§ Lieut. - Colonel HILDERasked the Minister of Labour whether there was a plan put before him by the employers in some of the manufacturing districts at the beginning of the present grave unemployment for the disbursement of unemployed pay to their workers by the old channels through which they had received their wages; what were the objections to this plan preventing its adoption; and, seeing that the present system of payment, involving long waiting in queues at the Employment Exchanges, is profoundly demoralising to the recipients of unemployed pay, will he reconsider his decision?
§ Sir M. BARLOWArrangements for paying unemployment benefit at the employers' premises to workpeople on short time or temporarily suspended have been in operation for several months. There were nearly 7,000 such arrange-614W ments in March, and this number has since been substantially increased. The Department is prepared to apply these arrangements up to the fullest extent for which there is staff available at the local employment exchange for supervising them.