H.—lla.

continued after the 31st March, 1939. Whereas the Department had controlled some 188 district and sub-centres, the organization now has Employment Bureaux only in the four main centres, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Wellington. It does, however, maintain direct contact with the Registrars and District Agents of the Social Security Department, and through these media carries out direct control of employment and State placement work in forty-eight district offices—four District Employment Offices, fifteen Registrars, and twenty-nine District Agents. While in the four main centres there are separate Employment Bureaux and Social Security Offices, in the remaining forty-four offices the employment-promotion functions are conducted through the Social Security Department, that Department, however, being responsible direct to the Employment Division for the work performed on its behalf. The following table illustrates the new method of control: — Employment Division, Labour Department. Unemployment and Sickness Benefits Division, Social Security Department. Responsible direct to Employment Division, Labour Department, for all employment- | j promotion and State Placement Service work. Registrars— Auckland. Christchurch. Dunedin. Wellington. r H. i i District Employment Officers— Registrars— District Agents— Auckland. Blenheim. Alexandra. Christchurch. Gisborne. Ashburton. Dunedin. Greymouth. Dannevirke. Wellington. Hamilton. Dargaville. Invercargill. Feilding. Masterton. Gore. Napier. Hastings. Nelson. Hawera. New Plymouth. Hokitika. Paeroa. Hutt Valley. Palmerston North. Kaikohe. Rotorua. Kaitaia. Timaru. Levin. Wanganui. Oamaru. Whangarei. Pukekohe. Queenstown. Rangiora. Riverton. Stratford. Taihape. Taumarunui. Tauranga. Te Kuiti. Thames. Waimate. Waipukurau. Wairoa. Westport. Whakatane. The Hon. H. T. Armstrong, who was appointed Minister of Labour when the present Government took office in 1935, relinquished this portfolio towards the end of last year in order to undertake duty as Minister of Housing. The Labour portfolio was taken over by the Hon. P. C. Webb on the 13th December, 1938, although for some months prior to this date the new Minister had been actively associated with matters relating to the promotion of employment. LEGISLATION. There were, during the year under review, no legislative changes in the Employment Promotion Act, 1936, although, as indicated in my last annual report, additional regulations providing for the adoption of a declaration as to industrial and occupational status, combined with an annual declaration of income other than salary or wages, became effective as from 4th April, 1938. With the coming into force of the Social Security legislation, however, the Employment Promotion Act itself was repealed under section 135 of the Social Security Act, 1938, although the Employment Promotion Fund established under the former enactment will not be abolished until the 30th September, 1939. The Employment Promotion Fund may continue to be used for any and all of the purposes for which the Fund was established—with the exception of those referred to in section 37 of the Employment Promotion Act covering payments of allowances to persons in need of assistance—but all money in the Fund at the date of its abolition will be transferred to the Social Security Fund.

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