The Press THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 1942. Manpower Regulations

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23537, 15 January 1942, Page 4

The Press THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 1942. Manpower Regulations

Statements by the Director of t National Service and the Minister ■ 1 for Supply have prepared the pub- j 1 lie for the amendments to the Na-jt tional Service Emergency Regula-1 c tions announced by the Prime Min- i ister. They pursue two main ob- r jects: to conserve essential labour 1 resources and to recruit them. The £ most important measure, in the first t respect, is that which authorises the i Minister for National Service to 1 classify any industry or business as j J “essential,” bringing it within the t scope of certain new regulations and t to that extent under the control of ( the Minister and his manpower c officers. It should be noted, of r course, that this classification does, \ not create “reserved” occupations;! f that is, the military status and obli- j r gallons of workers in the essential's industries, of which a large number j ] have already been listed, remain as < they were and are the subjects of j j the same laws and processes as be-1 ] fore. The effect of the classification ( is (a) that workers cannot leave, ] or be discharged, without official , consent; (b) that they must be kept j in full-time employment; and (c) , that absenteeism and irregular or ] negligent service become an offence, j Second, to provide a labour reserve, ; the Minister may direct any class of t classes of persons to register for em- j j ployment; and registered persons, j become liable for industrial service ( or training, as ordered. A similar, , provision authorises the Minister) ■ to recruit the Emergency Reserve j] Corps and to post registered persons; c to the Emergency Precautions Ser- j t vices or to any other branch of the \ t corps. Finally, a regulation which! ] may be expected to prevent un- j \ desirable competition for scarce la-j, hour requires employers, as they c may be specified, to' obtain official , consent before engaging workers; , but the remarks of the Director of j National Service, last yea:, suggest i that it is better considered as a tentative move to prevent the expansion of non-essential industries or the launching of new ones. So far as they go, the new regulations aie rightly designed. It is obviously necessary to guard against the drift of labour from essential industries and, to the. extent that regulations can help, to secure continuous and efficient employment within them.) Just as obviously, it is necessary to, ( organise the means of filling the; gaps that occur! in particular by | c training. The power to do this com-, j pulsorily has long existed: ever since ; ; the Government assumed the sweep-[ i ing authority to order every citizen j £ to place himself, his services, and his property at the State s disposal. | ( The present regulations merely i create the machinery to apply that t authority, in part. If there are ques- { tions, they concern that machinery, rather than its purpose. Several arise. First, it is not clear how the ( Minister for National Service will be ( advised in the classifying of indus- ] tries, in the registration of persons j j for the industrial reserve, and in ordering the restrictions on the en- ( gagement of labour. Many of the , problems that must arise will not be readily or successfully solved \ without recourse to information and | to advice that must be sought be-|j yond his own department; for in-j ] stance, in the Department of Indus-, * I tries and Commerce, in the Depart-) j ment of Agriculture, the Department) i of Labour, and elsewhere. But offi- j ’ cial sources of information, advice, , and aid are not all. It is important j to know what the Minister will do, | l or will not do, to secure the full co-j ' operation of the industries his policy, will reach and affect. Again, it isi, not clear how the machinery wiJLj be operated to send registered; workers to their places in industry j oi for training; nor is there any in- \ formation about the system of train- * ing. When these questions are answered, it will be possible to see whether the regulations solve a problem which has grown anxiously difficult, or throw a new set of official orders and conflicts about it. It is a puzzling fact, to begin with, that the farm producing industries, as distinct from the processing industries, are excluded from the list) of essential industries: puzzling, because the list is otherwise very com- 1 f prehensive, and because the desper-| ' ate shortage of farm labour is wellj c known. Only one more point need ( be dealt with until the facts become | clearer. The regulations as a whole! fall a long way short of the policy '[ sketched last year by the Director of j I National Service. Mr Hunter touched; *■ an important issue, for example,! , when he said that it would be neccs-11 sary to taper off or even cease pro- i c duction in non-essential industries. I t If the regulation referred to above j i represents the Government’s ap-j l proach to this policy, it is a very | , timid one. This and other differences! i between the manpower policy de-jl fined in the regulations and the 1 J policy stated by Mr Hunter and cn-' ,■ dorsed by the Minister for Labour) f * i | need to be explained. Instalments), of policy are no longer any use, or j t paper policies, or fumbled policies, j ;