The N.Z. Mail PUBLISHED WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1905. DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1746, 23 August 1905, Page 41

The N.Z. Mail PUBLISHED WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1905. DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR.

From the report of the Dab our Department, which was laid before Parliament last week, it seems clear that the workers of New Zealand have little cause for complaint with regard to the industrial and economic conditions now prevailing. Employment, though subject to minor fluctuations, has, generally speaking, been abundant during the past year, and a pleasing feature is the fact that —thanks in some measure to “preferential” treatment by the officials of the department—there has been a much smaller proportion than usual of married men in the ranks of the casually unemployed. Another fact that gives ground for congratulation is the growing proportion of men who are assisted to private employment, as distinguished from State-made ~~ Wages have eoo j a nd appr. -sufficient to

provide a margin for saving, if the Saving® Bank deposits are taken as a criterion. There has been great industrial activity during the period covered by the report—the number of factories having increased by 650 and the number of workers in them by 3745. In consequence of the briskness of trade, there has been difficulty in getting young people for factory work, and even in finding sufficient labourers for cooperative work on the State railways. Increased work, increased spending power, and increased savings all testify to happy and prosperous conditions, and make for political peace and continuity. The fact that these conditions have been maintained during a time when large numbers of immigiants were pouring into the country speaks volume® for the absorbing power of New Zealand and its capacity under good government to provide profitable occupation for a large population. Mr Tregear. Secretary of the Labour Department, bears testimony to the beneficial results to the workers that have followed upon the appointment of Inspectors of Awards under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The figures which he cites undoubtedly bear out liis remarks, and he might well have added that the new machinery has worked with an absence of friction, and has almost, if not quite, eliminated the personal feeling that used to be evoked when proceedings for breaches of awards had to be initiated by the labour unions. In every respect the report is a most gratifying one, and the country may be congratulated upon the evidences it affords of a sound and progressive prosperity and a condition of profound industrial peace. The Department of Labour and the advanced labour laws have had the good fortune to be well established during a time of briskness; and the fact should make them all the better able to stand tlie strain of bad time®, should these unhappily arise in the future.