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8 ft. 6 in., dislocating his neck. Instructions have been issued to builders that in such cases ropes should be secured to take the strain should the boxing come away unexpectedly. (2.) In this case iron trusses had been placed in position to support the roof of a new municipal theatre, and boards were placed on the tie-beams of the trusses to enable the workers to fix the purlins. Two carpenters were working on the boards when one of the trusses collapsed and fell 25 ft., precipitating the workers to the ground ; both men were injured, and died a few hours after the accident. At the inquest there appeared to be some doubt as to whether the trusses provided for in the contract were sufficiently strong to carry the roof and the ceiling, but this is a matter that does not come within the scope of the Scaffolding and Excavation Act; in view, however, of expert evidence that the trusses were not sufficiently strong to support the roof, the Department took the precaution of refusing to permit work on them until they had been strengthened. The trusses were subsequently strengthened to the satisfaction of the Public Works Engineer and of this Department, and the work was completed without further accident. (3.) A foreman of a building job was removing a temporary stage that had been used for the support of a chute for concrete-distribution ; this stage was carried to the edge of the building and there accidentally fell over the side, striking a labourer who was on the ground below : the worker died of his injuries. (4.) A worker was engaged in a lift-well on the fifth floor of a building, fixing timbers on a steel joist, and whilst engaged in taking some measurements between the cage of the newly installed lift and the girder the lift-attendant was asked by the worker to raise the lift a few feet above the floor ; while this was being done the worker was caught between the lift and a girder; his head was badly crushed, and on being released he fell backwards on to the lift-floor ; he was dead when picked up. The worker took an unnecessary risk in remaining in the lift-well after requesting the attendant to raise the lift. (5.) A labourer employed on the first floor of a new building was engaged in raising a steel column by means of a hand-crane; the column fouled a window-opening, and the worker, unaware of what had haprened, continued to work the crane, which toppled over, carrying him. with it; the worker fell to the ground, and was killed almost instantaneously. The crane was in good workingorder, and was weighted for 10 cwt., while the load was 3J cwt. (6.) Whilst hoisting a piece of timber from the stokehold a builder's labourer engaged in renovation work in a sugar-of-milk factory overbalanced and fell from the permanent gangway on to the stokehold floor, a distance of 13 ft. 6in.; the worker's skull was fractured, and he died a few hours later. The gangway was an iron one, 22 in. wide, and was protected by guard-rails on both sides, 3 ft. 7 in. high ; it was not considered practicable to raise the height of the guard-rails. There were thirty-six prosecutions under the Act during the year (last year, fifty-six). An amendment to the Act was passed last session giving effect as follows : — (1.) The provisions of the main Act were extended to all tramway-works intended for the carriage of passengers. Hitherto the Act did not apply to any work in connection with a tramway. (2.) Section 5 of the principal Act was amended so as to require notice to be given before any person commences building-work if at any time during the course of such building-work any persons engaged there may incur the risk of a fall of 12 ft. or more. It had been held by the Courts that under the principal Act notice was not required until there actually existed a risk of falling 12 ft. or more. (3.) Notice is now required of the commencement of any excavation work of any depth, whether 5 ft. in depth or not, if the excavation is within a distance of 5 ft. from any building that is more than 12 ft. in height; previously notice of any excavation was not required unless the depth of the excavation exceeded 5 ft. Instances had occurred where excavations less than 5 ft. in depth had been made close to adjoining buildings causing the buildings to collapse. SERVANTS' REGISTRY OFFICES ACT. There are 113 offices registered in New Zealand : increase, 3. There were five prosecutions, in four of which convictions were obtained. ARREARS OF WAGES. Amounts totalling £3,744 10s. 2d. were collected by the Department's officers on behalf of workers who had been underpaid the wages prescribed by awards and the various Acts, while further amounts of such arrears totalling £4,325 18s. Id. were paid by employers, at the instance of the Inspectors, directly to the workers concerned : total, £8,070 Bs. 3d. RENT RESTRICTION. There were 656 applications received from tenants for inquiry (last year, 568). The following shows the number in each town, with the number (in brackets) in which the increase in rent was deemed unjustified: Auckland 190 (38); Wellington 285 (64); Christchurch 25 (15); Dunedin 54 (34) ; Hamilton 0 (0) ; Gisborne 0 (0) ; Napier 47 (26) ; Masterton 5 (0) ; New Plymouth 16 (9) ; Wanganui 0 (0) ; Palmerston North 15 (3) ; Nelson 4 (4) ; Greymouth 4 (1) ; Timaru 2 (1) ; Oamaru 0 (0) ; Invercargill 9 (4). Of 40 cases taken to Court 5 increases in rent were held to be justified, 10 partly justified, and 25 unjustified. Of 322 settled by Inspectors without recourse to Court, 70