LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 278, 17 August 1908, Page 7

LABOUR.

UNEMPLOYED ACT IN GREAT BRITAIN. APPLICANTS FOR RELIEF. 1 AN INCREASE. (nj TELEGiui'n—pkess association—corritioiiT.) London, August 14. Tho Local Government Board has issued a return showing that, during tho year ending March 31, 90,057 persons applied for relief under tho Unemployed Workmen Act— 32,624 in London and 57,435 in tho,.provinces. - This number was 3000 more than in tho previous year. Tho increase was mostly in London, tho chief depression being in the engineering,. ship-building, irou, steel, and metal trades. WORK OF CENTRAL COMMITTEE. Some light ■is thrown on the working of the Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905, by the report of the Central (Unemployed) Body for London for the period from it ay 12, 190G, to Juno 30, 1907. The main conclusions drawn by the Central Body from the experience of its operations are thus summarised in the report-.— The physical condition of the men for whom ,work was provided was in many cases below par, owing to no fault of their own; but, in the opinion ot the Superintendent of Works, they were able, under proper supervision,, to carry out very good work. . . As far as can be judged from the actual estimation of the officers of some of the authorities for whom .work was done, the average value of the men employed i was fully 75 per cent, oompared with ordinary unskilled labour for the work provided; and considering all the circumstances, tho impoverished condition of many of the men, etc., this result cannot be considered unsatisfactory. But what must cause grave apprehension is the, fact that, 'by the valuation of such an authority as the London County Council, the. product of the work is but one-fifth of its best. H.M. Office of Works, for whom much excellent work has been done, does not offer any recoupment at all, That training on the land is useless from a permanent point of view unless there is some assured 'settlement for the men when trained. That Londoners can bo made fit for country life, but that only a' proportion of those placed under training would be suitable for sinall holdings. That the first results of emigration are encouraging, bijt, for that reason, there is a temptation to over-emphasise emigration as a remedy. That the Women's Work Department has possibilities of usefulness, but there is a danger of women becoming the principal wageoarners in families where the men are merely loafers, and also of their leaving other employment to enter the workrooms because of the better rate of pay and conditions. That more technical education is desirable as a preparation for life. Boy labour, under present conditions, supplying as it does largo numbers of unskilled and untrainod labourers at the age of 18 to 20 years is a difEoultjr which has to be met.

That H.M. Government should itself give warning of approaohing periods of dearth of employment.

That a State Department should set up and organise National Labour Exchanges throughout the country; and'that,-'in addition to providing means'for registering the unemployed, the Exchanges should act as- means for discovering where -work existed, arid also for finding out as far ahead as possible when and where bad trade might lie coming.