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women on leaving at the end of the 16 weeks, by placing them in
touch with various organisations, and foremost amongst these, the
Association of Trained Charwomen has been of very great assistance.
It is difficult to say that the work provided has made any
permanent improvement in the position of the applicants, but it
certainly has assisted them temporarily and kept things in perhaps
a normal condition during a time when work is always slack,
keeping them out of debt and the rent paid.
Colony work is certainly more advantageous to the men, owing
to the discipline and regular living, and to the families in consequence
of the regular allowance which is paid to them every
week. The disadvantage is in the want of some further provision
to follow the sixteen weeks' training.
Non-colony work is more attractive, as it does not take the
men away from home. They receive their own wages, and the
better class of them are able to keep in touch with their old
employers.
The great difficulty with which the Committee have again to
contend is the small amount of work provided as compared with the
large number of men recommended, and the non-provision of suitable
employment for those who are physically weak and unable to do
the heavy laborious work out of doors, after perhaps spending all
their life in shops or factories.
Visiting the homes of men on Colony work has many advantages.
The Committee keep in touch with the family, and the
visitor is frequently able to give advice and suggest remedies for
all sorts of troubles.
In respect to voluntary assistance, this has only been available
in one part of the Borough, and the best thanks of this Committee
are due to the ladies and gentlemen of Talbot House and Cambridge
House Settlements, for their valuable help, without which it would
have been quite impossible to deal with the cases in anything like
an expeditious manner, and would have been necessary to obtain
the services of at least one additional officer.
As regards investigation, it was found necessary to inquire into
all the cases in order to have a sufficient number of preferred cases
ready in view of the supply of work, and much valuable information
was thereby gained. 3,570 cases were dealt with by Rota Committee,
and 916 of these were copied out and referred to the Central
Body, who have found occasion to appreciate the promptness with
which the Committee, materially assisted by the system of Reserve
Lists, have been able to fill vacancies offered.
The proposal to deal with the children as they leave school will,
if adopted, undoubtedly tend to decrease the number of men and
women with no trade in their hands and practically no aim in life,
and, as time goes on, should very materially reduce the number of
those that are almost, if not quite, unemployable.