Distributed as between men, women and juveniles, the figures

The chief trade groups in which vacancies for men were filled

are given below:

Food, Tobacco, Drink, Lodgings, &c.

*This total is composed of 140,066 boys and 124,596 girls.

5,039

15,581

3,341

45,729

9,166

15,920

26,036

9,448

Mining Industry Act, 1926, Section 18.

Section 18 of the Mining Industry Act, 1926, empowered the Minister of Labour to make regulations to secure that in the recruitment of persons for employment in the coal mining industry preference should be given to persons who were employed in that industry in the week ended 30th April, 1926, (i.e., immediately prior to the stoppage) or whose last regular employment before that date was in the coal mining industry.

In view of the situation which had developed since the passing of the Act the Minister, instead of making regulations under Section 18, accepted for the time being a voluntary undertaking by the Mining Association to carry out the intention of the Act. This undertaking, which came into force on 1st August, 1927, covered the collieries of all members of the Association and all nonfederated Associations and also the more important non-associated colliery undertakings.

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The undertaking makes a distinction between recruiting by collieries of persons regularly employed in the industry (" eligible persons") and the engagement of new entrants. By the term new entrant is meant a person over 18 years of age (not being a disabled ex-service man in receipt of a disability pension) engaged (otherwise than as a student) for employment in any one of certain specified occupations connected with the getting, handling, haulage, preparation and despatch of coal, who was not employed in any of the occupations during the period of seven days ended 30th April, 1926, or who was not so employed when last before that date in regular employment. The undertaking imposes no restriction on the engagement of eligible persons. It provides, however, that no new entrant is to be engaged in any of the specified occupations unless particulars of the vacancy have been notified by the employer to the nearest local office of the Ministry and 14 days have elapsed after such notification has been received without submission by the local office of a suitably qualified eligible person," or unless the local office has given notice to the employer before the expiration of 14 days that no such person can be submitted. The introduction into the industry of adults not hitherto employed in it is thus closely restricted. The undertaking also provides for returns to be rendered monthly by the colliery companies to local offices of the number of new entrants to the industry, and also the number of new engagements of " eligible persons."

These returns show that there has been general compliance with the terms of the undertaking; and the Employment Exchanges are assisting to an increasing extent in the movement of colliery labour from depressed areas to fill vacancies occurring in other pits.

By the end of the year notifications of the engagement of 170 persons over 18 years of age not hitherto employed in the industry had been received. In general there were no suitably qualified un

employed eligible persons available in the locality to fill the vacancies notified in accordance with the undertaking, and, as they were mainly vacancies for unskilled or semi-skilled men, of uncertain duration, or in connection with which lodging accommodation was not obtainable in the district, no pressure could be brought to bear upon unemployed colliery workers of the categories in question to travel from other districts to fill them.

Seasonal Placing Arrangements.

Special success attended the efforts of the Department to meet the acute seasonal demand for domestic servants in holiday resorts during the summer months. Over 18,000 vacancies in hotels, boarding houses, &c., were filled, and further placings would have resulted but for the cancellation of vacancies due to the partial failure of the holiday season following a wet summer. The Department wishes to place on record its appreciation of the assistance rendered by many women's sub-committees of the Local Employment Committees in helping workers to settle down in strange towns under novel conditions of work.

Considerable assistance was also given to farmers, especially in the South Western Division, in obtaining additional labour for haymaking and harvesting, for pea, fruit and hop picking, and for growing and treating sugar beet.

The special arrangements for recruiting labour for the Post Office at Christmas were also continued.

Advance of Fares to Workpeople.

The making of advances towards the expenses of workpeople travelling to take up employment at a distance is an important part of the work of the Employment Exchanges in promoting the fluidity of labour. During the financial year ending 31st March, 1927, £20,401 was advanced for this purpose, of which £1,293 was outstanding at the end of that financial year. In the same period £96 was written off as irrecoverable.

LOCAL EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEES.

The total number of Committees at the end of the year was 330. The Committees, the members of which place their services voluntarily at the disposal of the Minister, continue to give the Department the benefit of their knowledge and experience. A number of Committees have given special consideration to the development of Exchange facilities within their areas, and to procuring the greater use of these facilities by local employers.

PORT LABOUR.

The Port Registration Committees continued their work of promoting the decasualization of dock labour (see Report for 1925, p. 36). The Registration Committee for the Port of London completed a comprehensive revision of its register during the year and succeeded in reducing the number of men included therein from

52,000 to about 40,000. Twenty-five port registration schemes were in operation with Departmental assistance at the end of 1927, viz., Ardrossan, Ayr, Barrow, Barry, Bristol, Cardiff, Cumberland Ports, Dundee, Fowey, Garston, Goole, Grangemouth, Greenock, Grimsby, Hull, Leith, Liverpool, London, Middlesbrough, Newport, Port Talbot, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Weymouth.

KING'S NATIONAL ROLL.

The King's National Roll is a record of employers who agree to employ a definite percentage of disabled ex-service men.

The administration of the Roll is in the hands of local committees, whose activities throughout the year have continued with success. On 31st December, 1927, there were 247 special King's Roll Committees, usually presided over by the head of the Local Authority. Employment Committees carry out the work where special Committees have not been formed. The King's Roll National Council, in close co-operation with the Department, continues to co-ordinate the work of the local Committees. The Honorary Secretaryship of the Council, a position held by Lt. Col. Sir Vivian Henderson, M.P., since the formation of the Council, was relinquished by that gentleman on his appointment as Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs. Major J. J. Astor, M.P., has been good enough to assume the office.

Considerable progress has been made during the year with the enrolment of Local Authorities and Royal Warrant holders. Only 32 Local Authorities and 27 Royal Warrant holders employing considerable staffs are not on the Roll. Special efforts have also been made to obtain the enrolment of public utility companies (i.e., gas, electricity, water, &c., concerns); and only 62 of any appreciable size are not enrolled.

On 31st December, 1927, there were approximately 27,500 employers on the King's Roll employing approximately 380,000 disabled ex-service men. The figures for December, 1926, were 27,500 and 375,000 respectively.

At the end of December, 1927, the number of disabled exservice men registered as unemployed was 20,655, of whom approximately 7,000 required some form of light job suited to their disability. The corresponding figures at the end of December, 1926. were 26,155 and 9,462 respectively. The number of unemployed disabled ex-service men represents 5 per cent. of the disabled ex-service men forming part of the industrial community (approximately 400,000). This proportion is considerably lower than the proportion of unemployment among the general insured population. This difference indicates, in the opinion of the Department, that disabled ex-service men receive an appreciable preference in the matter of employment through the efforts made in connection with the King's National Roll.

OVERSEA EMPLOYMENT.

In the discharge of its duties in connection with the employment and settlement oversea of persons from this country the Ministry works in close co-operation with the Oversea Settlement Depart.ment of the Dominions Office. The Oversea Settlement Department is responsible for the administration of the Empire Settlement Act, 1922, which involves the negotiation of agreements with the Dominion Governments and with those bodies, public and private, which assist in the work of migration; the operation of those agreements so far as the British Government's participation is concerned; and the general supervision of the movement of population from this country to the Dominions. On the other hand the primary function of the Ministry of Labour in regard to oversea employment, apart from the administration of training centres (for which see pp. 92 to 95 of this Report), is to act as an official agency through which members of the public, particularly industrial workers, may be put into touch with the facilities which the schemes agreed under the Empire Settlement Act provide. Through the Divisional Offices, Employment Exchanges and Branch Employment Offices, which cover all the main centres of population throughout the country, the Department provides a service for the dissemination of information regarding the openings and opportunities available oversea and for the submission of applications from persons who desire to take advantage of those openings. In addition, the Ministry renders a variety of services to the Oversea Settlement Department and to the Dominion Governments. It supplies the Oversea Settlement Department, for example, with information as to the extent to which the labour situation in this country affects, or is affected by, the possibilities of migration; it undertakes the local arrangements for the Oversea Settlement Department's participation in Empire exhibitions and shopping weeks; and it secures through the various local committees independent reports for the Dominion authorities upon cases in which the authorities desire an impartial opinion. The work of the Ministry in this field is complementary to that of the many voluntary agencies and passenger agents who are equally interested in migration as a Government Department it has its own special functions which it performs by means of co-ordination as a common service.

In connection with the work of bringing to the notice of the public the opportunities of employment and settlement which the Dominions offer and the assistance which the Empire Settlement Act makes available, 339 meetings were arranged by the Department in various centres of population during the year. These meetings were addressed in some cases by officers of the Ministry. and in others by representatives from the Oversea Settlement Department or from the Dominions. The Australian authorities, who utilise the services of the Ministry extensively, have made