NATIONAL REGISTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24827, 29 January 1942, Page 6

NATIONAL REGISTER

ALL AUSTRALIANS TO WORK CONTROL OF MAN-POWER (Air Mail) SYDNEY, Jan. 21. The new national register decided on by the Federal Government on Monday is expected to include all males and females from school leaving age to the old-age pension age—--60 for women and 65 for men. The register is to be the foundation of the Government's plan to mobilise Australia for war.

The Government is determined that everyone in the community, shall work irrespective of whether they need to work for a livelihood or not. Ministers consider that there are many men and women with the necessary qualifications to perform some sort of useful service who are not working now because they have private incomes.

The national register is expected to be compulsory, and will be compiled by local labour bureaux and local governing bodies. Control will apply to women as well as men. Women considered essential in a particular industry will be transferred in the same way as men. A reserved occupation list for women is likely. Women and girls doing skilled or semi-skilled work in munitions or other reserved occupations will be subject to the same restrictions on movements as men. They will not be able to change jobs without official permission. Voluntary war workers will have to register, but are not likely to be transferred unless they possess qualifications needed in other fields. If the Government considers too many persons are engaged in a particular form of voluntary war work it might decide that some could be of more use elsewhere.

Important results are expected to accrue from the establishment of National Service offices, to which employers wanting labour will have to apply. The Government will have power to compel any employer to accept anyone sent to him by a National Service office.

It may be three months before the scheme is in full swing. Regulations will be promulgated immediately, but much organisational work has yet to be done. No details of the form of registration for employment have yet been completed by the Government, which has approved only the general principle. The new labour plans will have an influence on the army. Recent callups of men for military service have evoked criticism in Federal circles, because it was claimed that civil industry would be crippled by so many men being put into training camps. In future military requests for manpower will be considered by the Labour Department, and only those who are considered dispensable will be released for military service.