SOME TO REMAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 118, 15 November 1945, Page 9

SOME TO REMAIN

MAN-POWER CONTROLS

REVIEW BY MINISTER

In a review of the operations of the National Service Department, the Minister of Industrial Man-power and National Service (Mr. McLagan) told delegates to the annual conference or the New Zealand Federation of Labour, of which he is national president, of the intention to retain controls for some time after November 15, and of a probable reorganisation of the Department to assist in post-war and peacetime economy.

The total number of undertakings affected by the declarations that had already been revoked was 4810, and the number of workers was 54,840, said Mr. McLagan. These totals did not include those declarations which had been revoked prior to VJ Day. Further individual and blanket declarations which it was intended to revoke not later than November 15, affected a total of 6461 undertakings and 24,798 workers.

The declarations which would remain after November 15 were as follows:—

(a) Abattoirs, boiling down and.manures, cool stores, felimongery, fertilisers, freezing works, freezing companies' head offices, skins and hides, wool scouring—170 undertakings, 13,750 workers.

(b) Casein, condensed milk, dairy factories, dried milk, herd testers, lime, milk distribution, sugar of milk —360 undertakings, 4250 workers. (c) Brick and tile, important building, building material, cement, concrete products, sawmilling, joinery factories, exotic forests—36so undertakings. 21.920 workers.

(d) Boxmaking, clothing, canvas goods, special engineering, flour-mill-ing, footwear manufacture, hosiery mills, rubber, sugar refining, tanneries, tobacco, woollen mills—sso undertakings 26,280 workers.

(c) Coal mining, electricity production, electrical trades, fire boards, gas, hospitals, hostels, hotels, and restaurants, laundries, plumbing, teaching, tramways, water supply and sanitation, Railways (2nd Division), Post and Telegraph (2nd Division)—-4530 undertakings, 84,350 workers.

The total number of undertakings and workers covered by these remaining declarations of essentiality were, therefore, approximately 9260 and 150,550 respectively, said Mr. McLagan. Most of these remaining declarations were now being reviewed to ascertain what further revocations could be made before the end of the year.

WHY CONTROLS MUST CONTINUE

The controls, he said, had been imposed for the sake of getting certain jobs done, and those controls would be taken away when the jobs could be done without them. There were, however, industries where it was not possible to get enough production without controls. Mining was one. Coal was short and they could not get men to go into the mines. Timber was short and declarations were also still necessary for housing, freezing works, and dairy factories because of their importance. In the textile industry production was still badly short in some lines, and the Government was not prepared to take the risk of a shortage of clothing when so many men were being discharged from the Armed Forces.

REORGANISATION OF DEPART-

MENT.

The report of the national executive stated that in relaxing the man-power controls the Government was not unmindful of the fact that, in administering them, the National Service Department had built up an establishment which in its personnel, experience, contacts with employers and employees, and development of methods of consultation and joint co-operation could be of great assistance in post-war activities.

"While the compulsory control measures must go," the report continued, "It is proposed by means of legislation to reconstitute the Department on a peacetime basis and retain (though possibly in a suitably re-organised form) those aspects of its wartime setup which can lend themselves to the tasks confronting us in the future."

In the reconstituting of the Department as a National Employment Service, the following main functions would be provided for:—

1. By co-operation with employers and employees to anticipate and to plan to meet labour requirements or retrenchments, to assist in any decentralisation of industry which may be necessary, and to afford special facilities for the placement of disabled persons.'

2. To develop a special Higher Appointment Service to work in cooperation on the one hand with technical colleges, universities, Government training schemes, etc., and on the other hand with employers requiring speci-ally-trained or professional or supervisory staff.

3. To provide a general employment service and with this to couple a special service to assist persons becoming incapacitated for their normal work or otherwise requiring retraining or to be put in touch with established vocational guidance centres.