H.—ll

XXIII

Table showing Fees received from Employers and Servants by Servants' Registry Offices in the Fifteen Chief Towns in New Zealand during the year ending 31st March, 1912.

Wages Protection and Contractors' Liens Act. A case worthy of note concerning the liability of persons having work done by contract occurred under this Act before the Stipendiary Magistrate at Napier. Sections 49 and 52 create a worker's right of lien and charge which attach to the whole interest of the owner of the land or chattel on which work is done by the contractor, but is limited to the moneys payable by the owner to the contractor under the contract and to thirty days' earnings of each workman. In section 59, subsection (2), it is provided that an employer shall retain in his hands one-fourth part of the moneys payable under the contract to the contractor until the expiration of thirty-one days after the completion of the work. In the case referred to —viz., Neal v. the Roman Catholic Mission —a claim for a charge was made in respect of wages due by defendants on excavating-work. There were also several other plaintiffs claiming in a similar way. The contractor, Hagen, performed part of his contract and then abandoned it after having received several progress-payments. It was shown that the owner had in such progress-payments paid more than the value of the work actually done. In his decision the Stipendiary Magistrate stated that " Moreover, even assuming the owner has paid the contractor more than the value of the work done, where there are, as here, bona fide claims of lien and charge made by workmen, he cannot, as we have seen, set up that overpayment as a defence. An owner who pays the contractor the full value of the work done (instead of retaining the onefourth part) cannot afterwards be heard to say there are no contract-moneys payable to the contractor for the contract." Judgment was therefore given for the plaintiff with the right of lien over the land in which the excavation had been made. Cost of Living. The inquiry conducted by the Department during the year, as outlined in last year's report, did not meet with the expected measure of success, in that only 69 workers sent in records which could be regarded as reliable and useful for statistical purposes. However, a complete analysis of the returns received was made, and the result was published in the April number of the Labour Journal. Later the article was published apart from the Journal and is available for those interested in the question. Whilst the inquiry showed that the data was supplied almost exclusively from thrifty and careful workers, the results will be valuable in many ways for the purposes of comparison in later years. The relation of income to expenditure in various family and income groups is shown, and a general analysis of expenditure under five main headings— i.e., housing, food, clothing, fuel, and light —and other items, makes interesting reading. It is especially noted how unfavourably the man with a large family compared with the man w-ho had few- or no children. The latter appeared to be able to save in rent and clothing, to have more luxuries in the way of food, and at each week end to show a larger amount of money saved than his mate who was bringing up a family of children. Another feature of the Department's inquiry was in respect to the rent problem. The figures published emphasized the high rents ruling in Welling-

Town. Number of Offices. Number of Engagements. Number in which] Worker charged Fee. Total Fees paid by Workers. Number in which Employer charged Fee. Total Fees] paid by Employers. Auckland Wellington .. Christchurch Dunedin j.. Gisborne .. New Plymouth Palmerston North .. Invercargill .. j Otherjtowns 13 7 10 9 5 4 4 8 14 3,483 3,492 5,346 2,889 296 25 2,368 666 3,245 . I 3,324 3,306 5,320 2,804 292 25 2,155 624 3,085 £ s. d. 607 9 8 601 12 2 870 15 8 571 6 6 55 10 6 4 5 0 452 7 6 130 6 2 503 11 5 3,183 1,486 5,335 933 269 25 88 243 2,213 £ s. d, 625 16 0 455 7 6 890 15 0 202 7 6 64 16 C 8 12 6 10 6 C 55 12 2 472 16 £ Totals] 74 21,810 20,935 3,797 4 7 13,775 2,786 9