H.—ll.

During the year the following seventeen new designs of weighing and measuring instruments were submitted under clause 4, Part 11, of the regulations for approval for use for trade in the Dominion viz.:— Weighing — Self-indicating and semi-self-indicating (counter and platform) scales .. 6 Personal weighing-machines .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 Automatic and semi-automatic machines .. .. .. 1 Wall beam steelyard machines .. .. .. .. .. 1 Measuring-capacity — Milk-products-measuring instruments .. .. . • . • 1 Petrol-measuring instruments .. .. .. • ■ .. 7 17 Of these, eleven were approved without alteration, three were approved after modification, and three were rejected as not complying with the Weights and Measures Act and Regulations. Inspections were again made during the year to ensure that the provisions of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act relating to the weight of bread and the provisions of the Weights and Measures Regulations relating to the sale of coal, coke, and firewood were being complied with, four of the thirty prosecutions referred to above being in connection with the weight of bread and five relating to the sale of coal. INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE. The twenty-fourth session of the International Labour Conference met on the 2nd June, 1938, New Zealand being represented by a delegation consisting of two Government representatives, one employers' representative, and one workers' representative. Reports by members of the New Zealand delegation were presented to the Legislature this session. The twenty-fifth session opened on the Bth June, 1939, the following being the items on the agenda : — (i) Technical and vocational education and apprenticeship. (ii) Regulation of contracts of employment of indigenous workers. (iii) Recruiting, placing, and conditions of labour (equality of treatment) of migrant workers. (iv) Regulation of hours of work and rest periods of professional drivers (and their assistants) of vehicles engaged in road transport. *(v) Generalization of the reduction of hours of work. *(vi) Reduction of hours of work in coal mines. New Zealand is again represented by a delegation of four. * Discussion on these items was adjourned to a future conference on account of the unrest in Europe. Annual Reports on International Labour Office Conventions. The ratification of any International Labour Office Convention commits the ratifying Government to the forwarding of annual reports on the operation within the country concerned of each convention so ratified, so that it became necessary last year for New Zealand to forward reports on the operation of nine of the conventions listed as ratified in last year's report, the remaining thirteen not becoming due until 1939. Each report is required to cover such matters as : — (1) The legislation and administrative regulations in New Zealand which cover the terms of the Convention. (2) The means by which observance of the convention's provisions can be enforced. (3) The detailed provisions of legislation and administrative regulations under which each separate Article of the convention is applied. (4) The action taken for the application of the convention to New Zealand's protectorates and possessions. (5) The organization and working of inspection services designed to check whether the provisions of the convention are being complied with. (6) Any decisions by Courts of Law or other Courts regarding the application of the convention. (7) A general appreciation of the manner in which the convention is being applied. The nine annual reports sent forward last year covered the following conventions : — Convention No. 1 .. Convention limiting the hours of work in industrial undertakings. Convention No. 2 .. Convention concerning unemployment. Convention No. 9 .. Convention for establishing facilities for finding employment for seamen. Convention No. 11 .. Convention concerning the rights of association and combination for agricultural workers. Convention No. 12 .. Convention concerning workmen's compensation in agriculture. Convention No. 14 .. Convention concerning the application of the weekly rest in industrial undertakings. Convention No. 17 .. Convention concerning workmen's compensation for accidents. Convention No. 21 .. Convention concerning the simplification of the inspection of emigrants on board ship. Convention No. 22 ~ Convention concerning seamen's articles of agreement.

3—H. 11.

17