The Dominion. SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1920. INDUSTRIES AND HOUSING

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 275, 14 August 1920, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1920. INDUSTRIES AND HOUSING

A good deal has been said of late about the necessity of _ diverting boys from unskilled to skilled occupations and also about the desirability of promoting and extending manufacturing industries, so that the Dominion will be less dependent than it is at present upon importations from abroad over the price of which it is unable to exer.cise any control. Striking evidence of the scope there is for useful enterprise in ( these directions is supplied in tlic annual report of the Department of Labour. In its opening passage it points out that during the year 1919-20 there Was a considerable shortage of labour _in many . manufacturing, industries.. The list of industries thus, handicapped includes those which the Dominion •at this time is most interested in fostering, .amongst others the various building trades, wool-len-milling, clothing and boot .manufacturing (all branches), motor 'and 'general engineering, sawmilling and furniture making. Taking as a guide the number of crs employed in factories, secondary industries are far from having recovered the position they lielcl before the war. To'say that these industries are declining would hardly be correct, since during the last two years the number of workers employed in factories has been . increasing at the rate of _about three thousand a year. But in the latest period for which particulars are available—the year which ended in March last—the number of factory workers was 0n1y'85,591 as compared with 87,517. in 1913-14 mi '88,812 in 1914-15. At prehunt there is a percentage of idle machines in a number of our most important industries, and undoubtedly, if labour is made available, existing manufacturing plants can be-, extended with benefit' to the whole population. The ■ apprenticeship question has a vital bearing-On the expansion of secondary industries, and so far as the building trades are concerned, the shortage of apprentices is in some respects an even more serious factor than the shortage of adult labour. A tflbie in the Labour Department report indicates that the total number of apprentice's in employment in all trades last year was greater actually and on a population basis than in 1914. All forms of engineering show an increase and in the case of electrical and cycle and motor engineering' the increase, 1b very considerable. In each of these trades more than twice as many apprentices wore employed lastyeai as in 1914. On the other hand, apprenticeship in the building trades has slumped heavily. The aggregate number of apprentices employed in the five chief building trades in 1914 was 951. Increasing normally on a population basis fie number should have been 980 last year. Actually, it declined, to 680. In view of the enormous and unsatisfied demand for dwellings and other kinds of buildings, a drop of about thirty per cent, in" the normal number of apprentices to the building trados is. a very serious matter. Public attention is at present concentrated on the problem of relieving the existing housing shortage, but if similar troubles are to be averted in future, it is very necessary that means should bo found of largely increasing the number of apprentices to the building trades. There is ho doubt that unskilled and blind-alley occupations arc year by. year absorbing large numbors of" boys who might be diverted to their ■ own great profit into the building trades and other, secondary industries. The Dominion will be wasting invaluable opportunities of strengthen i tip its economic organisation unless pre-war standards of both adult employment and apprenticeship in these industries arc rapidly improved upon.

While it easts useful light on tho general problem of industrial ex pansion, the report also contains an interesting review of the State housing netivities' which are now delegated to a special branch of the Lnbour .Department. An extended statement by i(.s superintendent suggests that the Housing Branch has closely approached the period-.at which the vast amoun.t of prelim-

inary work it has undertaken will begin to show substantial results. Tho'number of dwellings actually erected, thus far under tho provisions of the Housing Act of last | .year is small. On June 30, only 13 had heen completed, hut on the same date 305 houses were under construction and negotiations were iri progress for the erection of an ' additional 780. Now that mca'sures have been taken to restrict "*nonessential building, difficulties occasioned by the shortage of labour and materials will be modified ant the output of dwellings ought to be greatly expedited. It is estimated that the Department will have 700 houses under construction, in different parts of the Dominion, in a few weeks time. Accepting official estimates of the housing shortage and of the present and prospective rate of private building, the demand for houses will be fully met by the end of 1922 if arrangements are made under the Housing Act for the erection by the Housing Branch, local bodies, and employers of 1300 houses per annum. Time may show, however, that this-' estimate is optimistic. It is very possible that a slackening in private building may compel the State to broaden the scale of its housing activities as these arc at present planned, and it is at best doubtful vfhether the position can be adequately met without the development jand concentration of State organisation that would most readily be attained under the administration of a Minister of Housing. In'many details, the existing organisation of tho Housing Branch seems to be effective and well-planned. For instance, it has been able to provide dwellings for up to £150 less than.the ordinary market rate, and has achieved some noteworthy, economics in the purchase of supplies -the importation of a shipment of iron at £43 a ton when the current local price was £75 a ton is cited as t an example in point. There is evident scope, however, for the introduction of elements of concentration and driving force. This is recognised, to some' extent in the arrangements that are being made to appoint a Superintending Overseer, to co-ordinate constructive work and supervise the~ supply and distribution of materials. This is a step in the right direction. Presumably ; t will be the essential duty of the Superintending Overseer to make the most of all existing resources available for the erection of dwellings. There would be a better assurance _of the desired results, however, ij a_ comprehensive .scheme of organisation _werc_ undertaken under the administration of a responsible Minister.