3

H.—lo.

Fees for the restoration of 7 lapsed patents amounted to £171, as compared with £98 for 3 such patents in 1915. The number of subsequent proprietors by assignment, &c, registered was only 67, and the fees £33 10s., a considerable falling-off from previous years. Thirty-four applications were received from women inventors, 9 more ihai. in 1915. There were 8 patents of addition sealed during the year, and 11 complete specifications were lodged in respect of cognate provisionals. Steps taken to acquaint the Public with Patents in Force. With tho view to enabling the public to readily ascertain the patents, &c, in force for inventions which they cannot therefore make and use without authority, and those which have cither never been patented or on which the protection has expired, and which are consequently open to free public use, a list of all the patents in force to the end of 1915 and applications then pending has been published, and is kept for inspection at most post-offices and sold at a low price. It was hoped to be able to revise and republish this at frequent intervals, but owing to the amount of work involved and cost of production this cannot be done at present. The additions and omissions necessary to keep the list up to date appear, however, in the Patent Office, Journal, which is published fortnightly, and not much trouble ought to be experienced in ascertaining whether a patent is in force or not. Notices have been displayed at a large number of railway-stations and post-offices calling attention to inventions being open, to use which are not covered by patents, &c, with the view to removing any misapprehension as to whether they are available or not. A charge is now made by the Railway Department for showing these notices, and will appear in future statements of expenditure. The Post and Telegraph Department still courteously exhibits notices, &c, without payment. Examination of Specifications. 'The result of the limited investigation of the novelty of inventions in respect of which, as has already been pointed out, no special provision has yet been made was as follows : — Number of applications received from Ist June, 1915, to 31st May, 1916 (inclusive) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,228 Applications in respect of which amendment under section 5, or compliance with other formalities, required before acceptance .. .. .. 301 Applications in respect of which amendment on account of want of novelty required before acceptance .. .. .. .. .. 45 Not accepted .. .. .. .. .. • .. .. 20 Countries from which Applications received. Last year 882 applications were received from residents in New Zealand, 45 less than in the previous year ; and 418 from applicants outside New Zealand, 45 more than in 1915. The proportion per 10,000 of the populations of the following countries applying in such countries during the last years for which the figures are available is as follows : —

It will be seen that in New Zealand the number is still very high—unduly so when our limited technical instruction and restricted manufactures are considered. Trend or Subject-matter of Inventions. There is nothing of any special interest to record in this subject. The greatest number of applications were in respect of milking-machines, and it is satisfactory to note the continued efforts of our inventors towards the progress of an industry they have taken no small part in building up. The number of applications on this subject in the past twenty-six years, and the number made respectively by New-Zealanders and those living outside the country, is shown by the followingtable :—

In fibre-dressing, another special industry, there is a falling-off in applications, though the industry appears to have been fairly successful, with prices well maintained. As will be seen from the following figures, the number of applications have fluctuated considerably: 1861-70, 19; 1871-80, 21 ; 1881-90, 98 ; 1891-1900, 45 ; 1901-10, 261 ; 1911-16, 78.

Year. Applications. Population. Applications per 10,000. Year. Great Britain United States Australia New Zealand 1914 1913 1916 1916 17,172 52,794 2,172 882 46,064,738 95,410,503 4,904,044 1,102,800 3-7 5-7 4-4 8-0

1891-95. 1896-1900. 1901-5. 1906-10. 1911-15. 1916. Total. applications in New Zealand from 5 residents in New Zealand .pplications in New Zealand from 13 outside New Zealand 2 3 7 19 117 49 217 43 20 1 368 128