Sessional Paper No. 05 of 1945 on Labour Department

Abstract

During the last few months the Government has had under consideration the reorganization of the Labour Department and proposals will be put forward in the 1946 Draft Estimations for a very considerable increase in staff of the Department. Before the War, the functions of the Department were in the main connected with inspecting duties, but in the last five years the increasing complexities of the problems of labour have thrown an ever-growing burden on the small department, a burden which it was never designed to carry. It therefore became necessary to review not only the size but the the status of the Department in order to fit it to deal with tasks of the post-war years. The Government regards the basis of its labour policy to be the promotion of good relations between the employer and the worker. Such relations can only subsust when the worker is employed under decent conditions and gives a fair day’s work in exchange for a wage which enables him to maintain a decent standard of living…