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courts are among the more noteworthy of these. The widespread tendency to improvement is symptomatic of the shortage of labour, and there have been instances of employers appealing to the Department for assistance in obtaining materials for the provision of these attractions. (11) In the less spectacular but more important spheres of heating, lighting, ventilation, and sanitation the provisions of the Act have been enforced wherever noncompliance was found. The number of requisitions for improvement for the year under review was 1,538. This represents an increase of nearly 75 per cent, over the previous year and indicates to some extent the over-all change which the 1946 Act has instituted. Difficulty is experienced in securing quick compliance with requisitions where buildingmaterials are involved, and dissatisfaction has been expressed by organizations of workers at the consequent delays in enforcement. This dissatisfaction is felt just aa strongly within the Department, but in view of present shortages and the requirements of the housing programme it is inevitable that requisitions for improvement wait their turn for the allocation of supplies. (12) Accidents in Factories. —The preliminary figures of accidents in factories show that during the calendar year 1947 there were 6,749 accidents, an increase of 5-7 per cent, on the total of 6,388 for the previous year. It is to be noted that the number of factory workers increased by 6-4 per cent, during the two years mentioned. There were 8 fatal accidents in factories during 1947 : —• A worker engaged in salting skins was electrocuted when he accidentally came into contact with a live wire on a defective switchboard. A worker at a chemical-works engaged in drying bags on a roof fell through a skylight on to a concrete floor and died as a result of shock following the injuries he had sustained. A worker who had descended an iron ladder inside a large bin at a lime-works to try to make the material " run " more easily was buried when it suddenly fell on him. A worker in a sawmill while, apparently, endeavouring to clear sawdust out of a pit had his foot caught in the spiral conveyor. He was immediately removed to hospital and operated upon, but died the next day from " heart failure due to paralysis of respiratory centre following anaesthesia." A worker employed alone at a stone-crushing plant died from multiple injuries received when he became caught in the belting which transmitted power from a Diesel engine. A worker engaged in shunting railway trucks loaded with rock phosphate on the private siding of a fertilizer-works was crushed between a truck and the framework of a " tippling " mechanism for emptying the trucks. A night worker at a brewery was found drowned in the bottom of a vat which he had been cleaning out with water. It was not possible to determine precisely how his death occurred. A worker in a fertilizer-works died as a result of falling from a ladder on to a concrete floor. (13) Overtime, Outwork, and Modification Orders in relation to Factories. —The Factories Act, 1946, introduced new features into the authorization of overtime work by Inspectors of Factories. In respect of children under the age of sixteen years there is now a total prohibition of work during overtime hours. Permits to work during extended hours are still required for women. The Department's records of overtime work authorized will thus no longer contain reference to boys. Figures for the year under review are —

The total overtime authorized shows a substantial decrease on previous years, and it may be assumed that this decrease is not entirely due to the prohibition on the work of children, and that the trend apparent since the termination of hostilities has been maintained. The number of women working overtime in excess of the statutory maximum of ninety hours has declined to 2,006 from 2,703 for the previous year.

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Total Hours Overtime authorized for Women. Number of Women in respect of whom Overtime authorized. Hours authorized for Women in Excess of Statutory Maximum of Ninety Hours. Number of Women in respect of whom Excess Overtime authorized. 669,509| 15,013 126,585 2,006