£l,000 A WEEK

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1070, 6 September 1930, Page 1

£l,ooo A WEEK

COST OF CITY RELIEF HOSPITAL BOARD’S WORK More than SOO unemployed in Auckland are at. present receiving assistance from the Hospital Board, which is spending about £I,OOO a week in aiding those in distress. There are more new applications I for relief before the board than ever j before, according to the secretary of ; the Hospital Board, Mr. H. A. Som merville. Bast Thursday the relief ! committee dealt with a total of 320 [ cases, as against 246 last year and 221 in 1925. The staff has been kept busy j in investigating claims and in administering to the needs of the poverty stricken. ! It is the policy of the board to make I short-period grants only to those who ! can work, men who are recognised as I “down and out” alone receiving a | regular grant. This system aims at i throwing the unemployed on their own ! resources as far as possible, while pre- | venting actual hardship, and does uot j allow a permanently indigent section of the population to develop. The general depression is at its ; peak now, especially among farmers, who have been forced to keep work !as far as possible within the family j and in many cases have developed a i co-operative scheme which does not employ outside labour. Ou the other . ! hand, there are farmers who complain ! that they are unable to secure help. The Unemployment Bill, should it be ' passed by Parliament, will relieve the board of many of its responsibilities ; , and the summer should see the end ]of the board’s troubles. Many men ' : will be able to take advantage of sea- ; : sonal vocations at that time and will i help further to reduce the unemployr ment. There were so many deserving cases in the City that it was impossible to 1 give adequate relief to everyone, als, though the board expected to spend I £50,000 this year, said Mr. W. K. Howitt, chairman of the relief com- * mittee. The board was doing all that . could reasonably be expected.