H.—ll.

1935. NEW ZEALAND.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR (REPORT OF THE).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

REPORT.

The Acting-Secretary, Department of Labour, to the Hon. the Minister of Labour. Department of Labour, Wellington, 29th June, 1935. Sir, — I have the honour to present herewith the forty-fourth annual report of this Department for the information of His Excellency the Governor-General, and to be laid before Parliament, in compliance with the Labour Department Act, 1908, and the Factories Act, 1921-22. The report covers the financial year Ist April, 1934, to 31st March, 1935. I have, &c., Henry E. Moston, The Hon. the Minister of Labour. Acting-Secretary of Labour.

UNEMPLOYMENT. The activities of this Department, so far as unemployment is concerned, are mainly restricted to the registration of unemployed men and the placing of such men in employment, such employment being principally under the various schemes of the Unemployment Board. Details as to the persons registered and the total number of men employed under the various schemes of the Unemployment Board or being assisted from the Unemployment Fund and other information on the question of unemployment may be obtained from the annual report of the Commissioner of Unemployment.

FACTORIES ACT.

The figures as to the number of factories and workers employed therein do not purport to coincide with those of the Government Statistician (annual statistics of factory production), as his returns, which are drawn up purely for statistical purposes, do not cover various small establishments that are included as factories under the Factories Act. It might be explained that the above figures are those ascertained at registration-time (April in each year), except that in order to include factories in seasonal industries which might be closed in April any new establishments opened during the year are added. The figures shown for 1934-35, therefore, chiefly represent the numbers in April, 1934.

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Number of j Number of Year. Factories I Movement. Factory Movement, registered. Workers. 1916-17 .. .. •• 12,455 759 (decrease) 78,188 4,823 (decrease). 1926-27 .. .. •• 16,619 308 (increase) 103,404 1,083 (increase). 1927-28 .. .. .. 16,782 163 „ 102,622 782 (decrease). 1928-29 .. .. .. 16,677 105 (decrease) 102,795 173 (increase). 1929-30 .. .. .. 17,082 405 (increase) 104,448 1,653 „ 1930-31 .. .. 17,019 63 (decrease) 104,377 71 (decrease). 1931-32 .. .. .. 16,253 766 „ 89,932 14,445 1932-33 16,176 77 „ 86,222 3,710 1933-34 15,598 578 „ 85,968 254 1934-35 .. •• •• 15,900 302 (increase) 93,592 7,624 (increase).