§ Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHYasked the Minister of Labour whether his attention has been drawn to the numbers of ex-service men who have passed a course of training in technical subjects and who, at the expiration of their courses, find themselves unable to obtain employment; and what steps are being taken to remedy this 6tate of affairs?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAUp to the 14th March, 1922, over 60,000 disabled men had received training, which has been given in over 500 trades and occupations. Exact information is not available as to the number of men who on completion of training have found employment in the trades for which they were trained, but no man is trained for a trade for which his physical disability renders him unsuitable. Every effort is made to find employment for trainees on completion of their training and to find improvership vacancies for trainees who require improvership courses to complete their training, and a special staff of canvassers has succeeded in obtaining nearly 3,600 vacancies since the beginning of September, Throughout the winter of 1920–21 it was arranged that no man whose course included an improvership with maintenance should be discharged from the instructional factories even though his factory course had been already completed, unless an improvership has been found for him. From the 1st November, 1921, to the end of February, 1922, the same policy of retaining men unable to1860W find improverships was continued. Early in February it was decided that, since trade had not improved to the extent which could have been desired, the date for discharges (which had been fixed for the end of February) was altered, and a graduated system of discharges extending over March, April, May and June was arranged, based on the amount of extension already received in each case. These concessions are limited to men for whom improverships are not available and who have not received on the dates named a period of training equal to the total period of training to which they are entitled with any maintenance. Further, any ex-service man, other than a regular soldier, who has been trained under the industrial training scheme and who, on the expiration of his course is unable to find employment, may apply, subject to certain conditions, to the Military Service (Civil Liabilities) Department for assistance to set him up in the trade for which he has been trained.