492 



Works for the Keijef of Unemployment. [Sept., 



sey Levels. Fortunately, this work and the general strengthen- 

 ing of the sea embankment were sufficiently advanced by 13th 

 April to enable the defences to withstand an exceptionally 

 high tide and gale which seriously threatened the works 

 on that date. It has since been stated that, but for the 

 work previously done, the whole of the Level would have been 

 inundated to a depth of several feet with the probable loss of 

 valuable grazing stock and other serious damage to agriculture. 



Water- Supply. — Forty-six water-supply schemes were carried 

 out, chiefly in the higher portions of counties where the 

 long drought of 1921 had dried up springs and ponds and 

 emptied wells. They ranged from the building of concrete 

 reservoirs for the impounding of surface or roof-water 

 to the sinking or boring of deep w^ells and the provision of 

 power-driven pumps. In a few cases hydraulic ram installa- 

 tions were carried out. In practically all these cases, the esti- 

 mated cost of materials was higher than that of labour, and the 

 Ministry's gi^ant covered the cost of unskilled labour only. 



In the case of the Drainage and Sea-Defence Authorities the 

 schemes were prepared and the work supervised by the regular 

 technical officers of the bodies concerned, and these cases 

 show, as might have been expected, better results on 

 the whole than those which were prepared and super- 

 vised by County Officers, many of whom would not, of 

 course, claim to be specialists in the kinds of work involved: 

 but when that has been said it remains to be recorded to the 

 hi^h credit of the County Officers that the great bulk of their 

 schemes were well considered, carefully estimated, and re- 

 markably well executed. In the cases where the Councils had 

 retained the services of their Drainage Officers there was 

 almost nothing to choose between Drainage Authority work 

 and County work. 



The Men Employed. — Throughout the whole of the opera- 

 tions and in every part of the country the spirit displayed by 

 the men has been excellent. A few isolated stories have been 

 told of " street-corner boys " who have refused work at 32s. a 

 week when they could get three-quarters of that amount for 

 lounging, but 95 per cent, of the men have been only too 

 anxious to be employed and there have been many hundreds 

 of cases of men cycling or tramping many miles to and from 

 work daily in all w^eathers rather than accept the dole or out- 

 door relief. The total number of men who have been engaged 

 upon the works at one time or another cannot be less than 



