3

H.—3o

The chart appearing below shows the number of men placed in employment each month and the number remaining on the register. It will be noted that applications are now decreasing, and that the number unemployed is the lowest on record.

EMPLOYMENT.

An applicant for employment, if not placed by the Department within a week from the date of his application, becomes eligible for sustenance payments on the following basis : Soldier, £2 2s. per week; wife, 10s.; children (not exceeding four), each 3s. 6d. per week. An additional ss. per week, may be granted to a married man if the circumstances of the case warrant it. A widower with children is entitled to sustenance allowance as though his wife were living. As a result of the success attending the Department's efforts the expenditure in this direction has been comparatively small (to date 992 men have required assistance, at a cost of £4,918), and at the present time there arc only five men throughout the Dominion drawing unemployment sustenance allowance. This excellent position is due in large measure to the adaptability and resource of the discharged soldier, who has in this respect worthily consummated his war record. Other contributing factors have been the loyal co-operation of employers generally and of all other sections of the community, the enthusiastic and untiring efforts of our Employment Committees in the various centres, and the continued general prosperity of the Dominion. Although tne Department is of opinion that the employment problem has been, to a great extent, successfully solved, no risks are being taken in this respect, and the organization of this section of the departmental activities will not be interfered with at the present juncture. Applications for employment still number over eight hundred per month, and it is reasonable to suppose that there will be a certain amount of intermittent unemployment, for some time to come, for, apart from the fact that even in normal times there are always a number of men out of employment for various reasons throughout the Dominion, we have now coining back on our hands for replacement men who have found that the work undertaken is proving too much for them on account of their weakened condition as the result of war service. Section ll.—Training. One of the most important features of the operations of the Department is the Educational and Vocational Training Section, whereby men incapacitated as the result of their war service are given opportunities to equip themselves for suitable trades or professions. When arranging