H.—ll

XV

The work of the Department lias increased considerably during the period under review. The fact that our outward correspondence has increased by more than one-third is a clear indication of the Department's expansion. This development has necessitated a further increase in the staff of the Department, and the number now stands at seventy-one, an increase of four over last year, while several other clerks and cadets are also being arranged for. The following particulars as to correspondence dealt with compared with last year affords an interesting comparison : — 1906-7. 1907-8. Outward. Inward. Outward. Inward. Letters .. .. .. 9,130 9,943 13,843 12,759 Telegrams .. .. .. 1,530 1,680 1,620 1,723 Circulars and circular letters .. 11,650 .. 15,411 The circulars do not include the thousands of copies of awards under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act issued to parties concerned. An average ~of nearly three thousand of these are now issued by the Department per month. ' • (The Factories Acts. These Acts are much less difficult to administer than was the case in former years ; the employers and workers are becoming more familiar with their provisions, and there is also the fact that year by year new and more up-to-date workrooms are being erected to take the place of the less suitable buildings which were in use when the Department came into existence. The Amendment Act of 1907 has removed much of the ambiguity from the definitions in certain sections of the principal Act, and has very wisely provided for a statement, in the form prescribed by regulations, of the procedure required to be observed in order to claim compensation under " The Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act, 1900." These regulations have been issued and mailed to all factory-owners in the Dominion. The provision in respect to taking a poll of electors in boroughs or town districts outside of the four centres has, up to the 31st March, been taken advantage of in eleven such districts, with the result that with one exception the statutory half-holiday in both shops and factories is now observed on the same day. A return showing the towns and the result of the voting is included in this report. There has been some little friction, and in some instances a certain amount of inconvenience, in consequence of the wording of section 14 of the Amendment Act of last session in respect to minimum wages. The Department put as liberal a construction on the section as was consistent with the legal aspect of tLs provision, and every real difficulty that came under my notice was amicably and satisfactorily adjusted. The card system and weekly returns of inspection introduced by my predecessor have worked remarkably well, and serve to keep the Head Office more cognisant of what is being done by our branch officers, and, moreover, are exceedingly useful for reference purposes. The practice of having cadets and other officers brought to the Head Office for a few months for the necessary training has also been carried out with good effect, and the result is that we have more uniformity throughout the branches of the Department. The statistics which appear in the different tables of the report are practically on the same lines as for last year, the only difference being that in each case employers who are actually engaged in the industry are shown separately from the employees. There has been another increase in the number of factories registered during the year. Out of the total increase of 798 new factories for the period covered by this report the four centres contributed 331, with an increase of 1,859 workers, out of the total increase of 3,315 for the whole of the Dominion. Auckland has an increase of 118 factories and 1,194 employees (this increase includes forty-one factories and 451 employees at Onehunga which have come into the Auckland office for the first time this year); Dunedin has an increase of 121 factories and 277 workers ; Christchurch an increase of eighty-six factories and 223 hands ; Wellington shows an increase of six factories and 165 workers. Our totals of factories registered do not, of coarse, include the Government Railway Workshops and the Government Printing Office. It will be seen from the Inspectors' reports that quite a number of industries have been greatly hampered through the scarcity of women and boys. This has been most felt in the following trades : Boot and shoe, clothing, tailoring, dressmaking, woollen-milling, biscuit and confectionery, jam, and laundry-work; and in most of the trades and industries where these workers find ready and suitable employment they receive a much higher rate of wages than is fixed by statute. An unusually large amount of overtime has been worked this year, showing most conclusively that there is a very genuine demand for an increased number of operatives in the trades and industries referred to.