of women and fully skilled and unskilled men. The provision of this
much-discussed circular that affected women doing skilled work was
in Clause 1, which provides that "Women employed on work customarily
done by fully skilled tradesmen shall be paid the time rates of the
tradesman whose work they undertake."

These provisions were then only binding on the Government
establishments, and could not be enforced by the Ministry of Munitions
in controlled establishments. On December 31, 1915, a conference
was held between the Prime Minister, the Minister of Munitions and
representatives of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, when an
agreement in regard to "dilution" was arranged. Circular L. 2 was
adopted at this conference as the basis of the undertaking given by
the Ministry in regard to dilution of labor. An employer under it can
be punished as contravening the Munitions Act if he fails to carry out
the direction of the Minister. The power of enforcing the provisions
of L. 2 were acquired in January, 1916, and it is quite obvious that
in this circular a principle of the greatest importance to men and
women is laid down. Women were wholly averse to being "blacklegs" in
industry.

The great work of "Dilution" in Munitions--and by dilution we mean
the use in industry of unskilled, semi-skilled and woman labor, so
that highly skilled men may not be used except for the most important
work--is done by the Dilution Department of the Ministry of Munitions,
which issues Dilution of Labour Bulletins and Process Sheets
periodically, showing the work women are doing. A series of
exhibitions of women's work have also been arranged by the Technical
Section of the Labour Supply Department in all the big towns
in England. In Sheffield over 16,000 people came to see the