H—4s

•or 14-88 per cent, greater. Expenditure for 1947-48 on union and non-union statutoryholiday pay (including administration assessment of 2-| per cent. 011 income, as for a separate fund) totalled £89,429 and exceeded 1946-47 expenditure by £56,808. This increase in expenditure is accounted for as follows : (a) As two Easter periods fell within the 1947-48 financial year a total of eleven (11) statutory holidays were paid for, instead of the usual nine (9) days. (b) Statutory-holiday payments did not commence until October, 1946 (Labour Day). Only five (5) such holidays, therefore, were paid for during the 1946-47 financial year. (c) No non-union payments were made in 1946-47, as these did not commence till Easter, 1947, which was the first statutory-holiday payment for 1947-48. (d) Increase of Is. Bd. per day which operated, consequent upon the increase in basic rate of pay, as from October, 1947 (Labour Day)—that is, for seven (7) out of the eleven (11) statutory holidays paid for during 1947-48. Despite increased income, therefore, the statutory holidays subdivision of National Administration Fund shows a net deficit of £2,287, or 2*62 per cent, of income for 1947-48. As Easter, 1949, falls in the month of April, and Anzac Day, 1948, fell 011 a .Sunday, the 1948-49 financial year will include six (6) statutory holidays only. This will have the effect of rectifying the adverse financial position in 1947-48. (iii) Daily and Weekly Minimum Payments.—The proportion of National Administration Fund levies allotted to this section of expenditure is the same as for annual holidays —that is, 2jd. per paid labour-hour, equal to £112,040 for 1947-48. As stated in the opening paragraph of this Section, an income of £lOO,OOO was budgeted for, so that the actual income was 11*20 per cent, greater than anticipated. On the other hand, for the same reason that income exceeded expectations—namely, the abnormal volume of shipping serviced during the year (see Section (d) —Co-operative Contracts Fund) — payments on account of daily and weekly minima at £62,944 (including administration assessment of per cent, on income, as for a separate fund) were 37-06 per cent., or £37,056 less than the estimated £lOO,OOO. While expenditure in the other subdivisions of the National Administration Fund is incurred in more or less direct ratio to the volume of waterfront work, it will be seen that expenditure on daily and weekly minima, being in the nature of a wages stabilization account, varies in inverse ratio. For this reason the Commission has deemed it advisable to add £50,000 out of the net surplus of daily and weekly minimum payments account of £52,178 (£3,082,1946-47 (three weeks period); £49,096, 1947-48 (full year) ) to the Guaranteed Wage Reserve (see Subdivision (v) — Summary) to provide for excess payments in periods of subnormal shipping. (iv) Central Pay Office, Labour Engagement Bureau, and General Administration.— The income allotted to this subdivision includes not only Ifd. per paid labour-hour (seven thirty-seconds of National Administration Fund Levy), but also the assessments on income of other Commission funds (1J per cent, co-operative contracts ; 2| per cent, other funds), parliamentary appropriation, and sundries. Including £7,781 for the assessments allowed for in Subdivisions (i) to (iii) of this Section, the total administrative income for 1947-48 was £152,198, as compared with £95,925 in 1946-47, an increase of £56,273, or 58-66 per cent. Expenditure for 1947-48 at £114,527 represents an increase of £19,120, or 20-04 per cent., on 1946-47. It will be noted that proportionate rises in annual rate of expenditure have occurred in the majority of administrative items. During 1947-48 it was necessary to increase staff and accommodation in order to carry out the extended functions of the Commission as well as to cope with the increased volume of shipping.

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