THE SOCIAL ACTIVITIES OF GOVERNMENT 117

These Orders can* be challenged in a court of law, and an attempt
to set up a Board for catering was defeated on the ground that
this was not the kind of occupation referred to by the Act. The
Boards are composed of people elected by workers and employers,
and some appointed by the Minister of Labour. They have -
power to fix maximum wages for their industries, or for any
part of them, and Inspectors appointed by the Ministry see that
these decisions are obeyed.

Employment. All over the country are the Employment
Exchanges maintained by the Ministry of Labour—they are
often called "Labour Exchanges" or more briefly "the Labour"
Through them employers and workers are put in touch with
each other, and, together with the education authorities, they
try to find jobs for children leaving school. The Ministry has
power to give help to men moving to work in another part of the
country. By these means, a certain amount of unemployment
may be prevented, but much remains, the reasons for which lie
in the economic system, and in the difficulties of Britain since
the war. So the Employment Exchange has become the office
through which the Acts dealing with Unemployment Insurance
are administered.

The first of these Acts was in 1911, but it applied to only a
few industries. The collapse of the post-war boom in 1920
greatly increased the problem; and the people, having been called
on to make sacrifices for the State during the War, insisted that
the State should give more attention to their conditions. An Act
was passed in 1920, framing a larger scheme, and, though often
altered in detail, it remained the basis of unemployment insurance
till 1934-

By these Acts, workers, employers, and the State made

contributions to a fund out of which benefit was paid for a fixed

period to those unable to find work. The scheme was planned

to pay its way; the unemployed man, was in fact, drawing his

f insurance money for which he had paid the premiums. The often

used word "dole" was therefore unsuitable, and the comparison