H.—6

II

trade has not kept up to the market-value of the previous annual record by £10,000 sterling; but this has been more than balanced by the increase of £700,000 in the value of the wool export. The mines have been actively worked and developed: there has been a large influx of foreign capital, and operations on an extensive scale are being conducted in a variety of localities. During 1896 the amount of gold exported from New Zealand exceeded the value of £1,041,000 sterling. The kauri-gum fields are being worked .steadily, but the attractions of the goldfields and the low average price of gum have caused a decrease of workers at this employment. Continuous and urgent representations have been made as to the influx of alien labour on the gumfields, and the unfair competition thereby engendered. The competition is regarded as unfair, because the foreign element is composed of men content with a far lower standard of living than the colonist of British extraction. It is alleged that not only does the lowering of standard earnings affect the possibility of the diggers getting a " living-wage," but that any profit accruing to the "foreigner is sent away, and not circulated in the colony. Such a state of things demands inquiry, and, if the complaints are discovered to have foundation, legislative protection should be given to the genuine colonist in preference to the visitor who exploits our resources and then disappears. The skilled trades have been very active during the year. Building operations have been brisk all over the colony, and thus carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, painters, &c, have had a prosperous time, especially in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and the Thames. The engineering and ironworking industries have greatly improved their business operations, and bootmakers have been working full time everywhere except in Napier, while the woollen-mills, clothing-factories, and dressmaking establishments have been pushed to meet their orders. There has been little pressure in regard to unemployed compared with that in previous annual periods. The total number of men assisted during the year was 1,718. This shows a decrease from last year of 1,153. The figures for the successive years since the founding of the department are as follows:—r . ■ Men. Dependents. June, 1891, to 31st March, 1892 ... 2,593' 4,729 Ist April, 1892, to 31st March, 1893 ... ... ... 3,874 7,802 Ist April, 1893, to 31st March, 1894 ... ... ... 3,371 8,002 Ist April, 1894, to 31st March, 1895 ... ... ... 3,030 8,883 Ist April, 1895, to 31st March, 1896 ... ... ... 2,871 8,424 Ist April, 1896, to 31st March, 1897 ... ... ... 1,718 4,719 17,457 42,559 This table shows the number of unemployed actually assisted by the Labour Department in the six years commencing June, 1891, as being 17,457 men, having 42,559 dependents, a total of 60,016 persons. The numbers of the unemployed have decreased not only on account of the general prosperity, but because many of those who were applicants in former years have been settled by the Government on land. These men, with their families, are now in a fair way of doing well, instead of remaining part of the drifting population, that, at its best, can find only a precarious livelihood, and at its worst is an expense and serious drawback to the workers of the colony. The trade that has not shared in the general advance is that of the printer. There are many compositors out of employment, and it is sad to think that trained and industrious workmen are daily finding their services dispensed with. There are two causes for this falling-off in the business of the typographer : one is boy-labour, badly taught and cheaply paid ; the other the irresistible advance of improved machinery, that is steadily expelling human labour from the printing trade. The cause is patent and plain ; the remedy, if discovered, has not been practically applied. Factories and Workshops. The factories have shared very considerably in the general increase of trade. The return stands as follows: 1894, 25,851 employes in factories; 1895, 29,879; 1896, 32,387; 1897, 36,918. To these should be added 916 men and 137 apprentices in railway workshops. These figures show an advance of 4,531 persons on last year's number. The factories have increased by 530 over those of 1896, distributed as follows : — Wellington ... ... ... ... 56 factories. 1,278 employes. Auckland ... ... ... ... 87 „ 486 Christchurch ... ... ... ... 63 „ 1,378 Dunedin ... ... ... ... 30 „ 757 Small towns and country districts ... 294 „ 632 „ 530 factories. 4,531 employes. It may perhaps be well to point out that the number of employes given in these returns may be considered as the minimum figures. The returns are taken in January of each year, when, according to Act, the factory-fees have to be paid. At that time of the year business is very slack, it being just after the holidays, and later on in the season a considerable addition to the number of workers is made. In the internal arrangements of factories there have been many and great improvements, especially in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin. . Wherever new factories are being erected the accommodation for workers is arranged for by employers on a considerate and even generous scale; certain establishments in New Zealand being really models" of painstaking effort in the direction of making