H.—lla

first of the long-service personnel of the Second Division who had been repatriated were becoming available for direction to industry, and thenceforth the direction figures are bulked by the inclusion of formal directions to these men, notwithstanding that in many cases directions were issued only with the full consent and agreement of the ex-serviceman. 270. In addition, the rapid and far-reaching comb-out of Category " A " men held on appeal, by the rigorous review conducted by Appeal Boards', threw an additional responsibility for active direction policy on to District Man-power Officers. In effect, then, to man the various replacement drafts required for despatch overseas, District Man-power Officers have, during the latter portion of the last twelve months, been obliged to apply to civilians a somewhat more rigorous direction policy i,than would otherwise have been followed. Despite this, the co-operation of workers and employers has enabled the realization of a high degree of success. 271. The industries which have benefited most from direction, as would be expected, have been those which were covered by a declaration of essentiality or, as in the case of farming, although not covered by such a declaration, nevertheless of primary importance. Table 25 of the Appendix gives a broad industrial group classification of the industries which have benefited most by direction during the year ended 31st March, 1945. The directions so depicted have been subdivided to distinguish between directions occasioning circulation of labour within each industrial group itself, circulation of labour as between industrial groups, circulation of labour as from the Armed Forces to industry, and the circulation of labour to industry from students and other non-working sections of the population. The two outstanding features of direction activity during the twelve months under review have been the large number of males from the Forces (20,045) directed to high-priority industries, and the almost comparable figure of 19,351 males directed from less essential to more essential industries. It is clear from these figures alone that industrial man-power control during the last twelve months has played an important part both in the manning of essential industries and services and in the mobilization of man-power for the Armed Forces. Tables 26 and 27 of the Appendix show the ratio of directions issued to population in each man-power district while Table 28 depicts the broad industrial distribution of the eighty-odd thousand workers at present under direction. (iv) Approved Terminations from Essential Industries 272. From the beginning of August, 1943 (when statistics for males and females were first kept separately), to the 31st March, 1945, permission to terminate from essential industry (no authority to terminate from unessential industry is necessary) has been conceded by District Man-power Officers on 75,791 occasions in the case of men and 45,209 in the case of women. Of these decisions approving termination, 49,185 in respect of men and 28,876 in respect of women, have been made by District Man-power Officers during the twelve months ended 31st March, 1945. It is important to qualify the total number of decisions involving permission to terminate by pointing out that such decisions have, on a number of occasions, referred to the same workers, and therefore it would be incorrect to conclude that the aggregate decisions applied to a like number of separate workers. Table 32 of the Appendix shows the monthly growth in applications to terminate since March, 1944. 273. The reasons for Man-power Officers' decisions, where these decisions have involved permission to terminate, together with the result as far as industry has been concerned, are set out in Table 31 of the Appendix. From this table it is evident that permission to terminate from a particular undertaking in essential industry has not always resulted in the loss of the worker from the industry itself. Thus, in respect of decisions to terminate during the last twelve months, 7,182 of the decisions in the case of males and 3,673 in the case of females have resulted in the retention of the workers concerned in the same industry. In 32,575 (males) and 12,572 (females) other cases, outflow from the particular industry has resulted in movement to another essential or important industry. In only 2,784 (males) and 1,323 (females) cases of termination has there been a transfer to non-essential industry. Table 33 of the Appendix analyses from the angles of the reason for termination and the nature of the resultant movement all cases of approved applications to terminate between Ist August, 1943, and 31st March, 1945. 274. As far as the termination of male workers has been concerned, the bulk of the balance of terminations has resulted in the loss of the worker to industry on account of ill health, retirement, &c., a total of 4,797 such cases having arisen. As might be expected, with the return of servicemen from overseas, the number of women lost to industry per medium of approved terminations from essential industry has been considerably higher and has reached the figure of 10,392 for the last twelve months. Probably the number of women leaving industry to establish homes or retiring from industry on account of ill health and age, &c., has been considerably in excess of this figure, as the outflow of women workers from unessential industry would have been unchecked and the subsequent direction of such persons could only have been partial. (v) Unapproved Applications to engage and terminate 275. The activity of the Department in restricting the outflow of workers from essential undertakings —i.e., rejecting applications to terminate —and restricting the inflow of labour to unessential undertakings —i.e., rejecting applications to engage—has also played a considerable part in the mobilization of New Zealand's industrial man-power. Though not so dramatic as the positive direction of workers, the restraint of movement of workers has resulted iu a definite contribution to the stabilization of labour content of the more important industries. To date, permission to terminate from essential industry has been refused on some 27,869 occasions. Of these refusals, 25,540 have related to applications to terminate lodged by employees and the balance of 2,329 to applications lodged by employers. This phase of the Department's work has also been prominent over the last twelve months, 9,220 of the 27,869 refusals having been recorded during this period. A detailed analysis of the various aspects of refusals of applications to terminate is contained in Table 31 of the Appendix, and a month-by-month analysis of the applications to terminate received during the twelve months ended 31st March, 1945, is given in Table 32 of the Appendix,

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