111

H.—ll

from 29,879 to 75,310. Moreover, th© increase has in both cases been steadily progressive, as the following table will show: —

The overtime worked has been considerable. In comparing it with last year it will be found that Auckland worked its women and boys more and its men less than last year; Wellington worked its women and boys more and its men nearly double the overtime of last year; Christchurch employed its women and boys nearly double and its men about the same as last year; while Dunedin increased the work of women and boys considerably but its men very little more than in the previous year.

Overtime worked.

There were 679 accidents in factories during the year, 16 of which were fatal. Hence it appears that there was one accident among every 111 people working in factories, and one fatal accident among every 5,000 people. The particulars of accidents will be found set forth in tabular form in this report. There were 71 convictions under the Factories Act this year, and 5 cases were dismissed (see "Legal Decisions" published in the Report). Among the cases having interest may be specially mentioned that of the Gisborne Borough Council failing to register their stone-crushing plant as a factory (October, 1906), and that of a consumptive patient working as a dentist's apprentice (March, 1907). The defence in the Gisborne case was that working at and feeding the stone-crusher was not a handicraft; but the Magistrate held that the place was a factory, and (as it was a test case) a small fine was inflicted. In the other case the Chief Justice gave a judgment on appeal and confirmed the decision of the Resident Magistrate. The dentist had refused to teach his apprentice because the latter was suffering from consumption, and by the nature of his illness was prevented from regularly attending to his duties. His Honour decided that the employer was not bound to teach the apprentice on his return to duty, since the apprentice had been away for his health's sake from October, 1902, to January, 1905. The circumstances were painful, as the apprentice had lost his premium and had not learnt to be a dentist, but the case was quite exceptional. Shops In this report is set forth for the first time statistics concerning shops and shop-assistants. The information was obtained under the provisions of " The Labour Department Act, 1903." A very interesting statement will be found in the tabular sheets of this report, Tables 3 and 4 (Shop Statistics). It shows the number of shops in the colony, classified according to trades, with the number (29,141) of male and female shop-assistants. The wages paid to all shop-assistants during the year were £1,482,373.

Year. 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 Factories. ... 4,109 ... 4,647 ... 5,177 .. 5,601 ... 6,286 ... 6,438 ... 6,744 ... 7,203 ... 7,675 ... 8,373 ... 9,123 ... 9,881 ... 10,788 Increase. 538 530 424 685 152 306 459 472 698 750 758 907 E'aotory-workers. 29,879 32,387 36,918 39,672 45,305 48,938 53,460 55,395 59,047 63,968 67,713 70,403 75,310 Increase. 4,531 2,754 5,633 3,633 4,522 1,935 3,652 4,921 3,745 2,690 4,907 Total increase 6,679 45,431

City. Year. Women and Boys. Hourd. I Men. Hours. Luckland... Vellington Jhristchurch )unedin ... " ... ... •■■! ... 1905-6 1906-7 1905-6 1906-7 1905-6 1906-7 1905-6 1906-7 1,685 2,025 1,614 1,828 2,405 2,933 1,198 1,877 46,046 54,108 37,146 52,670 60,681 100,474 37,080 54,829 563 468 952 2,189 1,622 841 785 940 43,263 36,036 63,614 123,129 64,059 63,975 104,071 107,565 J