8.—6.

an unemployed married man to milk additional cows either on a wage basis of £2 per week or on a guaranteed share basis of £104 per annum. The advance is repayable on an instalment plan over a period of ten years. Under this scheme advances have been made and unemployed men placed in 328 cases. To summarize the results to date, the following is the position Placed on small holdings . . . . . . . . 488 Placed on full-time farms . . . . . . . . 359 Established as share milkers . . . . . . .. 328 Number on sections under development . . . . 491 Total . . .. .. . . . . 1,666 UNEMPLOYMENT. Although the recovery in industrial and economic conditions during the past twelve months has been reflected by an improvement in the position, unemployment still constitutes a major problem, and one requiring long-range consideration if anything approaching rehabilitation is to be obtained within the next few years. The latest figures reveal that the number who are a charge, in one way or another, on the Unemployment Fund, has fallen from 62,451 in August, 1934, to 57,571 for August, 1935 —a drop of 4,880. The commencement of seasonal occupations will, in the ordinary course, result in the numbers being materially reduced during the summer months. Increasing difficulties are being encountered in finding suitable work under Scheme No. 5. The policy of the Unemployment Board to co-operate with the State and generally encourage all employing authorities to put in hand works for the full-time employment of relief workers at standard rates of pay has been continued during the year, and over 8,000 workers are employed on this basis. At the present time a number of local bodies have under consideration major schemes for the employment of relief workers on this basis, and it is anticipated that the number of men in receipt of full-time employment at standard rates will be materially increased in the near future, thus securing a corresponding reduction in the numbers on sustenance or employed on a rationed basis under Scheme No. 5. In public works also much importance is attached to the value of employment that can be provided for a given expenditure of loan-money. While this will lead to a decided improvement in the position, there can be no question that the only permanent solution of the problem is the reabsorption of the unemployed in trade and industry, and it was with this object in view that the Unemployment Board decided, in July, 1934, to set aside the sum of £250,000 for assisting private enterprise in the promotion of new industries and the assisting of languishing industries so that a larger number of men could be absorbed into private employment. A number of new industries has been assisted by means of grants and loans from the Unemployment Eund, and the Board is at present examining proposals which, if successfully inaugurated, will be of great value, not only in relieving unemployment but to the Dominion as a whole. Gold-mining and prospecting are proving successful avenues of employment fostered by the Unemployment Board. Co-operation between the Board, the Mines Department, and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, coupled with the high market price of gold, is bringing about a great recovery in gold-mining. Apart from " grub-staking " unemployed men, finance has been provided from the Unemployment Eund for geophysical and geological surveys carried out on potential auriferous areas. Special prospecting parties have been sent out into likely back-country areas at standard rates of wages, and several additional mining engineers have been appointed to direct and assist the operations of subsidized prospectors. In various parts of the Dominion 400 men are engaged at special rates of pay in testing areas reserved for prospecting by unemployed labour—by means of shaft-sinking, tunnelling, &c., or in providing access to such areas.

Summary of results,

Unemployment,

Standard rates of pay.

Assistance to new industries.

Revival oi goldmining.

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