CHARITABLE RELIEF

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 954, 23 April 1930, Page 11

CHARITABLE RELIEF

HOSPITAL BOARD FUNDS SUBSIDY AGAIN NEEDED A motion that the recent resolution of the Auckland Hospital Board to increase the levy on local bodies from .28d to .3d in the £ should be rescinded and that the levy should be at the same rate as that of last year, but on the new valuation, will be moved by Mr. E. H. Potter at tlxe next meeting of the board next month. The question of provision fer the relief of unemployment in Auckland this winter is involved. East year the board was called on to provide relief as well as the usual charitable aidUnder the motion, money would be available only for the ordinary requirements of the board, which would urge on the Government the necessity for providing relief from unemployment, which is more prevalent in Auckland, being a large seaport city, than elsewhere in New Zealand. A grant of £IO,OOO was received from the Government last winter to meet extraordinary demands, and a total of £48,000 was spent. It had been suggested recently that no grant would he made this year. Mr. Potter considers it is not fair that the board should he asked to spend between £30,000 and £35,000 of the ratepayers’ money in providing relief which should come from the Government and the Consolidated Fund. Under the new valuation there had been an increase of nearly £3,000,000 in capital value of the district, and the additional revenue in sight, together with a Government subsidy equal to that of last year, should be great enough to meet ordinary demands.