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HOLIDAYS WITH PAYLAST August 1 we drew attention to some of

the evidence submitted to the Committee on

Holidays with Pay. The Minister of Labour hasnow presented the committee’s report 2 to Parlia-ment, and some of the information it has collectedis as important as its recommendations. An

attempt is made, in an appendix to the report,to estimate the probable number of work-peoplewho are already receiving holidays with pay, andthe proportion is surprisingly large. There are

roughly 1821 million manual workers and non-

manual workers earning less than f250 a year inthe employment field, of whom approximately71 million, or 42 per cent., are entitled to holidayswith pay by agreement or custom. If the calcu-lation is confined to those in actual employment,the numbers are reduced to 161 million and 74million, the proportion receiving holidays remain-ing nearly the same-viz., 43 per cent. If all

persons are included who do non-manual work butearn more than f250 a year, with the exceptionof professional workers and those occupied ontheir own account, the total number of peopleactually employed at work at December, 1937,was probably 171 million, of whom about 8 million,or 46 per cent., were enjoying holidays with pay.No account is taken in these estimates of thenumber not qualifying for holidays by reason ofshort or changing employment ; but, on the otherhand, the extent to which domestic servants receivepaid holidays is possibly understated.The extension of this privilege is therefore not such

a large problem as appeared when the committeebegan its deliberations a year ago. It is stronglyrecommended that an annual holiday with payshould be established without undue delay as partof the terms of contract of all employees coveredby the compulsory State insurance schemes,whether at the present or any future income levels.The holiday should be of at least one workingweek, on consecutive days as far as practicable,and fall within the period of summer time. The

arrangements should be made as soon as possibleby collective bargaining in industries where thismachinery exists for other purposes ; an interim

period should be allowed for amicable settlementof this kind, but legislation should be passed inthe Parliamentary session 1940-41 making suchnegotiations and agreements obligatory, with

provision for settlement by arbitration. Forintermittent types of employment, such as buildingand port transport, earlier legislation should aimat spreading the cost over employers under Statecoordination. The powers of statutory bodies

enforcing minimum rates of wages-i.e., tradeboards and agricultural wages committees-shouldbe immediately enlarged to cover holidays withpay. Domestic staff in, private employmentshould be given early statutory entitlement totwo weeks’ holiday with pay, not necessarilyconsecutive.

1 Lancet, 1937, 2, 327.2 Report of the Committee on Holidays with Pay. London:

H.M. Stationery Office. (Cmd. 5724.) 1s. 3d.

The committee has been impressed with theeconomic and transport problems already createdby the concentration throughout the whole countryof holidays in one short period of weeks in thesummer, and realises that these would be intensifiedif its recommendations were adopted. Evidencefrom the Board of Education indicates that changes.in the holiday periods of elementary schools mightnot present any serious difficulty if local educationauthorities were pressed by public opinion toconsider the matter. In secondary schools the

preparation for, and dates of, examinations mightmake such changes a little more awkward, andthe dates of such examinations should thereforebe reconsidered. Obviously families desire to befree to go on holiday together as far as this is

possible, and the simplest method seems to be"

staggering" of the holidays of all sections ofthe population as between place and place. Forinstance, a custom has long existed whereby thepeople of Glasgow and some other towns in theWest of Scotland take their vacation in July,whereas August is the holiday month in Edin-burgh and the east. The committee favours the

development of this practice to cover shorter

periods. It adds a suggestion that establishmentsmight be set up, catering on a large scale forworkers and their families on holiday, which wouldbe available from time to time for wide areas if

staggering of holidays were adopted.The report contains interesting sections on the

history of holidays for work-people, the positionoverseas and in foreign countries. It is eminentlyreadable and, as will have been gathered, itsrecommendations are enlightened. In some respectsthe health of the people has been at least as muchinfluenced in the past by social and industrial

changes as by advance in medical knowledge andpractice. The mental and physical benefits of

holidays with pay may prove to be significantfactors for the betterment of the public health.

GUY’S

Guy’s has the reputation of being a rich hospital yand indeed it was wholly supported by endowmentsuntil the end of the nineteenth century and hassince made only three appeals. For 150 years theincome derived from land in Essex, Ilerefordshire,and Lincolnshire sufficed to maintain the work in

London, but agriculture has been in a bad way sincethe late war, and the endowments nowadays bring inless than f:70,000, whereas the annual expenditure is.over 220,000. The idea that the hospital is wealthy nodoubt accounts for the comparatively small supportit gets from the general public ; in 1936 the totalfrom subscriptions, donations, and box collectionswas only 20,548. Nearly two years ago an appealwas made for 500,000, and on Tuesday last it wasannounced that Viscount Nuffield, the treasurer, hasoffered 80,000 for enlargement of the nurses’ homeprovided the remaining f:316,OOO needed for rebuildingcan be secured. A letter appearing this week in ourcorrespondence columns shows how urgent the situationis becoming. Subscriptions may be sent to LordNuffield at the hospital (London, S.E.1).