H—lla

skill required, special trades practices in use, types of machines used, and the tools to be provided by workers. They also give details of hours of work, rates of wages, and the location of the main factories or units of the industries. 35. Pending the availability of shipping, only very small numbers of assisted immigrants could be brought in and, in view of the critical shortage of staff in mental hospitals, a scheme was launched for the selection of 225 women and girls for mental hospital work whose full passages to New Zealand would be paid by the Government, plus an allowance for personal expenses on the voyage. The selectees would contract to remain in the work for a period of two years. Up to 31st March, 1947,157 trainee nurses and cooks had arrived in New Zealand under this scheme, and all but seventeen have settled down very well in their work. Three of the latter girls refunded their passages and allowances in full, and six have been permitted to transfer to general nursing or other approved employment. The remaining eight cases were still under action on 31st March, 1947. 36. Up to the 31st March the Immigration Division of the Department had dealt with 2,426 inquiries from prospective settlers. Of these, 350 were from British servicemen serving abroad who had the option of electing to take their discharge in New Zealand, and certificates were issued to them authorizing their entry into the Dominion. A further 105 inquiries from British servicemen were under action at that date. Inquiries from other British people, including ex-servicemen in Great Britain, numbered 1,694, of whom 1,040 were encouraged to come, 475 were-asked for further information, and 179 were the subject of inquiry to obtain further information for them. American inquiries numbered 40 and other aliens 237. SECTION VII.—EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION 37. It is becoming generally recognized that both modern industry and a modern State must have access to reliable and current information relating to employment matters. Such information to be of the maximum practical value should present to the Government and to industry actual figures disclosing all aspects of employment trends, the existence and location of labour shortages and unemployment, and how the latter are changing in the course of time and between industries. 38. The National Employment Service, through its twenty-five district offices, is maintaining close touch with the labour requirements of industry, and is assembling such information. This information is collated and published regularly in two volumes—first, the Monthly Review of Employment, and, second, the Half-yearly Survey of Employment. 39. The former is issued at the end of each month to Government Departments, overseas Legations, representatives of overseas Governments, employers' and workers' organizations, and interested individual employers and others. It contains a summary of the important employment developments during the month ; it draws attention to changes in the numbers of disengaged persons enrolled for employment in the various industries and in different localities ; it shows the numbers of disengaged persons placed in employment; it outlines the changes in vacancies in industries and in districts ; it records seasonal variations in employment; and as overseas statistics become available it illustrates how the over-all position in New Zealand compares with that overseas. A list of the more important special articles, excluding the regular reviews of the incidence of disengaged persons, placements and vacancies, &c., is set out in Appendix II of this "report. 40. the Monthly Review of Employment provides information on current employment matters, it covers only part of the field. The Half-yearly Survey of Employment furnishes the greater part of the remaining particulars required to complete the pattern. This publication is prepared as soon as possible after the collection of the half-yearly employment information returns, and it is available in January and July of each year. The distribution is somewhat wider than that of the Monthly Review. 41. The Half-yearly Survey of Employment provides particulars of pay-roll strengths and vacancies in each industry, wage pay-outs, the inflow of juveniles into industry, the labour turnover rates of each industry, the number of part-time workers engaged,

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