H—ll

(6) The difficulty in maintaining adequate staffing in the Public Service in Wellington, particularly in the case of typists and cadets, has been aggravated by the lack of private accommodation and the Department has endeavoured to relieve the situation by providing hostel accommodation for staff transferred to Wellington. An additional hostel for male cadets was opened in Wellington during the past year. (7) The Department is grateful for the co-operation and assistance given by the Y.W.C.A. in operating on behalf of the Department, two hostels in Wellington and the Hutt Yalley. These hostels for industrial workers were originally opened during the war years and have continued to be sucessfully operated by the Y.W.C.A. to accommodate women employed in selected industries of importance in the districts. (8) A summary of the various hostels and camps in operation at the 31st March, i 950, together with the residential capacities of each, is shown in the following table :

(c) Training of Shearers . (1) The scheme inaugurated during the 1947-48 shearing season to encourage young men to learn shearing was reviewed prior to the commencement of the 1949-50 season. Experience had shown that while a substantial number of young men had volunteered for tuition, farmers were willing to take only a proportion of these as learners in their sheds. Reports from districts indicated that the shortage of shearers so noticeable in previous seasons, particularly in the South Island, was much less apparent during the 1948-49 season. This improvement was attributed to the return of ex-shearers to the industry encouraged by the increased shearing-rates, the beneficial effect of the training scheme, and to a small influx of Australian shearers.

9

Camps and Hostels. District. Capacity. Industrial workers' camps (males) — Waikaraka Park .. .. .. Mangere (Maoris) .. .. .. Hataitai .. .. .. .. Winter Show .. ., .. Petone .. .. .. .. Industrial workers' hostels (females) — Hanson's Lane .. .. .. .. wtb™}°p eratedb y T - w - c - A Immigration hostels — St. Kilda .. VauxKall Wigram (combined) Fort Dorset .. ... .. North Head Narrow Neck Public Service hostels — Oriental Bay Antrim House Hobson Street 117 Tinakori Road Mechanics Bay (operated by Post and Telegraph Department. Public Service allocation, 24 beds) Home aid hostels— 146 Dominion Road 175 Vivian Street Miners' hostels— Reefton Huntly Granity Ohura Ohai Auckland .. .. ! Wellington .. .. „ Hutt Valley .. .. Christchurch .. /Wellington .. .. \ Hutt Valley Dunedin Christchurch Wellington .. Auckland .. " Wellington Auckland Auckland Wellington West Coast Waikato Buller Taumarunui Invercargill M. F. 420 107 250 228 413 29 80 264 150 38 109 24 86 172 140 138 98 42 55 20 24 10 15 51 94 14 54 50