Hr—ll

IV

trades have been universally dull and depressed. Some ironmasters recommend an increased tariff on imported material, but it is doubtful if suclTremedyJwould be'efficient or Joe more than"a*temporary stimulus. Clothing trades, including dressmaking and millinery, were brisk and healthy ; timber cutting and selling in most places languished. On the other hand, flax-milling showed a remarkable recovery and prosperity. Cheese and butter factories worked full time ; frozen-meat establishments were very busy ; coachbuilding flourished ; saddlery and harness-making improved greatly on the position of a few years ago, but the furniture trade was poor. Bootmaking was steady, and is now in full swing. Of those applying at the Government bureaux for employment, the following persons have received practical assistance from the Labour Department since its formation : —

It is a source of encouragement to find that during the last few years the numbers of those persons sent to private employers have been steadily growing, and this year the number so despatched has greatly exceeded the number of those sent to Government works. There has been, with the completion of the Main Trunk Eailway, a great reduction of labourers on public works, only 3,447 beingsent this year, against 6,201 last year. The men assisted during the year included 1,372 from Great Britain, 227 from Australia, and 92 from foreign countries. Eighty wives, with 131 children, were sent by the Department to localities in which their bread-winners were at work. The cost of such passages has been refunded to the State. '.'■'--■-.. Labour Exchanges, etc. The latest developments in connection with the conduct of labour exchanges in other countries are being closely watched, in order to apply them here in New Zealand if considered feasible. In this connection Germany has certainly attained a degree of success over her continental neighbours, and in the new scheme for dealing with the subject of unemployment Great Britain has evidently adopted the German system. It would be both difficult and inadvisable for us here to extend the scope of our employment branches in some of the directions adopted by Europe and America. The purveying of meals at cost-price ; the setting-apart of waiting-rooms for all classes, employers and employed ; providing literature and amusement for applicants for work whilst waiting selection, appear at present quite unnecessary here, where, even during the slackest seasons, the applicants for employment in any of the cities do not exceed a few hundred per month. The number of registrations effected from day to day in the large towns of Europe and America are quite beyond our experience. In Berlin alone 82,557 persons secured employment through the public bureaux in 1906. During the whole year, and throughout the various towns, chief and secondary, the applications in New Zealand would not equal the numbers applying for work fortnightly in such towns as Berlin, Hamburg, Liverpool, and Philadelphia. Special attention, however, has been given to the question of quick communication in case of men being required in any particular part of New Zealand. During the past winter, -when employment was especially scarce, urgent instructions were issued to the whole of our offices to report by telegram

Year. Total. Married. Single. Dependents. Private Work. Government Work. 1891-92 1892-93 ... ... 1894-95 1895-96 ., .... . ... 1896-97 1897-98 1898-99 1899-1900 ... 1900-1 1901-2 1902-3 • 1903-4 1904-5 1905-6 ... 1906-7 1907-8 1908-9 1909-10 2,593 3,874 3,341 3,030 2,871 1,718 2,035 2,115 2,147 3,124 1,830 3,704 2,860 3,130 6,712 7,393 6,305 10,391 8,506 1,054 1,808 1,836 2,007 1,880 1,084 1,163 1,178 1,115 1,326 713 1,492 777 953 2,027 1,427 1,440 2,538 2,987 1,539 2,066 1,505 1,023 991 634 872 937 1,032 1,798 1,117 2,212 2,083 2,177 4,685 5,966 4,865 7,853 5,519 4,729 7,802 7,942 8,883 8,424 4,719 - 4,928 4,759 4,471 5,432 2,747 I 5,934 3,085 3,425 7,351 4,187 4,408 7,510 10,164 1,730 2,518 1,019 894 i 708 652 544 i 638 486 519 396 580 1,216 1,960 1,929 2,718 2,977 4,190 5,059 863 1,356 2,322 ! 2,136 2,163 1,066 i 1,491 1,477 1,661 2,605 1,434 3,124 1,644 1,170 4,783 4,675 3,328 ! 6,201 3,447 Totals 77,679 28,805 48,874 110,900 30,733 46,946