The chief trade groups in which vacancies for men were filled are given below :

Nearly all the figures for 1926 for both men and women show an appreciable reduction from the figures for the preceding year, the reduction being due entirely to the much slower movement of trade and employment during the greater part of the year owing to the mining dispute. Now that the dispute is over one of the most difficult parts of the unemployment problem is to

restore the fluidity of labour. The industrial depression of the last six years has been most acutely felt in the heavy industries which tend to be congregated near the coalfields.

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Although

conditions in other parts of the country may have been substantially better, the chances of regular employment in other areas have not been sufficiently certain to induce men to leave their own area. The result has been that in many districts labour has been frozen" by unemployment, and has remained stationary. At the same time, in other areas where there is a greater variety of industrial development considerably greater trade activity has obtained, and there have been, occasionally, temporary local shortages of certain classes of workpeople. În the case of boys and girls in particular, as mentioned in the "First Part of the Report of the Committee on Education and Industry (England and Wales),' the shortages which have. already become occasionally noticeable are likely to increase.

Certain observers profess to see in this irregular distribution of employment and unemployment a tendency for industrial development to move from the north towards the midlands and south, and to turn from big establishments operating near the supplies of coal fuel to smaller establishments more widely scattered and drawing their power from electricity. Whether this is a true interpretation of the currents in industrial expansion (which are illustrated in the Ministry of Labour Gazette of November, 1926, pp. 415 et seq.), or not, there is no doubt that the midlands and the south and west have generally enjoyed greater prosperity even in the difficult times of the last year, and it is in those parts of the country that there has been occasional difficulty in obtaining labour of the right quality, although such labour clearly exists in other parts of the country. What needs to be done is to facilitate the transfer of labour from area to area and to ensure that industrial development is not retarded through inability to obtain the right type of labour. This task cannot be handled efficiently except by a system of employment agencies covering the whole country.

During the year the Department has continued to devote a good deal of attention to the machinery of the Exchanges as placing agencies with a view to providing as efficient a service. as possible to employers needing workmen and workmen seeking employment. In the working of this service due care has to be taken not to bring in workpeople unnecessarily from elsewhere if there are suitable persons unemployed in the locality; while at the same time there must be no avoidable delay in drawing upon other districts, if local resources are insufficient. The effectiveness of the Department's efforts must depend on

The report, dated 3rd November, 1926, was published by H.M. Stationery Office in December, 1926. Price 18. 6d.

the extent to which the co-operation of employers in notifying vacancies can be enlisted. The Department has reason to believe that by slow but sure degrees the confidence of employers is being secured and that the Exchanges may thus be enabled to play their full part as employment agencies in the industrial organisation of the country.

Special Placings Arrangements.

The Exchanges have continued their specialised efforts in certain industries, particularly the provision of seasonal labour for the Post Office at Christmas, for fruit picking, pea picking and hop picking and for farmers in connection with the beet sugar industry and, also, the supply of domestic servants to holiday resorts. The advance notification to the Exchanges of estimated labour requirements is now a regular part of the preparation for such seasonal work and the Exchanges have no difficulty in meeting the requirements of employers.

Advance of Travelling Expenses to Workpeople.

During the financial year ending 31st March, 1926, £16,317 was advanced towards the cost of travelling expenses of workpeople of which only £1,491 was outstanding at the end of the financial year. The total amount advanced since the establishment of the Employment Exchanges is £422,938 of which only £4,570 has had to be written off as irrecoverable.

LOCAL EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEES.

The reconstitution of the Local Employment Committees for a third term of office was completed during the year. The total number of Committees at the end of the year was 326. The members of these Committees continued to give their service voluntarily to assist the Department. In their personal contact with the life of the locality and in their advisory capacity to the Minister these Committees assist greatly in ensuring that the Employment Exchanges shall appreciate the differing needs of differing places, and their work in the past year has increased the debt which the Department owes to them.

PORT LABOUR.

The Port Committees which had already been set up (see Report for 1925, p. 36) continued their work. The Joint Committee for the Port of London began to revise its register in accordance with the recommendations of the Maclean Committee. Similar joint committees were set up at other ports and approved

by the Minister after consultation with the National Joint Council for Dock Labour, making a total of 24 committees in operation with Departmental assistance in 1926, viz :

Ardrossan, Ayr, Barrow, Boston, Bristol, Cardiff, Cumberland Ports, Dundee, Fowey, Garston, Goole, Grangemouth, Great Yarmouth, Greenock, Grimsby, Hull, Ipswich, Leith, Liverpool, London, Preston, Southampton. Tees Ports, Weymouth.

KING'S NATIONAL ROLL.

Considerable progress has been made during the year with the enrolment of Local Authorities and Royal Warrant holders. Of 3,804 Local Authorities all but 273 and of 1,060 Royal Warrant holders all but 31 are either on the Roll or regarded as employing too small a staff to be reasonably expected to enrol.

On 16th February, 1926, the following resolution was passed in both Houses of Parliament :

"That, in the opinion of this House, it is the duty of the Government in all Government contracts to make provision for the employment to the fullest possible extent of disabled ex-service men, and to this end to confine such contracts, save in exceptional circumstances, to employers enrolled on the King's National Roll."

This formal resolution of Parliament confirmed what has been the practice of Government Departments since June, 1921. 567 Local Authorities now follow the practice in respect of their own contracts. A similar resolution was passed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and reciprocal arrangements have been made between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to carry out the resolutions.

On 31st December, 1926, there were approximately 27,500 employers on the King's Roll employing approximately 375,000 disabled ex-service men. The figures for December, 1925, were 28,000 employers employing 370,000 disabled men.

It will be noted that the number of enrolled firms has fallen. during the year by 500. The main part of the decrease is accounted for by firms which have gone out of business, or owing to their small size did not find it possible to continue to comply with the conditions of enrolment. On the other hand some firms already on the Roll have increased their total staff, and, largely due to the restriction of public contracts to enrolled firms, enrolment of large and important firms has been secured and maintained. The net result has been an increase in the 'number of disabled ex-service men in the employment of enrolled firms.

The following table shows the numbers of disabled ex-service men registered as unemployed at the Employment Exchanges in Great Britain on certain dates :

*Note.-Disabled ex-service men are classified at Employment Exchanges into three broad categories :

(a) Those whose disability would not prevent them from returning to their usual occupation, or to an analogous occupation, under ordinary industrial conditions, after training if necessary;

(b) Those whose disability would prevent them from returning to their usual occupation, but would not preclude them from employment, under ordinary industrial or commercial conditions, on what might be described as a light job;

(c) Those whose disability renders it difficult for them to be employed under ordinary industrial or commercial conditions, except in some institution specially designed for ex-service men suffering from very severe occupational disability.

Although there has been a general increase in unemployment throughout the country during the year, it will be seen that there has been an appreciable decrease in the numbers of disabled ex-service men registered as unemployed at the end of the year.

OVERSEA EMPLOYMENT.

The Imperial Conference of 1921 recommended co-operation between His Majesty's Government and the Governments of the Dominions, both financially and in all other respects, in a comprehensive policy of Empire land settlement and directed. migration.

As a result of this Conference the Empire Settlement Act was passed in 1922. It is administered by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs with the advice and help of the Oversea Settlement Committee, on which the Ministry of Labour is represented.

The most important occurrence during 1926 bearing on migration was the Imperial Conference, which appointed a subcommittee to consider oversea settlement. The committee stated that they were "satisfied that it is impossible to effect the desired redistribution of population by means of mass movements, and they desired especially to dissociate themselves from the idea that the mere transfer of large numbers of people from Great Britain to the open spaces of the Dominions would afford a solution, of the problem of oversea settlement. They were convinced that a sound policy must be based upon scientific and