SKILLED WORKERS IN ARMY

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23747, 19 September 1942, Page 4

SKILLED WORKERS IN ARMY

BEST USE TO BE MADE OF THEIR ABILITY

(P.S.S.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 18. With the object of ensuring that tradesmen and other men in the Army possessing special qualifications and experience should be employed at duties enabling the maximum use to be made of their ability, a special survey has been made by the Army authorities at the request of the War Cabinet, according to a statement by the Minister of Defence (the Hon, F, Jones). . The survey, the Minister stated, covered the following points:—(l) The use of skilled men in the Army in relation to the needs for skilled men within the Army and within industry; (2) the adequacy of existing training arrangements designed to increase the supply of men with those types of skill wnich are urgently needed by the Army and which cannot be spared from industry; (3) the use of fit men in the Army in work which could be done by unfit men or women.

An Army Trades Committee had been formed to investigate the requirements of the Army, both present and future, in respect of tradesmen, existing training arrangements and the best methods of expanding such arrangements.

All unit commanders, the Minister stated, had been required to submit a certificate to Army headquarters that they had conducted a survey of all men under the rank of sergeant and had reported to their immediate formation headquarters those cases in which tradesmen and others possessing special experience and qualifications were unsuitably employed and should be transferred to another unit.