INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17151, 3 May 1919, Page 9

INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS.

UNEMPLOYED IN BRITAIN.

SYSTEM OF DONATIONS.

REABSORBING EX-SOLDIERS. I A. and N.Z. LONDON, May 1. In the House of Commons to-day, ' Sir Robert Home, Minister for Labour, defended the unemploy- 1 Iment donation, for which the esti- i mate for the current financial year 11 was £25,000,000. The main reason 11 for unemployment, he said, was the [ i deliberate policy of maintaining the, < blockade. The country could not! 1 say that the unemployed should not. , receive compensation owing to con- 1 ditions which were necessary to < achieve the full fruits of victory. A i total of 1,000,000 were drawing un- ■ employed benefits, of whom 250,000 ' were demobilised soldiers. The lat- '," ter were guaranteed for a year against unemployment. In the cot- ' ton trade 100,000 workers were draw- ' ing the benefit. The scheme had been greatly abused, but there was I little foundation for criticism. He intended to appoint a committee to inquire into the administration of the scheme. The greatest difficulty' arose over domestic servants. After munitions work the girls would not return to domestic service. The unemployment donation to 17,000 girls has been cancelled, said Sir Robert. ' Industry had reabsorbed since the armistice 3,000,000 workers, 80 per cent, of whom were ex-soldiers. The most hopeful feature of the new labour arrangements was the formation of industrial councils, bringing workers and employers together to negotiate. Thirty-one of j these existed, covering 2,000,000 j workers, while 22 drafting committees covered another 1,000,000. > Sir F. G. Banbury urged the stop-1 page of donations at an early date j except for ex-soldiers. Tin dona-; | tious were ruinous and demoralising, '

FORTY-EIGHT-HOUR WEEK. MR. LLOYD GEORGE APPROVES

iA. »nd N.Z. LONDON, May 1. | Sir Robert Home, presiding over the committee of the National Industrial Conference at Whitehall, read a letter from Mr. Lloyd George stating that foreign countries were looking to Britain to give a lead in founding a better industrial order. Ho approved the Bill providing for a 48-hour week and a minimum wage fixed by commission. Elasticity was 'required by particular industries, I such as agriculture, in which sea--1 sonal and other conditions necessitated special considerations, and by such workers as seamen and domes--1 tic servants, for whom a 48-hour ; week was impossible, i Mr. Lloyd George said the Act ' should otherwise apply to all indus--1 tries in which legal limitation of hours was practicable. He hoped the solution of the urgent problem of the unemployed would be the first question claiming the projected National Industrial Council's attention. He hoped the council would be established as quickly as possible. He was sure it would be of groat value in assisting the Government to improve industrial conditions.