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British Commercial Diplomatic Officers. Full advantage has been taken by the Department to avail itself of the services of the officers of the above corps in seeking trade information of benefit to New Zealand traders in localities where no Dominion representative is at present located. The convenience of the arrangement, which was suggested by the Imperial Government at the Economic Conference of 1923 in London, has been exemplified by the practical and willing help given by H.M. Trade Commissioners at Montreal and Toronto in assisting to market certain of our products in eastern Canada. The reports received from these officers dealt not only with market prospects, but suggested names of reliable firms to handle consignments. Information received from these officers was responsible for the sending of a consignment of apples in June last to test the Montreal and Toronto markets, and their services have been enlisted to facilitate the sale, and to ensure the best possible prices for fruitgrowers being obtained. The apples will reach Montreal in middle July, at a time when it is expected that Canada's last season's supplies will be short. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. • ' The progress made by the manufacturing industries of the Dominion can best be gauged by the statistical information prepared annually by the Department of Census and Statistics ; but the figures thus supplied and given below show the position is it was more than a year prior to the preparation of this report, and for this reason they do not give an up-to-date indication of the present state of our secondary industries. It has therefore been the custom of the Department to obtain through its local officers in the four chief centres special recent information concerning manufactures, a brief summary of which, together with some particulars obtained from the Monthly Abstract of Statistics, is given in an appendix to this report. The latest summary of statistical information (for the year ended the 31st March, 1926) compared with similar figures for the previous twelve months discloses increases in works, employment, wages paid, output, &c. The increases, which are to some extent explained later, should not be taken as indicating general progress in all of the manufacturing industries, because of the inclusion for the first time of fourteen electricity-generation plants, which is an extraordinarily big development when only one year's figures are being considered. There is, however, satisfactory progress disclosed in most of the purely manufacturing industries, woollen-milling and footwear-manufacturing being the chief exceptions. As at As at 31st March, 31st March, 1925. 1926. Increase. Establishments.. .. .. 4,547 4,790 243 Employees .. .. .. 80,327 81,649 1,322 Wages and salaries paid .. .. £15,690,202 £16,865,715 £1,175,513 Power employed (horse-power) .. 288,406 358,848 70,442 £ £ £ Materials used .. .. .. 52,161,420 52,321,086 159,666 Value added .. .. .. 31,939,893 32,433,173 493,280 Total products .. .. .. 84,101,313 84,754,259 652,946 Land, plant, buildings .. .. 49,978,842 59,056,120 9,077,278 Establishments. —The industries which contributed mainly to the increase in the number of establishments were —Motor and cycle engineering, 82; engineering (general), 19; furniture and cabinetmaking, 25; printing, publishing, and bookbinding, 14 ; electricity-generation, 14 ; concreteblock and fibrous-plaster making; sawmills, 11; clothing, 10; flax-milling, 7; biscuit and confectionery, 5 ; flourmills, 2 ; coach and motor-body building, 3. Employees.—The most important increases in the number of hands engaged are to be found in the following industries : Motor and cycle engineering, 741 ; electricity-generation and supply, 578 ; printing, publishing, and bookbinding, 444 ; furniture and cabinetmaking, 430 ; general engineering, 298 ; tinned-plate and sheet-metal working, 203 ; biscuit and confectionery, 188 ; clothing, 181 ; coach and motor-body building, 180 ; hosiery, 141. As against the above increases, the following industries show a reduction in the number of hands employed : Meat freezing and preserving, 1,769 ; sawmilling, 323 ; butter, cheese, and condensedmilk manufacture, 184 ; woollen-mills, 55 ; woolscouring and fellmongerv, 163. In the case of the meat freezing and preserving industries, this decrease is more apparent than real, on account of the fact that the number of employees in previous years were returned as the average for the season, while in 1926 the average for the year is shown, bringing this industry into line with the others. Wages and Salaries.—Approximately £56,000 per working-day were paid in wages by New Zealand factories during the year ending the 31st March, 1926. The wages paid to all males employed averaged £230 per year in 1925-26 ; to females the average wage paid was £99. The total number of males employed was 67,170, who earned £15,429,166; total number of females employed was 14,479, who earned. £1,436,549. Production. —The total value of production does not show any great increase over the previous year, and had it not been for the additional value of electricity generated a decrease would have

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