H.—35.
EXTRA BENEFITS CONFERRED ON AND CONCESSIONS GRANTED TO RELIEF WORKERS DURING THE PERIOD Ist AUGUST, 1934, TO 31st JULY, 1935. During the period reviewed in this report, the Board has found it possible, through the general relaxation in the strain upon the Unemployment Fund, to grant a considerable number of benefits to relief workers in the way of extra payments, the provision of supplementary relief in kind, &c., and has also, wherever possible, eased the conditions under which the men have been required to work in the past. A summary of these benefits and concessions is listed hereunder : — Ist August, 1934 : As from this date the general unemployment levy payable by all relief workers employed on a part-time basis, certain camp workers, subsidized goldprospectors, &c., was reduced from ss. per quarter to Is. per quarter. Practically all relief workers, except those employed full-time at standard rates of pay with a subsidy from the Unemployment Fund, participate in this concession. Certain conditions must be complied with in regard to eligibility for the concession. The Order in Council providing for this exemption was published in The New Zealand Gazette, No. 57, of the 26th July, 1934. August, 1934 : Definition of dependent children extended to include relief workers' children over the age of sixteen years where such children are in full-time instruction in day schools or maintained by the applicant for relief because of physical or mental infirmity. September, 1934 : One of the conditions attaching to the first two issues of working-boots to relief workers was that the recipient should perform a day's work in return therefor. This condition now waived, and future issues of boots granted without having to be worked for. Ist October, 1934 : All relief workers in certain camps who were provided with food and accommodation and a weekly remuneration, approximately 10s., received an increase in pay of ss. per week. At the same time the daily rate of pay for full-time workers at standard rates of pay in Public Works camps, &c. (subsidized from the Unemployment Fund) was increased from 10s. to 10s. 6d. 15th October, 1934 : As from this date the condition that subsidized gold-prospectors refund to the Board 10 per cent, of the value of any gold won during the currency of their subsidy was abolished. December, 1934 : In addition to the usual two weeks' relief pay without work arranged over the Christmas and New Year period, primarily to suit the convenience of local employing authorities, the Board on this occasion made a special grant of an extra week's relief pay to all Scheme 5 part-time workers, sustenance recipients, subsidized gold prospectors, and others not employed full-time at standard rates. January, 1935 : In the past, compensation payments to relief workers injured during the course of their relief employment was based on the Workers' Compensation Act, which specifies payments amounting to two-thirds of the workers' normal earnings over a period. To obviate distress to injured relief workers or their dependants, the Board arrived at a decision to make ex gratia payments in such cases, on the following basis : — (a) In the case of temporary incapacitation the Board will pay the difference between compensation legally payable and the sustenance rate applicable to the worker in the district in which he resides. (b) In the case of permanent disability the ex gratia payment will amount to the difference between actual compensation based on the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act and an assumed compensation based on hypothetical earnings of £2 per week. January, 1935 : As from the 28th January, 1935, the daily rates of pay for Scheme 5 relief workers was increased from 10s. for married men and 7s. 6d. for single men to 10s. 6d. and Bs. 4d. per day respectively. From this date also a new and more equitable scale of relief allocations came into force. This scale, which represented a general increase in the amounts of relief pay granted to individuals, abolished the old system of one scale of relief in the four main centres of population and another in the rest of the Dominion, and in its place four different classifications were adopted as follows : — (a) Main urban areas ; (b) Secondary cities and larger towns ; (e) Smaller towns ; (d) Rural areas. In each of these classes the rationed scale of relief was amplified to provide progressively greater remuneration according to the degree of family responsibility, with a maximum payment for married men with seven or more children. Examples of the incidence of this revised scale of relief will be found in other sections of the report. April, 1935 : Formerly time lost through wet weather was paid for in the week in which time was lost, but such time had to be made up subsequently. Provided the worker actually commences work or reports on the job, he is not now required to make up such time. April, 1935 : As a measure of extra relief to meet distress during the winter, the fourth scale of relief applicable to rural areas, as referred to above, was abolished and such districts placed on the same basis as smaller towns. The separate scale for Natives not living in European fashion, which is applicable to the whole Dominion, was also increased.
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