“ABSOLUTE FARCE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 831, 27 November 1929, Page 6

“ABSOLUTE FARCE”

GOVERNMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF SCHEME

MT. ALBERT LOAN REFUSED Indignant strictures on the Local Government Loans Board for refusing to sanction a borough loan of £5,000 for the relief of unemployment in Mount Albert were passed by councillors at the meeting last evening. No reason was given by the board for its decision. Determined not to accept this as the last word, however, the council now proposes to approach local M.P.’s to secure their co-operation in urging the Loans Board to reconsider its decision, in view of the continuance of unemployment. Regret at the Loans Board's rejection of the proposal was expressed by the Mayor, Mr. L. E. Rhodes, who said that the Government had already undertaken to subsidise the loan. The surrounding local bodies had received big grants for unemployment relief, hut, except for about £2OO, Mount Albert had received nothing, compared with thousands granted to the city. In addition to other improvements that could have been undertaken under the unemployment loan scheme, the borough would lose two football fields, which could not now be proceeded with. “It appears that the Government is shirking its duty on the pretence that it has a scheme for the absorption of unemployed,” declared Cr. H. L. Kayes. The employment offered the workless was 200 or 300 miles from Auckland, he said, and the men had to leave here to receive the modest pay of 14s a day. One man on relief works was earning 7s daily, and had applied to the speaker for work during the Christmas vacation, so that he might give his family a little pleasure. If a private company were to reduce wages to 7s a day, and employ men in deplorable conditions, everybody would be up against it, he declared; nevertheless, the Government could do it. The men were being sent to the country on the Government’s pretence that it had a scheme to absorb all the unemployed, which was ridiculous. The men were really being sent away from the cities so that they could not “kick up so much row.” “They call themselves a Liberal Government, but how can they expect these men to be liberal with their votes at the next election? I fear the Government will be turned down,” he added. Cr. W. G. Russell said he understood the reason for the board’s refusal to sanction the loan was because the Government was taking over all unemployment, which he described as an “absolute farce.” “It seems that no matter what we apply for, we get a nasty jar,” remarked Cr. W. D. Fulton. He said that the “poor beggars were dumped on the relief works to get on as best they could.” The Mayor said that the loan work in the borough was now well advanced, and that if the money was not forthcoming, the council would be faced with the serious position of reducing the staff.