working now at a loss and we ? are not getting any assistance. It is 1 i simply out of the question to raise J I loan money. “The proposed £1 for £1 subsidy has been found an absolute myth,” said the councillor, with warmth. “The sooner we recognise that fact the better. The offer of the Prime Minister to the council is getting us nowhere.” Cr. Melville quoted figures from current subsidised works to show that the ratio of subsidy to total expenditure was very small. It was simply giving the workless false hopes to suggest that these works relieved distress. It could uot be done. “I am satisfied something must be done,” Cr. Melville continued, “but, like Cr. Phelan, l cannot suggest anything better than the proposed scheme. “Local bodies should be brought together in an effort to formulate some scheme that will not keep the unemployed in the city in false hopes.” The deputy-Mayor, Cr. A. J. Entrican, pointed out that the impression had spread that the council had practically turned down £25,000. This was even " being repeated by the Prime Minister. It was time the public understood the position. There was a | proposal before the council which at : most would receive a subsidy of 25 per cent. To complete the Waterfront Road would cost £120,000. Cr. Phelan: It must be done some time. Proceeding, Cr. En trican said he was convinced the scheme would carry a subsidy of not more than £20.000. Cr. W. Casey: Raise a loan; do without a subsidy. i The acting city engineer corrected , Cr. Entrican, saying that the work t would cost £95,000. Purchase of land was included in that. Cr. Entrican was surprised to be . told that the Waterfront Road was a j reproductive work. What public work J could be undertaken in Auckland at !

tlie present time that would return some profit ? he asked. Cr. Phelan: The Waterfront Road. WITHOUT SUCCESS

The Deputy-Mayor was convinced Mr. Baildon would return without j success. The fact was that the Prime j Minister had found himself hemmed in by his departments. Taking the city I as a whole, they would be better off ; in undertaking necessary works out of j loan moneys. Tenders would be colled and the work would be done by j better men. In taking unemployed ; workers the consequence was that j they were paying inexperienced men. | Cr. Bartram: What would you do, then? The Deputy-Mayor: Are we as a city j council forced to fihd work for men coming from outside districts ? Cr. Bartram: It would be unfortun-j ate if it got abroad that the Deputy- j Mayor considers unemployed drawn j front the Labour Bureau are incont- j petent. Cr. Entrican: I did not soy that. 1 j said they were inexperienced. Cr. T. Bloodworth said that in j adopting the proposed scheme the council was not curing but creating unemployment. It was spending £B,OOO at Western Springs and the loss had to be met out of the interest ; account next year. That meant there , was less money 12 months ahead. “I notice,” said Cr. Bloodworth, j ‘‘that the member for Parnell is reported as saying that if Wellington can take £25,000, Auckland can. A Councillor: He doesn't know what j he is talking about. It was useless to make such com- , parisons, Cr. Bloodworth continued. , Wellington had more to spend. It. was ; quite useless for politicians to dodge ! their responsibilities. The present Government was elected on a promise to do away with unemployment, but all it was doing was to put its responsibilities on to local bodies. If the council decided forthwith to put into effect some scheme it would he voiced abroad: “There is work m Auckland, and men would come from all p-arts of the country.” Auckland could not afford a Waterfront Read. It . was not reproductive. There was no cure for unemployment while tile present social order prevailed, he said. On Cr. Bloodworth's amendment it was decided to defer the question !l»til Mr. Baildon's return, and to ask his Worship to call a special meeting a week hence. PLACING MORE MEN GOVERNMENT’S EFFORTS ROAD-WORKS AND CAMPS ' (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter) j PARLIAMENT BLDG., Thursday. After receiving a wire from Mr. W . Wallace, Auckland Hospital Board chairman, stating that he was wiring the Auckland members regarding unemployment, and that the board was finding the position more acute, and could nothing be done to relieve the tension immediately, the Postmastergeneral. the Hon. J. B. Donald, approached the Minister of PublicWorks, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, who gave an explanation of the position. Mr. Ransom said that, as Mr. \ Donald was aware, the Government had recently announced that work would he found for 500. During the past two months 375 men had been placed and arrangements had been made for an additional 125 Auckland men to be sent to road works in the Taumarunui district. A large proportion of these would be placed next week and the balance during the following week. Work was being laid out and camps erected on road works nearer Auckland, which would absorb 70 more men. who would be placed within a week or a fortnight. As the registrations at the Auckland Labour Bureau were still high instructions had been issued yesterday for work to be laid out and camps erected on three other roads in the Auckland district as quickly as possible. These I works would provide employment for a further 135 men, expected to be taken on before the end of the month. ] The Minister has promised that furI ther work will be found as soon as | possible.