sion, including representatives of industrial, occupational, philanthropic, and social-welfare organizations, whose services shall be gratis but who will be allowed travel and subsistence expenses. The Minister of Labor may appoint from the members of the National Advisory Commission special committees to deal with the employment of women and youth. The National Employment Commission may appoint, with the Minister of Labor's approval, local advisory committees.

Under the Unemployment Relief and Assistance Act, which received Royal assent on May 7, 1936, the Governor General in Council is authorized to carry out such projects as he may consider in the general interest of the Dominion. As far as practicable employment shall be accorded to relief recipients in the Province in which the project is being undertaken by the Dominion Government.

Under the new statute the Governor General in Council may enter into agreements with corporations, partnerships, or individuals engaged in industry, concerning the extension of industrial employment, consolidate or renew "advances, loans, or guarantees made under previous relief acts, and make regulations which are to have the force of law for carrying out the Unemployment Relief and Assistance Act."

A report must be submitted to Parliament within 30 days after the expiration of the act, concerning the moneys loaned or expended and the obligations contracted under the law. If, however, Parliament is not in session, the report shall be published and made available for distribution by the Dominion Department of Labor.

The Veterans' Assistance Commission Act, assented to June 23, 1936, provides for the appointment by the Governor in Council of a Commission of three members to be connected with the Department of Pensions and National Health. The membership term is 1 year and may be extended for 6 months. This agency is to inquire into the extent of unemployment among Canadians who served in any of the Allied forces during the World War and "to classify those who are unemployed, according to their physical and mental capacity to undertake gainful employment in restricted and unrestricted occupations and in any other categories which the Commission may consider applicable." The Commission is also authorized to investigate and report on the existing methods of providing veterans with employment, especially those who are disabled or handicapped; on plans for additional schemes and agencies to make provision for their rapid return to employment; on the possibility of returning to gainful occupation disabled or handicapped veterans who cannot be absorbed in industrial employment, by developing small holdings, community centers, and such other schemes as may be regarded as practicable; and on present facilities for the care and maintenance of veterans when they have no jobs.

Upon the expiration of the commission's term of office its power will be vested in the Minister of Pensions and National Health.

Unlawful associations.-Amendments to the Criminal Code, which were assented to on June 23, will become effective September 1, 1936, including the repeal of section 98 enacted in 1919. According to this repealed section, any association was unlawful "whose professed purpose was to bring about governmental, industrial, or economic change within Canada by force or violence or by threats of force."

Seamen. Many of the amendments made to the Canada Shipping Act of 1934 were designed to clarify the power of pilotage authorities to make regulations and impose penalties.

Economic Council.-The Economic Council of Canada Act of 1935, providing for a council of 15 members serving without remuneration, was repealed.

Resolutions. On March 9, 1936, a resolution was agreed to which read in part as follows:

Therefore be it resolved, that the Government consider the desirability of investigating the broad question of the reestablishment of the young men and young women of Canada;

And be it further resolved, that, in the conduct of such investigation, attention be given to the possibility of making available to those of our youth who are adapted for such training and who would otherwise be denied it, technical training in various branches;

And be it further resolved, that, in the conduct of such investigation, consideration should be given to the feasibility of setting up and maintaining a National Youth Reestablishment Commission.

On the same date agreement was reached on a resolution to extend pensions to blind persons.

Decisions of Canadian Supreme Court on Recent Social Legislation

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N June 17, 1936, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision relative to social legislation embodied in various statutes enacted by the Dominion Parliament in 1934 and 1935, including the Employment and Social Insurance Act, the Weekly Rest in Industrial Undertakings Act, the Minimum Wages Act, and the Limitation of Hours of Work Act.

These acts were referred to the Dominion Supreme Court to obtain judicial decisions on whether or not they were beyond the powers of the Canadian Parliament. Hearings were held before the Supreme Court between January 15 and February 5, 1936. The decisions of that court on these acts were summarized in the July 1936 issue of the Canadian Labor Gazette, from which the data here given are taken.

On June 17, 1936, the Dominion Supreme Court held, by a vote of 4 to 2, that the Employment and Social Insurance Act was unconstitutional. This act established a commission to set up a national employment service, insurance against unemployment, aid to unemployed, and "other forms of social insurance and security." As to the constitutional validity of the acts relative to the weekly rest in industrial enterprises, minimum wage, and limitation of hours of work, the court was equally divided. These statutes were designed to give effect to draft conventions adopted by the International Labor Conferences of 1919, 1921, and 1928, respectively. The question of their constitutionality therefore depended chiefly on the interpretation of the treaty-making power of the Dominion and was considered highly important. On July 8 the Dominion Government announced its intention of applying to the Privy Council for leave to appeal from these judgments.

Provisions of French Labor Laws Enacted in June 1936

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IVE laws having a wide application and profoundly affecting working conditions of industrial and commercial workers in France were passed in June following the change in the Government under which M. Leon Blum became Premier. These laws established the 40-hour week, vacations with pay, and provisions governing collective agreements, and rescinded the decree laws relating to deductions from the pay of Government employees and the tax on pensions of war veterans, issued in 1934 and 1935. They modify and complete the sections of the labor code on these subjects. With the exception of the provisions relating to the pensions of veterans, the new legislation is summarized below.1

Forty-Hour Week

HOURS of labor, under the law passed June 21, 1936, may not exceed 40 per week. This applies to every type of commercial and industrial establishment, whether public or private, secular or religious, including establishments of an educational or welfare character, hospitals, and insane asylums. Decrees will be issued later by the council of ministers, after consultation with the competent sections of the National Economic Council, fixing the method of application of the law and its coverage.

In underground mines the time underground of each worker may not exceed 38 hours and 40 minutes per week; the Cabinet is to determine the method of application, particularly the method of calculating the time underground.

1 Data are from Le Bulletin Législatloz (Paris), no. 12, 1936, pp. 397-412.

The law is not to affect cases in which shorter hours are in effect, either as a result of custom or established by collective agreements in any of the establishments or industries covered.

The application of the law may not carry with it any lowering in the standard of living and it may not be the determining cause, therefore, for a reduction in the remuneration of the workers either in wages or in other payments.

Vacations With Pay

ANNUAL Vacations with pay amounting to 15 days, 12 of which must be working days, are established for industry and commerce and the liberal professions, by the law of June 20, 1936. All workers, salaried employees, or apprentices in such employment, or employed by cooperative societies or as associates or apprentices in artisans' workshops, are entitled to the vacation after one year's continuous service. If the usual vacation period in an establishment occurs after 6 months' continuous service by a worker, he will be entitled to a vacation of 1 week. Longer vacations which have been in effect either as a result of custom or collective agreements are not to be affected by the law.

All persons covered by the law will be entitled, if they are time workers, to the wages which would have been earned during the vacation period; or if they are paid on another basis, to the average pay which would have been received for an equivalent period in the year preceding the vacation. In fixing the amount of the payment, allowance must be made for family allowances and other payments, including payments in kind, which the worker does not receive during his vacation.

Any agreement made by any worker by which he gives up his vacation, even if he receives compensatory pay, is prohibited.

In the professions, industry, and commerce in which the workers, salaried employees, associates, and apprentices are not normally occupied continuously during a year in the same establishment, the council of ministers will determine the method of payment, notably by the establishment of compensation funds by the employers concerned.

A regulation by the public authorities, made after consultation with the agricultural associations and the joint agricultural unions or workers' unions, will determine the method of application of the preceding regulations to agricultural workers. A similar regulation will determine the method of application of the law to domestic services.

Agreements may permit fractional vacations.

Violations of the administrative regulations will be investigated by officers of the courts of justice.

Collective Agreements

ON THE demand of an employers' or workers' organization, the Minister of Labor or his representative is required to appoint a joint committee for the purpose of concluding a collective agreement having for its purpose the regulation of relations between employers and employees in the branch of industry or commerce concerned, either for a specified district or for the entire territory. This law was passed on June 24, 1936.

If the joint committee cannot reach an agreement upon one or several of the provisions to be included in the agreement, the Minister of Labor shall intervene upon the demand of one of the parties, in order to assist in reaching an agreement after securing the advice of the interested professional section or sections of the National Economic Council.

The collective agreement reached by the joint committee must specify whether or not it is concluded for a definite period and must contain provisions concerning (1) trade-union freedom and freedom of opinion of the workers; (2) the appointment, in establishments employing more than 10 persons, of delegates elected by the employees to represent them in claims relative to the application of rates of wages, the labor code and other laws and regulations concerning workers' protection, safety and sanitation (these delegates may demand the assistance of a representative of their trade-union); (3) minimum wages by class and by district; (4) notice of dismissal; (5) the organization of apprenticeship; (6) the procedure to be followed in enforcement; and, (7) the procedure by which the agreement may be amended or changed.

The collective agreements may not contain provisions conflicting with the laws and regulations in force, but may provide more favorable conditions.

Agreements thus concluded may be made compulsory by the issuance of a decree by the Minister of Labor for all employers and employees in the district, in the industries to which they apply, for the period provided for in the agreements. Before the decree is issued the Minister shall publish a notice in the Journal Officiel relative to the provisions and requesting the filing of comments and advice within a period which he shall fix but which shall not be less than 15 days.

The provisions of the decree will cease to be effective when the contracting parties agree to terminate, revise, or modify it. Also the Minister of Labor can rescind the decree, after securing the advice of the interested parties and the National Economic Council when it appears that the agreement is not in accord with the economic situation of the industry in the district concerned.