YEAR BOOK FIGURES

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVI, Issue 11, 24 December 1925, Page 8

YEAR BOOK FIGURES

LOSS THROUGH STRIKES. EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION. During the year 1924 strikes and lock-outs resulted in 14 815 workers being unemployed for varying periods, the number of working days lost being 89,105. In Canterbury, 437 men were affected, and as a result 538 working days were lost. As far as Canterbury was concerned, all the time was lost through direct strikes, there being no lock-outs, sympathetic strikes or partial strikes These facts are contained in the Year Book for 1924, "which has been issued by the Census and Statistics Department. The book is similar to previous numbers but has been extended in several directions. Three entirely new sections have been added, these dealing with Trade Unions, Employment, and Unemployment and In dustrial Disputes. Other sections have been extended, while four chapters have been re-written and re-modelled.

During the year 289,033 scholars and students were attending the various educational establishments, an increase of 4209, or 1.5 per cent, on the figures for 1923. Of the total 247,227 children were attending schools of the primary type 23,276 were attending secondary schools and 14,243 were students at technical schools. The remainder. 4287, were University students. For the financial year ended March 31, 1925, the sum of £3,642,783 was spent on education, an increase of £4OO 000 on the previous year. Many interesting details are found in the Vital Statistics section. While the total number of deaths from tuberculosis for the year was 736, the death rate being the second smallest in the world, the deaths from cancer numbered 1245, the New Zealand death rate being the eleventh lowest in the world. The deaths from violence, excluding cases of suicide, claimed approximately 6 per cent of the total deaths., dTfie violent deaths totalled 632 for ij24, being the greatest number for the past decade, but the proportion, per 1 000,000 of population was 487, the .second lowest for the decade. Homicides accounted for eleven deaths during the year, as compared with sixteen for 1920 and fifteen fo--1915. The deaths through suicide accounted for 159 people, this figure only being once exceeded during the last five years—in 1922, whn the deaths totalled 164. The new Trades Unions section provides a summary <»f the laws dealing with trades unions, including th® Trades Unions Ac( ami the Arbitration Act. During 1921 there <io 138 uniont. of employers as ompared with 43f tn 199. The nuunbeiship last year wtis* 5205, compare-.! will) 1016 in 1905. On the other hand, there were 402 unions of workers in the Dominion last year, an increase of 327 on the year 1900. The membership of the workers’ unions increased from 17 989 in 1900 to 96,822 In connection with these figures it is interesting to note that land transport, including two railway unions, had the largest number of unionists of any trade or calling. The building trades camo next with 13,095 members, while seamen and water. i<!ers total 10,661 Mining had only 2599 unionists, being comparatively low on the list.