A.—5G.

The Recommendation on inspection was adopted by 124 votes to 0. Tie Recommmendation on co-operation in accident prevention was adopted by 115 votes to 0. The Recommendation on vocational education was adopted by 122 votes to 0. The Resolution regarding the responsibility of manufacturers, &c., of cranes was adopted without opposition. A copy of the Convention is attached as Appendix No. 4, and the Recommendations and Resolution follow as Appendices Nos. sto 9. The New Zealand Government and workers' delegates voted for the Convention, Recommendations, and Resolution. I voted for the Convention, but abstained from voting on the Recommendations and Resolution, because I did not approve of the wording of a number of the clauses, which seemed to place too great a responsibility on the employer, going as far as to require him to render accidents impossible. Planning op Public Works in Relation to Employment. The Conference adopted without opposition a Recommendation and a Resolution on international co-operation concerning public works, and a Recommendation concerning the national planning of public works. The first Recommendation provides for each Government communicating to Geneva annual statistical and other information concerning public works undertaken or planned in its territory. The Resolution invites the governing body to set.up an International Public Works Committee to prepare and revise a uniform plan, on which the Governments will supply that information ; to study the information so supplied ; and to make reports on the matter to the governing body, with a view to their transmission to the various Governments. The second Recommendation deals with timing of public works undertaken and financed by public authorities so that they can increase in volume in periods of depression ; financing of public works ; the employment on public works of special categories of workers, such as young persons, women, and non-manual workers ; and methods of recruitment and conditions of work of workers engaged in public works. A copy of these Recommendations and Resolution are attached as Appendices Nos. 10, 11, and 12. Minimum Age for Admission to Employment. The Conference had before it for revision the 1919 Convention concerning the minimum age for admission to " industrial" employment and the 1932 Convention concerning minimum age for admission to " non-industrial " employment. These Conventions fix the general age for admission to employment at fourteen, and the principal point on which revision was proposed in each case was to raise that age to fifteen. The Draft Convention submitted by the governing body as a basis of discussion proposed in each case to raise the age to fifteen, but made provision for the issue, in respect of children of not less than fourteen years of age, of certificates permitting them to be employed in cases in which an appropriate authority thought fit. A similar provision is contained in our New Zealand law. In committee the workers, supported by a majority of the Government representatives, were successful in deleting the exemption. I stated that I would support both the industrial and non-industrial Conventions if the exemption suggested by the governing body as to the issue of the permits was retained, but not otherwise, because I considered that in New Zealand it would be impracticable to debar all young persons under sixteen from employment, for reasons too obvious to require special mention in this report. In the final record vote in the full Conference the Draft Convention relating to industrial employment was adopted by 98 votes to 18, and the Draft Convention relating to non-industrial employment by 81 votes to 22. The New Zealand Government and workers' delegates voted for the Conventions and I voted against them. Copies of the Conventions as passed, and also two Resolutions dealing with the same subject, are attached as Appendices Nos. 13 to 16. Resolutions on Various Subjects. Resolutions on the following subjects were passed by the Conference, and are attached as Appendix No. 17 : — (1) Maintenance of insurance rights of migrant workers ; (2) Protection of indigenous workers ; (3) Rights of women workers ; (4) Application of labour laws in foreign settlements in China ; (5) Obligation of States to submit Conventions and Recommendations for decision of competent national authority ; (6) Relationship of Burma to International Labour Organization ; (7) Proposed Asiatic tripartite Conference. Election of Governing Body for 1937-40. Every three years the Conference appoints the members of the governing body of the International Labour Office, consisting of 16 Government, 8 employers', and 8 workers' members. The governing body fell to be elected at this year's Conference, and a full list of the new governing body is attached as Appendix No. 18. I sincerely thank the New Zealand Government and workers' delegates for our happy relationship throughout the Conference. I have the honour to be, Yours faithfully, W. E. Anderson.

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