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from the Forces to freezing-works totalled 2,340, or 11-5 per cent, of all recommendations during that period. Practically all these recommendations were made between November, 1942, and March, 1943. As at 31st March, 1943, 2,181 Grade I men were held in the industry on appeal. 279. At the conclusion of the 1942-43 season consideration was given to the question of Grade I men held in the industry on appeal, and it was decided to review each case with a view to obtaining a maximum release of men to the Forces. Utilization: Committees were particularly helpful in carrying out this review and making recommendations to Armed Forces Appeal Boards, having regard in each case to the experience of the worker, his age, conjugal status, and number of dependants. 280. Prior to the commencement of the 1943-44 season, District Man-power Officers compiled registers of men who had been employed in freezing-works, including inexperienced men who had been diverted to the industry in the 1942-43 season. The registers were maintained in succeeding years, and the policy was adopted of directing these men, where available, to return to the works in subsequent seasons. 281. In November, 1943, it was apparent that, after the direction back to the works of available men who had been employed in the industry during the previous season, there would again be a deficiency of approximately 3,000, and this was met by the adoption of the following measures : (a) The utilization (as civilians) for one month of a proportion of the men selected for one month's service with the Territorial Force under the Army harvesting scheme. (b) The "direction of university and training college students and school teachers during the long vacation. Between December, 1943, and March, 1944, 388 students and teachers were placed in freezing-works. (c) The direction from other industries of Grade I men awaiting mobilization. (d) The temporary release from the Army of members of the 11th reinforcements volunteering for employment in freezing-works. 282. The total number released from the Forces for employment in the industry during the twelve months ended 31st March 1944, was 1,422, or 7-2 per cent, of all man-power releases. The number of Grade I men held in works on appeal as at 31st March, 1944, was 1,441. 283. In anticipation of the needs of the 1944-45 season, freezing-works were included in the list of approved industries for which members of the Third (Pacific) Division were invited to volunteer prior to their return to the Dominion. By 30th November, 1944, 478 such volunteers were employed in the industry, and by the end of February, 1495, this number had increased to 766. School-teachers and University and training-college students were again directed to essential work during the long vacation, and 249 of these were placed in freezing-works. As the pool of labour available from the Forces became exhausted, District Man-power Officers met remaining deficiencies by an active policy of direction of workers from less essential industries. 284. During the twelve months ended 31st March, 1945, releases from the Forces to the industry, including Third Division personnel, totalled 1,407, or s*B per cent, of all man-power releases. As at 28th February, 1945, the number of Category "A " men held in freezing-works on appeal was 1,567, having been inflated by the direction to the industry of Third Division personnel. (It should be noted that figures in respect of Grade I men held on appeal up to 1944 inclusive relate to men aged twenty to forty years inclusive, and all Air Force and naval volunteers. Figures in respect of 1945 relate to Grade I men aged twenty-one to thirty-five years inclusive with fewer than three children aiid who had had less than three years' overseas service, together with all Air Force and naval volunteers.) 285. Early in 1945 a further special review of Category £; A " men held in the industry on appeal was undertaken, the aim being to release men to the Forces as the season tapered off and to make available to the Armed Services men held on appeal

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