1 Most of the figures in this table with an analysis are included in the Monthly Review of Business Statistics issued by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. Excluding gold. Except for cost of living (1935-39=100) and retail sales (1930=100). For the week ended Nov. 1, 1940. • Figures for end of previous month. ? Figures for 4 weeks ending Oct. 26, 1940, and corresponding periods. Now based on 203 municipalities instead of 58 as formerly. MacLean's Building Review. Sugar production given in periods of 4 weeks ending Oct. 5 and Sept. 7, 1940; Oct. 7 and Sept. 9, 1939. "Index numbers are adjusted when necessary for seasonal variation. Interdepartmental Committee on Labor Coordination An Interdepartmental Committee on Labor Coordination was established by an order in council (P. C. 5922) of October 25, 1940. The committee's duties are (a) To promote coordination of the functions and activities of all government agencies in relation to matters affecting labor and to obtain the cooperation of provincial governments; (b) To anticipate, as far as possible, the labor and manpower requirements of the war program as a whole, and to recommend to the various departments having to do with these matters the most effective ways and means of meeting such requirements; (c) To consider the needs of the war program with respect to training employees in industry, in technical schools or otherwise, and to recommend such further provision as may be deemed advisable; (d) To maintain close and direct contact with industries engaged on war contracts and, in cooperation with the Department of Munitions and Supply, to assist them in meeting their labor requirements. (e) To refer questions to and consult with the National Labor Supply Council in order to secure the considered judgment of employers and employees on measures and practices proposed, with a view to obtaining their cooperation in such measures and practices as may be adopted, and that the said Committee be charged with the responsibility of insuring the carrying out of any approved plans in respect of the foregoing matters; (f) To formulate a plan whereby competition between employers engaged on the war program may be eliminated; (g) To formulate a plan whereby employees and employers may be transferred from nonessential to essential war industries with the least possible disruption; and (h) To report from time to time as may be necessary to a Committee of the Cabinet on Labor Supply, consisting of the Minister of Labor as chairman, the Minister of Munitions and Supply, the Minister of National Defense, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of National War Services. Amendment of Definition of "Essential Services” In regulation 2 of the Defense of Canada Regulations (Consolidation) 1940, "essential services" were defined as meaning "such services as may for the time being be declared by the Governor in Council to be essential for the prosecution of the war or to the life of the community." On the recommendation of the Minister of Justice, the Governor General in Council by an order (P. C. 6416) published in the Canada Gazette, Extra, of November 13, 1940, revoked the subparagraph quoted above from regulation 2 and substituted therefor the following definition: (d) "Essential services" means any of the following undertakings: (i) any undertaking for the supply of electricity, gas, or water; (ii) any telegraph or telephone service or undertaking; (iii) any railway, light railway, tramway, canal, dock, harbor, pier, or lighthouse undertaking; (iv) any irrigation works; (v) any mining or industrial undertaking engaged in the production of war materials or supplies; and (vi) any undertaking which may have been heretofore or may hereafter be declared by the Governor in Council to be essential for the prosecution of the war or to the life of the community. General Advisory Committee on Rehabilitation Over a year ago, December 8, 1939, a special committee of the Cabinet, to be presided over by the Minister of Pensions and National Health, was constituted by order in council (P. C. 40681⁄2) to give prompt and careful consideration to problems resulting from the discharge and demobilization of members of the Dominion forces and the rehabilitation of these men into civilian life. This committee was authorized to appoint advisory committees drawn from Government personnel. In accordance with an order in council (P. C. 5421) a General Advisory Committee was constituted on October 8, 1940. Exemptions From Hours Limitations on Special Defense Work For the purpose of providing accommodations and training facilities for men called under the National Resources Mobilization Act, it was imperative that a great number of buildings should be constructed at the different training centers. To meet this emergency an order in council (P. C. 3947) was issued which provided that the hours of work of persons engaged on this construction should not be subject to paragraph (b) given below from "subsection (1) of section 3 of the Fair Wages and Hours of Labor Act, 1935, chapter 39 of the Statutes of Canada 1935." (b) The working hours of persons while so employed shall not exceed 8 hours per day nor 44 hours per week except in such special cases as the Governor in Council may otherwise provide, or except in cases of emergency as may be approved by the Minister. Regulations to Prevent Enticement of Labor in War Industries The enticement of skilled labor is prohibited under a Dominion order in council (P. C. 6286) issued November 7, 1940. The regula tions to prevent such practice are quoted below: 1. No person, firm, corporation, or agent thereof shall (a) advertise in any newspaper, periodical, or magazine, (b) write, send, or publish any letter, circular, or notice, or, (c) display any poster, placard, or other writing or document conveying to the public any information for the purpose of engaging or employing anyone for service in any industrial or manufacturing establishment, or having reference to employment therein or designed or intended to induce any worker or employed person to enter the employment of any such person, firm, or corporation, without inserting in clear type in any such advertisement, letter, circular, notice, poster, placard, or other writing or document words to the following effect: "Applications will not be considered from persons in the employment of any firm, corporation, or other employer engaged in the production of munitions, war equipment, or supplies for the armed forces unless such employee is not actually employed in his usual trade or occupation." 2. No person, firm, corporation, or agent thereof shall directly or indirectly solicit by word of mouth any person to enter his employ who is at the time engaged in the manufacture of munitions, war equipment, or supplies for the armed forces, unless such employee is not actually employed in his usual trade or occupation. 3. Every person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of these regulations shall be guilty of an offense and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $500. Regulations Pertaining to Full Payment of Employees The Canadian Minister of Labor has announced that investigation of all claims for payment of wages in accordance with the "fair wage schedules" of Government contracts is to be in charge of the Deputy Labor Minister, who is also responsible for collecting from contractors and paying to employees any validated claims. The regulations are designed to solve wartime problems growing out of the vast expansion of public contracts, the adaptation of the limited inspection services to the new needs, and the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor as affected by the new wartime agencies connected with public contracts. Discontinuance of Government Home-Improvement Loans On October 23, 1940, the Minister of Finance stated that after October 31, 1940, no further loans would be accepted under the Home Improvement Loans Guaranty Act. The terms of this legislation provided that the maximum amount of loans which the Minister of Finance was empowered to guarantee was $50,000,000 and it was thought that the loans made would closely approximate this figure. The "home-improvement plan," designed to relieve unemployment especially in the building industries, was inaugurated in 1936. It was a great success and is reported in the article under review as "one of the most constructive measures taken to solve the unemployment problem." By September 30, 1940, the loans made had totaled $48,181,525, the losses paid at that date aggregated under a fourth of 1 percent and 62.14 percent of the money loaned had been returned by borrowers. The plan, however, has served its purpose, and what the country is now about to face is not the need to create employment, but rather the necessity of mobilizing all available supplies of labor, and particularly skilled labor, to meet the imperative demands of the war program. FRENCH DECREE ON ORGANIZATION OF PROVISIONAL regulations for the control of industry and labor in unoccupied France were issued in a decree of August 16, 1940.1 The decree provided for a State-controlled economy through a system of Government-appointed committees for individual industries under Government supervision, and the dissolution, by decree, of all national employer and labor organizations. A series of decrees published in the Journal Officiel, November 9, 1940, provided for the dissolution of a number of these organizations, including the employers' organizations in the steel and coal industries (Comité des Forges and Comité Central des Houilléres), the general employers' association (Confédération Générale du Patronat), and the principal labor organization (Confédération Générale du Travail). 1 Data are from reports by H. Freeman Matthews, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim, American Embassy, Vichy, France. The necessity of reorganizing the economy of the country so that it could function under the conditions imposed by the armistice and the division of the country into a free zone and an occupied zone was pointed out in the report of the various ministries accompanying the decree. The provisions of the decree which were to have immediate effect were as follows: General associations which group employer and labor organizations together on a national scale shall be dissolved by decree and the Minister Secretary of State for Industrial Production and Labor shall determine what disposition is to be made of the property of dissolved associations or organizations. Provisionally and until the establishment of a definitive plan for professional organization, an organization committee shall be created for each branch of industrial or commercial activity where conditions are such as to require it. The duties of such a committee will be to make a census of enterprises, their means of production, stocks, and labor; fix the programs of production and manufacture; arrange for the acquisition and distribution of raw materials and products required by the branch of industry concerned; establish rules which are to be followed by enterprises as regards their general operation, quality of product, employment of labor, methods of exchange of products and services, and regulation of competition; recommend prices for products and services to the proper authorities; and establish or promote measures to establish organizations capable of providing a better functioning of the particular branch of industrial activity in the common interests of the enterprise and of the wage earners. The organization committee is to be appointed by the Minister Secretary of State for Industrial Production and Labor and members may be proposed by the industrial organizations concerned. A commissioner appointed by the Minister will represent him on the committee or, in default of a committee, will exercise its functions. An assessment to cover administrative expenses may be levied on the enterprises by the committee, upon authorization by the Minister Secretary of State for Industrial Production and Labor and the Minister Secretary of State for Finance. Decisions of the committee must be approved by the Minister, or for certain classes of questions, by the Government commissioner. The committee may recommend to the Minister the requisitioning of raw materials, products, personnel, services, and the enterprises themselves in the branch of industrial activity concerned, as well as the amount and method of payment of indemnities. Such requisitions are subject to the laws on military requisitions. In case of violation of the regulations issued in regard to the operations of the branch of industry concerned, the committee may recom |