§ 30. Mr. T. SMITHasked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware that local authorities are called upon to keep returns of the time spent by their employés on such work as tree lopping, verge planting, and cutting, in order that, if the time so spent is in excess of that spent on work of another character, the employés shall be classed as agricultural workers and excluded from unemployment insurance; that while employes of a local authority are engaged in road making or repairing they are classed as insurable, and when this work has been completed and the men are engaged making up or returning the verges of the same roads they are classed as uninsurable; and whether steps will be taken to remove this anomaly and render unnecessary the elaborate records now required?
Mr. STANLEYI am aware that in certain cases of mixed employments, records of the time spent on different kinds of work are kept in order to determine whether or not the workpeople are insurable. I am not sure that in the present state of the law a more convenient treatment of such cases is practicable, but, without giving any undertaking that a way can be found, I will have the question examined.