H.—35.

UNEMPLOYED WOMEN AND GIRLS. The Board has continued the system whereby relief is granted to unemployed female wage-earners through local Women's Unemployment Committees, with the assistance of monetary grants from the Unemployment Fund. Women's Unemployment Committees are operating in the four chief centres and in ten secondary centres. During the financial year ended 31st March, 1933, the Board made grants to these committees for the relief of women's unemployment totalling over £16,000. The following table sets out the number of live registrations in the four centres as at 31st July, 1933, and shows the previous occupation of applicants for relief: — Previous Occupation. Registrations. Previous Occupation. Registrations. Office work .. .. .. 59 Nursing .. .. .. 13 Shop-assistants .. .. 86 Other .. .. .. 140 Factory employees .. .. 211 Domestic duties .. .. 466 Total.. .. .. 975 The registrations dissected according to ages are as under :— Age Groups. Registrations. Age Groups. Registrations. Sixteen to twenty .. .. 532 Over forty .. .. ..115 Twenty-one to twenty-five .. 168 Twenty-six to thirty .. .. 83 Total.. .. .. 975 Thirty-one to forty .. .. 77 The women's committees are active in finding positions for unemployed women and girls. During the four weeks ended 31st July, 1933, the committees in the four centres placed 113 in permanent work and 103 in temporary positions. These placements were mostly in private domestic service. UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS. • ') Following on the report submitted to the Government by Messrs. A. E. Ansell, M.P., and S. G. Smith, M.P., Boy Unemployment Committees have been set up in various centres, and these committees are doing exceptionally good work in finding positions for unemployed youths. During the twelve months ended 31st August, 1933, 4,458 positions have been found for boys by the committees operating in the four main centres. The Unemployment Board has assisted committees by making grants for the purpose of meeting administration expenses, and in some cases has paid the fares of boys and provided some clothing when they are sent to positions in the country. The Board has also authorized the payment of a subsidy for the training of sons of New Zealand soldiers at Flock House ; and over two thousand youths of from eighteen to twenty years of age have been assisted by the Board with subsidized farm employment. A limited number of boys between the ages of sixteen and twenty have been assisted on farms, where they receive a general training in farming methods. The Board is assisting the Wanganui Youths Sand-dune Afforestation Camp, in which fifty boys are employed. ISSUE OF BOOTS TO RELIEF WORKERS. An innovation by the Board during the recent winter was the issue of working-boots to relief workers. Hitherto workers under the Board's schemes have been remunerated with cash wages, or, in the case of workers in camps, cash wages together with food and accommodation. The Board generally favours the principle of paying the workers under its various schemes in cash, but there are occasions when a departure from this principle is justified. Stout working-boots are a commodity which every relief worker requires, and there was ample evidence available that a very large number of relief workers were inadequately shod for the work they were performing. Arrangements were accordingly made for the manufacture of a sufficiently large quantity of working-boots of the best quality to provide for an issue of one pair each to the workers under the Board's schemes. The issues have been proceeding for four months. In pursuance of the general policy of requiring work to be performed for relief given from the Unemployment Fund, the Board requires that each relief worker engaged on part-time relief work only, to whom boots are issued, shall perform one extra day's relief work in consideration therefor. Other relief workers engaged full time in camps, or on goldprospecting, are not required to work any additional time. Two types of working-boot —a heavy type and a lighter type —are available, and a worker may choose whichever type he desires. The boots are of first-rate quality, and have been greatly appreciated by the men. The value of the boots is considerably in excess of the monetary value of the day's work required of the recipients. The issue of boots is at present confined to part-time workers under the Board's relief schemes, camp workers (except where standard wages are paid), and gold-prospectors. The following shows the position at 30th September, 1933, in regard to boots ordered and the numbers that have been supplied to relief workers Number of pairs of working-boots — .. Ordered .. .. .. .. •• •• •• 64,194 Supplied by manufacturers .. .. .. .. .. 51,072 Issued to workers .. .. .. .. •• •• 48,916

3—H. 35.

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