regular monthly visits to the more important Employment Exchanges and occasional visits to outlying districts; by this means, among others, the openings in Australia have been made widely known. In addition, the Department arranged for Australian films to be exhibited in 339 cinemas during 1927.

The figures of the number of persons who made application through the Employment Exchanges for assistance under the Empire Settlement Act and the numbers accepted are as follows:

In addition 14 girls applied for free passages to New Zealand under the Sheep-owners' scheme and 19 sailed during the year. Of the 14 applications, 1 was withdrawn and 1 is outstanding. The 19 sailing included 7 who were approved in 1926.

The above figures show a considerable decline as compared with the corresponding figures for earlier years such as 1923 and 1924 when the total numbers of applications through Exchanges for

Australia alone were 25,709 and 11,075, respectively. This is due partly to the fact that in the earlier years the facilities for getting to the Dominions were less widely known and people looked to the Government to provide the facilities for their migration, whereas now the movement is returning to the normal, and the prospective migrant frequently makes application for an assisted passage through one or other of the commercial agencies. Probably a more important factor is that assisted passages to the Dominions are by no means so universally open to members of the general public in this country as is sometimes supposed. Assisted migrants may be broadly classified into two classes-nominated and selected. Nominated migrants are those who are nominated by relatives or friends resident in the Dominions who accept responsibility for the welfare and settlement of their nominees. Selected migrants are those recruited in bulk by the Dominion Governments, such as men for work on the land and women for domestic work. Nomination is largely in the nature of a personal arrangement between the nominator and the nominee; and the Ministry of Labour is not concerned at all with nomination, except that in some instances the Department is able to secure nomination for specially deserving cases which would not be eligible for assistance except by means of nomination. It is the system of selected migration which provides the openings for those in this country. who have no prior connection with the Dominions (that is, the major portion of the community) and it is for the openings available under selection that the Department recruits and submits applicants. In the case of Australia, the total number of persons granted assisted passages in 1927 was approximately 30,000. Only 7,000 of these, however, were selected cases; the balance of 23,000 were nominated. The Ministry of Labour, therefore, supplied 1,494 out of the 7,000 whom the Australian Government accepted for settlement on its own responsibility. It is also worthy of note that, since 1923, the numbers proceeding to Australia under nomination have increased by roughly 140 per cent., while the number of selected migrants has decreased by about 70 per cent., the net increase in total migration in the same period being approximately 20 per cent. In the case of New Zealand, it has been the settled policy of the Dominion in recent years to rely almost entirely upon nominated migration, and selected migration has never formed more than a small proportion of the total movement. Figures comparable to those quoted for Australia are not available in relation to Canada; but the principal demand under the Government requisitions for Canada is for experienced farm workers and experienced domestic servants-classes of which there is a shortage in this country.

The fact that assisted migration is largely by nomination indicates that those already in the Dominions have every faith in the oppor

tunities which await newcomers; otherwise they would not send home for their relatives and friends in increasing numbers. At the same time, it means that the chances of acceptance for those in this country who have no relatives or friends oversea are much more restricted than a study of the total yearly numbers going to the Dominions with assistance might lead one to assume. It is true that there would appear to be a considerable section of the population here who would be more effective producers if transferred to one or other of the Dominions; but it is equally true that the classes of workers whom the Dominions are prepared to accept are not in any general way the classes of whom there is a surplus in this country. Hasty generalisations, therefore, as to the lack of inclination to consider settleinent in the Dominions require to be qualified by an appreciation of the fact that, if, for example, all those who are unemployed and are physically suitable wished to go oversea it would still be doubtful whether the Dominions would be prepared to give assisted passages to more than a small proportion of them. Another factor which is of great importance but which may not be generally understood is the incidence of the increased passage rates since the war. The low rates quoted for assisted passages are available only for those intending migrants who are accepted under the selection system, or approved under the nomination system, by the Dominion Governments. The ordinary passenger rates (third class) are £37 in the case of Australia and New Zealand and £18 15s. in the case of Canada. The number of persons in the ordinary industrial population who can pay those rates is limited. Ordinarily, therefore, the man who wishes to go oversea has to apply for an assisted passage and, as has been explained above, the numbers who fit in to the requirements of the demand from the Dominions and can thus secure an assisted passage are not anything like so large as the numbers who actually desire to go. The present rate of the ordinary passage and the restrictive conditions imposed by the Dominions on assisted passage together go a long way towards explaining the falling-off in migration compared with the traffic in the years before the war.

ADMISSION OF FOREIGN WORKERS.

Aliens Order, 1920, Article 1 (3) (b).—The policy of the Department in administering Article 1 (3) (b) of this Order remained unaltered during the year. The Article in question provides that :Leave shall not be given to an alien to land in the United Kingdom unless he complies with the following conditions, that is to say:

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(b) if desirous of entering the service of an employer in the United Kingdom he produces a permit in writing for his engagement issued to the employer by the Minister of Labour."

The conditions under which permits are issued have been indicated in previous Reports and are intended, in view of the continued serious volume of unemployment in this country, to ensure that no alien is admitted for employment if suitable labour is available here.

. The following tables show :

(a) The number of permits applied for, granted, and refused during each of the last seven years;

(b) The number of permits granted, and refused, during the year 1927 and the principal occupations concerned.

TABLE (A).

Permits granted, and refused, under the Aliens Order, 1920, Article 1 (3) (b), during the years 1921-1927.

Summary of permits granted, and refused, in each of the principal occupations concerned from 1st January to 31st December, 1927.

Teachers of Foreign Languages

Engineers to erect and repair imported. machinery

Beet-sugar Industry (machinery erectors and

specialised operatives)

...

Hotel and Restaurant employees

Tyre Manufacture-process workers

Miscellaneous

...

Total

...

...

2,429

322

...

1,849

67

837

75

...

...

...

It should be understood that the total of 6,934 does not indicate a permanent addition to the employed alien population of the country. The majority of the permits are issued for short periods and, in a number of cases, e.g., concert artistes, more than one permit has been issued during the 12 months in respect of the same person.

The increased number of permits granted as compared with 1926 is accounted for in the main by an increased demand for permits for domestic servants, foreign correspondence clerks, and process workers in connection with the rubber tyre and beet-sugar industries. The decrease in the number of refusals is probably due to the fact that the policy of the Department in regard to applications has become better known to the public generally, with the result that applications of a kind which would be refused have decreased in number.

It will be seen from table (B) above that 35 per cent. of the total permits granted were in respect of domestic servants, and 26.6 per cent. for theatrical, &c., artistes.

As explained in previous Reports, permits in respect of hotel and restaurant employees are issued mainly on an exchange basis whereby employment is secured for British subjects abroad in exchange for the incoming aliens. In this connection it is of interest to state that a number of these British subjects who had been sent abroad were written to by the Department, and the replies indicated in nearly all cases that the young men were deriving considerable benefit in the way of acquiring a knowledge of a foreign language and of Continental hotel methods.

During the year the Home Office, which is the Department primarily responsible for the control of aliens already in the country, consulted this Ministry in 1,062 cases in which aliens who had been landed as visitors, students, &c., subsequently desired to take up employment. In 901 cases the proposed employment was approved. Of these cases 375 referred to domestic servants and nurses, and 268 to foreign correspondence clerks and business students.

MISCELLANEOUS DUTIES IN CONNECTION WITH THE RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYMENT.

Relief Schemes-Grants to Local Bodies.

A further falling off in the volume of work of the Unemployment Grants Committee occurred during the year, by reason of the restriction of grants, as explained in previous Reports, to areas in which unemployment was exceptional and to schemes in which the work contemplated was put forward by at least five years. As a result there was a considerable diminution in the

Details as to the number, estimated cost, &c., of schemes approved during the twelve months ended 30th June, 1927, are given in the Sixth (Interim) Report of the Unemployment Grants Committee, published by H.M. Stationery Office, price 18.