H.—35.

commitments representing an expenditure not exceeding £50,000 per week has been notified by the Minister of Finance for the operation of Scheme No. 5. It has been necessary to allocate this sum as equitably as possible week by week to Certifying Officers, with instructions that overexponditure of allocations could on no account be allowed without authority from the Board. This curtailment of expenditure has meant the granting of relief to the most necessitous unemployed first, and during the last few weeks numbers of men have been unable to obtain relief. The Unemployment Amendment Act, which came into force on the 22nd July, 1931, makes provision for additional funds for unemployment relief. Employment in Primary Industries. In spite of financial difficulties, the Board has been able to continue its subsidies under Scheme No. 4 (sections A and B), and the members of the Primary Industries Committee —Messrs. Small, Finn, and Leadley—devoted a great deal of time and. thought to the operation of these and other schemes for placing men in useful productive work on the land. Amendment of Rules of Schemes 4a and 4b. —As the provisions of these schemes became better known, an increasing number of applications for subsidized labour were received. In order to bring the eligibility for relief of workers engaged under these schemes into line with that notified for Scheme 5, similar amended rules were issued, and committees and Certifying Officers were required to exercise the same care in determining the eligibility of men engaged for work on farms. At the same time, it was notified that in future no commitments were to be .made under Scheme 4a until approval of the amount involved had been received, from the Unemployment Board. These schemes were thus brought under adequate control so far as expenditure was concerned. Scheme 4k : Reduction of Expenditure and Limitation of Employment. —Towards the end of May the expenditure on subsidies under Scheme 4a had assumed considerable proportions. The original rules allowed the engagement of workers for periods up to six months, but with the approach of spring, when farming activities will increase and extra labour be engaged in any case, it was considered that engagements should be for a shorter period. Consequently, instructions were sent out that any further engagements entered into under the scheme should not extend beyond the 31st August, 1931. The demands on the Board's funds also necessitated a reduction in the amount of subsidy, so that on and after the Ist June the subsidy payable by the Board in respect of all new contracts or extensions of contracts was limited to 10s. per week for single men and £1 per week for married men. Work for Youths under Twenty Years of Age. —The only direction in which the eligibility of workers under Schemes 4a and 4b differed from that laid down for Scheme 5 was in the provision of work for youths of eighteen and nineteen years. Some time previously the Board recognized that such youths were worthy of consideration, and it was decided that although they were outside the provisions of the Act they could be employed on farms through these schemes if in the opinion of the local committees they were genuinely unemployed and in necessitous circumstances. Value of Productive Work. —Apart from the benefit to many of the unemployed through being placed in varying periods of continuous employment on farms instead of obtaining rationed work in or near the towns, the value of these schemes to the farmers can hardly be overestimated. The Board's subsidy has enabled hundreds of farmers to take on additional labour during the winter months, and thus complete a great deal of reproductive work which in most cases they could not afford to have done at their own expense. During the approaching production season the benefit of this work should be apparent. Statistics of Schemes 4a and 4b. —Statistics of the Board's commitments and of the numbers of men placed in connection with Schemes 4a and 4b are appended. The actual expenditure to date in subsidies cannot at present be accurately stated, but commitments entered into since the inception of the schemes are quoted. Scheme No. 4a. Commitments. Number of men placed in employment to 31st July, 1931 — £ Single men ...".. .. .. .. 6,022 53,614 Married men .. .. .. .. ..1,719 26,763 Totals .. .. .. .. .. 7,741 £80,377 Number of men actually in employment at 31st July, 1931— Single men — At subsidy of 15s. per week .. .. .. .. 2,214 At subsidv of 10s. per week .. .. .. .. 2,252 4,466 Married men — At subsidy of £1 ss. per week .. .. .. 608 At subsidy of £1 per week .. .. .. .. 517 1,125 5,591

3—H. 35.

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