H.—44.

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BULLETINS. During the past year the Department has continued the issue of bulletins containing information on industrial and commercial subjects. As is customary, these bulletins have been widely distributed to the press, Chambers of Commerce, Manufacturers' Associations, prominent business executives, overseas trade representatives, and other persons and firms, both in New Zealand and overseas, to whom they are likely to be of interest and value. The issues made during the period under review are as follows :— Bulletins No. 33, 34, 35, and 36 —Summary of the Finance, Trade, and Industries of New Zealand for the quarter and year ended 30th June, 1935, 30th September, 1935, 31st December, 1935, and 31st March, 1936, respectively. The Department proposes during the current year to extend as far as possible the service which it is able to render to the business and commercial community generally through the issue of these bulletins by the greater utilization and wider dissemination of trade industrial and commercial information, especially in relation to overseas markets. It is probable that this will be done by means of additional issues of its bulletins at more frequent intervals. MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES. The activities of the Department are wide and varied in character, and the inquiries received are so numerous that it is not possible to make reference to them all in this report, excepting those which fall under the broad general headings set out in the foregoing pages. Reference has been made to this fact in previous reports, also to the fact that many of the inquiries handled are of a confidential nature and, in consequence, cannot be referred to in reports for publication. During the year under review the Department has again been called upon, and to a greater extent than has been the case in the past, to furnish information both general and detailed in character in respect to questions affecting trade, both internal and overseas, and to matters concerning industrial and economic development. An indication of the wide variety of subjects which the officers of the Department are constantly handling may perhaps be gauged by reference to the following list of a few of the inquiries of lesser importance undertaken during the past year relating to overseas trade development: Markets for hides and skins, deer-skins, Stilton cheese, ghee, swordfish-liver oil, Samoan cocoa-beans, onions, kauri-gum, canned mushrooms, fish, whitebait, oysters, canned eels, soup powder, toheroa soup, eggs, garden-fertilizer, scoured wool, basket willow, apples and pears, angora wool, timber, pumice, rennet, meats (frozen and canned), radio sets, poultry, dairy-produce, casein, jams and preserves, flax-fibre. Investigations were made on behalf of the Unemployment Board and the Labour Department in respect to applications which were received for financial assistance for the establishment of new industries or for subsidies to existing industries. The following were some of the subjects handled in this connection : Investigations and inquiries into costs of production of hemp and binder twine; canning of fruit; manufacture of clothes-pegs ; manufacture of slag; application for assistance to erect a fish-reduction plant; manufacture of batteries; manufacture of petrol-pumps : various processes for stripping of fibre; manufacture of buttons; canning of eels; process for treating daggy wool; manufacture of automobile and industrial lacquers and synthetic enamels; process for treating kauri-o-um ; manufacture of calculating-machines ; manufacture of vinegar from waste fruit; extraction of essential fruit-oils, &c. ; manufacture of printing-machine ; extraction of lanoline from wool. Many of these investigations were handled in conjunction with the Development of Industries Committee, which was later disbanded, its functions being taken over by the Bureau of Industry. The Department also conducted a number of investigations into costs and prices of goods sold in New Zealand prior to the present investigations, which are being conducted following upon the bringing-down of the Prevention of Profiteering Act. CONCLUSION. The Department is grateful for the ready co-operation and assistance given by the Trade Commissioners, Consuls, and Vice-Consuls of overseas countries resident in New Zealand. The help of His Majesty's Trade Commissioner, the Australian Trade Commissioner, and the Canadian Government Trade Commissioner has been most valuable and greatly appreciated. Thankful acknowledgment is also made of the valuable assistance given by other Government Departments during the year, notably Customs, Scientific and Industrial Research, Labour, and Agriculture. In conclusion, it is pleasing to record that economic conditions within the Dominion have displayed a marked improvement during the year under review. Production continues at a high level, while trade, both internal and overseas, has increased greatly. Reports from the district officers of the Department in the four main centres indicate increased activity in almost every branch of industry. An improved demand for goods has resulted in many factories working to capacity, and turnovers in many instances have been reported to be on a par with those ruling in pre-depression days. Finally, the Department has experienced a particularly busy period, and, whilst just recently ithas had the assistance of some additional officers, those members of the staff who have so loyally borne the burden of the many extra duties which they were obliged to undertake have earned and deserve the highest favourable consideration for the volume of work attended to and for the expert and accurate manner in which they carry out their intricate and important duties.

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