§ Brigadier-General MAKINSasked the Minister of Labour if he will give a list of the occupations connected with farm work which, for the purposes of unemployment insurance, are regarded as agricultural work and non-insurable; and if he will state exactly what factors go to decide whether work ancillary to agriculture is, or is not, agricultural and non-insurable?
§ Mr. BETTERTONUnder the Unemployment Insurance Acts I am empowered to give decisions subject to appeal to the High Court or Court of Session, as to the insurability of any particular employment or class of employment. I am sending my hon. and gallant Friend a copy of the decisions so given in relation to agriculture. I am not authorised to compile an exhaustive list of occupations which are insurable or non-insurable: but generally, I may say, that for the purposes of the Unemployment Insurance Acts occupations connected with farm work, such as the various processes of cultivating and harvesting crops or the rearing of livestock on the land, together with such incidental processes as hedging and ditching, carting on a farm or agricultural estate, making and upkeeping fences, are regarded as employment in agriculture and are non-insurable.