NOTICES RELATING TO AGRlCUI,TURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAl, lOQ 



now in another district, tlie Socield Umaniiaria of J\Iilan has instituted h^- 

 bour exchanges for peasants which complete the organization of the urban 

 labour exchanges, and also — in co-operation with the office of Emigration 

 — has set up a National lyabour Exchange called the Ufficio Ncizionale di 

 CoUocaDiento. The essential task of the latter is the placing of groups of 

 labourers, that of isolated labourers being left to the office at IMilan even if 

 the demand comes from elsewhere. 



The exchange places labour in Italy exclusively : outside Ital}^ this func- 

 tion, in view of the necessity of estimating local conditions, belongs to the 

 Office of Emigration. The exchange collects offers of labour by the medium 

 of the sections of the Socield Umaniiaria, the local labour exchanges, the sec- 

 retariats of emigration, the offices and chambers of labour, the trade organi- 

 zations, and — where such associations and institutions are lacking — by 

 means of correspondence. By the medium of such bodies or otherwise it 

 should methodically collect the available labour supply. It provokes 

 demands for lal;our, causing them to be directed to itself as much as possible 

 and therefore maintaining constant relations with the ambulant chairs of 

 agriculture, agricultural associations and committees, and — for the period 

 of the war — with the provincial conmiissions of agriculture. In placing 

 labour it takes into account the condition of laboiirers in the districts 

 w^hence there is emigration, as well as unemployment in the various provin- 

 ces, and seeks to form squadrons of labourers whose techniqvie and territorial 

 origin give them homogeneity. It aims at the regvilation of conditions of 

 labour by written contracts. In the case of a strike or a lock-out the 

 placing of labour is interrupted. The exchange inspects places of employ- 

 ment when necessary, either before labour is allocated or while work is in 

 course. 



It proposes further to contribute, as suitably as possiljle and in har- 

 mony with the work developed b}' the Socield Umanitaria, to raising the 

 moral and intellectual standard of labourers in employment, and to 

 spreading a knowledge of laws affecting labour, thrift, etc. 



There is at the exchange a commission of consultation and vigilance 

 constituted by a representative of the general confederation of labour, a 

 representative of the federation of labourers on the soil, a representative 

 of the building federation and a representative of the secretariats of emigra- 

 tion. This commission meets at lea.st once in every three months, when it 

 takes note of the work which has been done, makes suggestions for the bet- 

 ter working of the exchange, and sees that labour is placed in the best con- 

 ditions. 



2. A GENERAI^ COMMISSARIAT FOR FOOD CONSUMPTION. — Gazzctta Uficiale del 

 Regno d'ltalia, Rome, No. 21, 26 Janiiarj^ I'ji/- 



To guarantee to the policy with regard to consumption the largest, the 

 most prompt and the most effective development, in relation to the neces- 



