H.—lla

(d) New Policy Features in Administration (i) Financial Assistance. —The most important innovation has been the granting' of financial assistance to workers directed from their usual assured employment to work of national importance carrying a lower remuneration. This measure became operative on Ist April, 1943. It docs not apply to workers unemployed at the time of direction, or workers whose employment was then on the point of terminating. Nor does the measure apply to workers who habitually change from one employment to another, such as seasonal workers. Where, however, a worker is in a permanent job at the time of direction and, if not directed, could have continued to rely on an assured minimum of weekly remuneration in that job, he is given the right to claim from the State in respect of the job to which he is directed a weekly amount (exclusive of overtime and special payments)- sufficient to' bring his weekly remuneration up to the minimum assured level prior to direction. The granting of assistance is limited to a maximum of £2 per week in the case of males and £1 per week in the case of females, and is subject to pro rata deduction for absence and to cancellation in the case of deliberate absenteeism. (ii) Hostels and Camps for War Workers. —To assist towards solving the acute accommodation difficulties in Auckland and Wellington, where there has been an unavoidable concentration of certain war industries, the Department has arranged for the construction or adaptation of special camps for male workers, and buildings suitable as hostels for female workers. It is worthy of note that no female: is directed to work away from her home centre unless suitable accommodation is available for her. The control of the women's hostels is in the hands of the Young Women's Christian Association. (iii) Use of Students, Pupils, and Teachers for Seasonal Work. —To assist towards meeting the urgent man-power requirements of seasonal industries from December to April it was decided to bring all University and training-college students under direction during their summer vacations, and to bring certain classes of school-teachers under direction to the extent that their services might be required during the limited period of the school holidays. In addition, it was decided to enlist the voluntary assistance of as many senior school pupils as possible. In order to make this pool of man-power available at the peak of the seasonal activities, it was arranged with the University authorities that the University colleges should remain closed until the end of March. It was also arranged with the Education Department that senior school pupils should bo permitted to work during the summer holidays and for one additional month, either February or March or April, this arrangement permitting of groups being organized to replace other groups for each of these months. Details of the numbers of students, teachers, and school pupils who thus assisted in seasonal work are given in the Appendix. (iv) Nursing. —To meet a largo expansion in hospital accommodation (mainly for war casualties) as well as to offset the outflow of trained nursing personnel into the Armed Forces, a special effort has been made to recruit women into full-time nursing. This has been carried out in close co-operation with the Department of Health, which lias established a Civil Nursing Reserve as a mobile nursing reserve whose personnel can be drawn upon to meet staffing emergencies and expansions. Women with previous training as voluntary hospital aids have been reviewed by Man-power Officers with a view to diverting a maximum number into the Civil Nursing Reserve either as volunteers or by direction. Steps have also been taken to secure full measures of control by Man-power Officers over nurses completing training. (v) Industrial Medical Boards.— Control over industrial man-power has been operated to take due account of health factors, and where applications for exemption from or variation of national Manpower obligations are based on valid health reasons the decisions of Man-power Officers are invariably made in accordance with the requirements of health. To establish the validity of claims to exemption or variation on health grounds was, however, a difficult matter both to the Department and to doctors generally. Doctors were faced with the difficulty of meeting demands for medical certificates from persons of whom they had no previous knowledge and concerning whose statements they had no means of verification. Under such circumstances they were frequently unable to give sufficiently conclusive opinions. The Department, for its part, was faced with the problem of a steadily increasing volume of medical certificates which were too inconclusive for its purposes. ' Two steps have been taken towards overcoming these difficulties. The difficulty of the doctors was met by the distribution of a printed form, of application for a medical certificate on which the applicant is required to give sufficient information concerning case history and industrial conditions to enable the doctor to have a minimum background of information. Medica] certificates for man-power purposes must be furnished on this form after the relevent parts' of it have been completed by the applicant, and no other form of certificate is now acceptable. Nevertheless, there were still a number of cases where certificates remained inconclusive. To meet such cases Industrial Medical Boards have been set up in man-power districts, these Boards acting as medical referees. (vi) Use of Vocational Guidance Centres. —While no persons under eighteen years of age, male or female, have been registered for direction into work of national importance, measures of man-power control nevertheless affect persons under that age in three respects. All persons i n essential undertakings, irrespective of age, require the consent of a Man-power Officer before they can terminate employment. Similarly, all such persons are subject to investigations, warnings, and penalties in respect of industrial absenteeism. Thirdly, employers must obtain consent from a Man-power Officer before engaging labour, irrespective of the age or sex of the person seeking engagement. Administration of these three aspects of man-power control as they affect persons under eighteen years of age was delegated to Vocational Guidance Centres acting on behalf of Man-power Officers. Persons over eighteen years of age are also dealt with by the Centres where there are special circumstances to make such action desirable.

2—H. 1 1A

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