H.—44.

His Majesty the King lias graciously extended his Royal Patronage to the exhibition. His Excellency the Governor-General has consented to act as Patron, and the Right Hon. the Prime Minister Vice-Patron, with the Hon. the Minister of Industries and Commerce as Honorary President. The Government is contributing to the capital of the company by a loan, free.of interest, of £25,000 and a subsidy of £1 for every £2 of capital subscribed up to £50,000. Following the selection of Rongotai for the site, contracts for the buildings have been let and the erection of pavilions has been commenced. Applications for shares are coming in steadily and a quarter of the total space available has already been reserved for exhibits. The Prime Minister has extended invitations to Empire countries to participate in the exhibition, and overseas representatives of the Government are generally assisting in creating an interest in the event. The pavilion reserved for the display by Government Departments affords a space of 96,000 square feet, and will be housed by twenty-six Departments. To deal adequately with the work involved, a Committee was set up in October, 1937, constituted by representatives of the following Departments : Agriculture, Education, Internal Affairs, Industries and Commerce, Public Works, Railways, National Broadcasting Service. Convenor : Industries and Commerce Department. The Committee has made a full investigation of proposals for the layout of the Government court, and the Departments have been divided into four main groups : Transport and communication, agricultural and industrial development, social and cultural services, and defence. The interests of the Maoris, as well as Samoa and the Cook Islands, will be represented by composite exhibits. Each group has its committees, and satisfactory progress has been reported. Owing to pressure of work on the Government Architect, the architectual work involved in the court has been entrusted to Mr. Edmund Anscom.be, who is architect to the exhibition company and has a long experience of exhibitions. The Committee has decided to light the court artificially and install a system of pressure ventilation. The work involved in the setting-up of the court entails regular meetings of the various committees, and general enthusiasm is evident. It is anticipated that the court, when finished, will afford an excellent review of the work accomplished by Government Departments over the last one hundred years, as well as giving an indication of present activities. PUBLICATIONS. The Department has continued to issue during the past year information relative to industrial and commercial subjects. The quarterly bulletins on the finance, trade, and industry of New Zealand have been improved by the addition of further information relating to the economic position of the Dominion and by the inclusion of graphs dealing with the value of production and trade and banking. The issue of a News Bulletin has been resumed, and several numbers have already been published. By means of this bulletin the Department hopes to disseminate to business men of the Dominion items of economic and commercial interest and relating particularly to general development in overseas countries. To this end the New Zealand Trade and Tourist Commissioners supply articles on trade and other matters which are regularly published. These bulletins are widely distributed throughout New Zealand to the press, chambers of commerce, and individual business executives, while the quarterly bulletin on finance, trade, and industries has, in addition, a considerable overseas circulation. The numerous expressions of appreciation and requests for the bulletins received by the Department indicate that the information contained therein is of value to the business community. MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES. Reference has been made in the foregoing pages to the major activities of this Department. The work of the Department is necessarily varied in character, touching as it does on all phases of commercial and industrial activity as affecting the Dominion. Because of this, and the fact that many of the inquiries undertaken are of a confidential nature, it is not possible to outline in detail in a report of this nature the whole of the work carried out during the past year. In general, it may be mentioned that inquiries and investigations carried out in relation to all phases of the Department's work have increased both in volume and extent when compared with the position in regard to former years. The following is a list of subjects covered by this Department during the past year of a miscellaneous nature and in respect of which reference has not been made previously in this report. The list is by no means complete, being merely given to indicate in a general way the variety of subjects with which the Department has had to deal in the conduct of investigations and inquiries of this nature. Overseas Trade. —Inquiries connected with overseas trade development and relating to markets for wool, frozen rabbits, scrap leather, fruit, fish, crayfish, toheroas, oysters, &c., meat of all descriptions, hides and skins, manures, potatoes, butter, cheese, ox-gall, tallow, flower bulbs, canned goods, wool yarn, whale oil, leather, floor-rugs, travelling-rugs, mats, &c., onions, vegetables, animal hair, provisions &c., plants, horns and hoofs, sugar of milk, potato flour and starch, kauri-gum, fungus, woollen waste, sheep-casings, seeds of all descriptions, timbers, specialty goods, curios, &c., pumice, casein, sports goods, and liver-meal. Inquiries relating to imports of articles of the following description : Bamboo poles, canned pineapples, cocoa-beans, stee] wire, granite, hemp, orchids, seeds, wheat, dried fruits, olive-oil, and cocoanut fibre,

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