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TAILORING TRADE REGULATIONS. It was mentioned last year that a conference of representatives of the tailoring and clothingmanufacturing trades (employers and workers) had been held at the Department's offices in Wellington, and that as a result an agreement had been reached on all points except one which was left over for Ministerial decision. Legislation to give effect to the proposals was not necessary, as it was found that regulations under the Board of Trade Act could be made, and this course was followed. The regulations came into force in February, 1925. Three prosecutions were taken during the year for breaches of the regulations : (1) For selling a suit as " hand-made," the suit not having the necessary amount of hand-work as prescribed by the regulations ; (2) for describing a suit as " hand-made " which did not contain the necessary amount of hand-work although sufficient to correctly describe it as " tailor-made," and (3) for incorrectly describing a suit as " hand-tailored." A conviction and penalty were ordered in each case, and the total penalties imposed were £15, and costs £13. The general opinion of those concerned is that the regulations and the publicity given to them have had the desired effect of preventing the misuse of the words " tailor-made " or " hand-made " when applied to garments that are made to measure, and that only a few breaches of the regulations have occurred. Hitherto little restriction had been placed on the terms that might be used. Moreover, ths difficulty experienced on all sides was largely overcome when the expressions " tailor-made," "tailored," "tailored to order," "tailored to measure," and the like were clearly defined. The definition was agreed on at the conference with little difficulty. It has been represented by some engaged in the trade that the regulations should also cover ready-to-wear garments. This question was not brought up at the conference. As far as the public are concerned, on whose behalf chiefly the regulations were gazetted, it appears fairly obvious that ready-to-wear garments are not expected to contain the hand-work required in " tailor-made " or " hand-made " garments specially ordered, and therefore any use of the words " tailor-made," " handmade," &c., in respect to ready-to-wear garments could hardly be considered as misleading the public. In any event there is provision in the Patents, Designs, and Trade-marks Act under which proceedings may be taken by any aggrieved person who alleges that the qualify of any goods has been misrepresented to him. INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE. The following information is gathered from the official reports of the International Labour Office :• — The Seventh Conference was held in Geneva from the 19th May, 1925, until the 10th June. The International Labour Office has frequently remarked upon the hesitancy shown by the various countries that are members of the organization in ratifying and adopting the draft conventions and recommendations passed at the various Conferences. The sixth session in 1924 therefore concentrated attention upon the problem of the best means of securing adhesion to the conventions and recommendations already passed, and also upon the question of making future conventions and recommendations more acceptable to the countries concerned. In pursuance of this decision the Conference, after making four provisional conventions or recommendations, postponed the final vote upon them till the next session in order to afford opportunity to submit the conventions and recommendations to the Governments concerned so that amendments which might facilitate their ratification could be proposed. A number of suggested amendments were made accordingly by various Governments, and special committees were set up to examine them. The proposed convention for the prohibition of night-work in bakeries was a case in point, where the " closed " period proposed by the Conference was fixed at either 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. or 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. The British Government put forward an amendment that would have had the effect of permitting bakers who work on their own account to bake at night. This was held to affect the vital principles of the convention as originally drafted, and such an amendment was held to be inacceptable. Workers' Compensation for Accidents. The articles of the Peace Treaty set out that one of the tasks of the International Labour Organization is to endeavour to improve the conditions of labour as regards " the protection of the worker against sickness, disease, and injury arising out of his employment." The Conferences of 1921 and 1924 touched the question of agricultural workers, who are in many countries (but not in New Zealand) excluded from the benefits of the Worker's Compensation Act, and the question of equality of treatment of national and foreign workers suffering injury at their employment. Questionnaires were sent out asking the opinion of Governments as to the value of a convention on these subjects and the ground the convention should cover. On the basis of the replies received a report was issued containing draft conventions or recommendations which| the Office considered most likely to be acceptable. The Conference ultimately decided to exclude agricultural workers from its convention. In regard to the question of equality of treatment of national and foreign workers respecting compensation, it might be mentioned that no distinction has ever been made in the Workers' Compensation Act in New Zealand between these two classes. A convention on the subject was passed by the International Labour Conference that equal rights to compensation should be given. It is considered that, in view of the great migratory movements now taking place in Europe, this convention will benefit many thousands of workers. jS* Two recommendations were also adopted by the Conference : the first that the compensation allowed should be two-thirds of the basic earnings in the case of death or permanent incapacity, and the second recommendation proposes that disputes relating to compensation be dealt with by a special

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