H.—lla

52

427. Reports from the District Man-power Officers indicate a general expansion in engineering activity, with particularly noteworthy expansion in the Auckland, Christohurch, Hutt Valley and Wellington, and Dunedin districts. In the secondary centres such as Oamaru, Invercargill, Hamilton, Paeroa, Wanganui, and Palmerston North a shortage of engineering tradesmen is reported. These towns, for the most part, have seen the opening of new foundries or shops during the war period or considerable expansion of activity in existing shops and foundries. For example, in the case of Hamilton a branch factory was opened by the Colonial Ammunition Co. In Palmerston North, Invercargill, and Wanganui the industry has been mainly concerned with repair work and the manufacture of parts, while the two foundries at Thames have discharged heavy war contracts of a basic engineering type. 428. The man-power position in the industry, as far as the main centres are concerned, is now dealt with briefly : — Auckland.—A large number of both actual and potential vacancies is reported from this district, where approximately 6,000 men are employed by some 200 firms. The Man-power Utilization Committee has greatly assisted the Department during the last year, especially in connection with the comb-out of Category "A " men held on appeal and their replacement by other man-power. Turnover of labour has been high and the District Man-power Officer has been hard put to it to maintain shop strengths. Temporary transfers of labour as between firms have been inevitable. The outlook for the industry in this district is one of continued expansion, the degree of which will depend on the future of shipbuilding and repair work and, in particular, naval repair work. The shortage of labour which will result from any expansion will extend to semi-skilled and unskilled workers. The greatest demand will be for fitters and turners, boilermakers, and welders. In neither of the two latter trades are apprentices being trained at anything like the rate required to augment the labour force to the desired extent. Wellington and Hutt Valley.— In this district the greatest emphasis in the industry has been on munition manufacture and on the Woburn Railways workshops. As the manufacture of munitions has tapered, more labour has become available for general engineering, but it is estimated that there are still 1,800 males and 860 females employed on munitions or other war contracts in the Wellington and Lower Hutt districts. The total labour force of the industry in these two districts is estimated at 3,450. Rapid turnover of labour, especially in the large converted motor-engineering works of the Hutt Valley, has been reported, and the District Man-power Officer has had difficulty in maintaining staffs for urgent repair work—e.g., of American vehicles from the Pacific area. Ship repair and aeroplane manufacture and repair work have presented special difficulty during the last twelve months, but of late there has been a cut back in the manufacture of the trainer machines in which the De Havilland Aircraft Factory has been engaged. Canister and dry-cell-battery manufacture has expanded considerably in this district and heavy demands for labour have been met only with difficulty. Christchwrch. Utilization of all available local labour and transfer of labour from secondary towns in the South Island have been unequal to the task of manning all engineering shops in this centre. There has been some dilution of labour, as semi-skilled men have undertaken the work of tradesmen, but the process has gone as far as it can. Turners, fitters, moulders, and electricians in particular are in short supply, and bottle-necks in the output of certain firms have had to be overcome by diversion of men from other essential industries. In the immediate post-war period sufficient civilian demand should result in a general expansion of the industry, although the future of some of the semi-skilled men in the industry may be uncertain. Dunedin. The industry in this district has suffered during the last year by the loss of unreplaced tradesmen to the Forces, the most serious shortage has been for floor moulders and turners. In the engineering industry in Dunedin the services of moulding tradesmen arc crucial and active steps to train more of these workers are necessary. Approved vacancies for more than 100 tradesmen exist in engineering shops and foundries in Dunedin, but a considerably larger number of skilled workers could probably be engaged. (xii) Hotels and Restaurants 429. The provision of adequate suitable female labour for hotels and restaurants has been most difficult throughout the war years. At the present time it is estimated that there are some 1,600 female workers held under direction in restaurants, hotels, boardinghouses, &c. At 15th March, 1945, there were 707 vacancies, 676 of these being for women. 430. During the war years the labour position in this section of industry has been aggravated by the influx into main centres of servicemen and by the competitive employment opportunities for women workers. Further difficulties have been a high degree of labour turnover and absenteeism, and the engagement of labour in work of an unessential nature. 431. Ihe outlook is for a progressive easing of the situation as women become available from other industries. (xiii) Meat-freezing 432. In this industry there has always been some shortage of man-power during the peak months of the season owing to the size and momentum of the seasonal swing and the physically exacting nature of much of the work. The peak labour content of the industry (33 works) for the 1944-45 season was 13,246, against a content of 13,574 for the 1942-43 season: Activity in this industry reaches its peak in December and January and falls off markedly after March. In mid-winter the total labour force of the industry is not more than 5,000. Table 48 of the Appendix analyses the peak strengths of all freezing-works on a district basis.