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Licensing. —The policy of licensing industries only where it is clearly in the general economic interests of the Dominion has been maintained, consideration being given not only to the interests of a particular industry, but also of the public as a whole. At the time of submitting last year's report there were thirty-five licensed industries. By the Industry Licensing (Fish Oil) Notice, dated 30th June, 1943, the industry of " the extraction from fish livers of nutritional or medicinal oils " was also brought within the licensing provisions of the Act. Hereunder is a list of the industries licensed as at 31st March, 1944: — Manufacture of agar. Gut. Manufacture of apple-juice. Linseed-oil; or Manufacture of asbestos-cement. Linseed-oil cake. Manufacture of batteries —dry cell. Manufacture of macaroni. Manufacture of bituminous roofing. Manufacture of malt extract. Manufacture of cement. Manufacture of nails. Manufacture of cigarette- papers. Taking of oysters from oyster-beds. Manufacture of colloidal sulphur. Paper-pulp and paper products. Dehydration of plants for medicinal pur- Sale by wholesale of petrol. poses. Retail sale and distribution of petrol. Extraction from fish livers of nutritional Petrol-pumps. or medicinal oil. Pharmacy industry. lish-canning. Manufacture of radios. Export o si. Manufacture of electric ranges. Sale by retail ot fish. , » , Sale by wholesale of fish. Manufacture of rennet. Taking of fish for sale. Manufacture of rope and twine. Flax-milling (Phormium tenax). Manufacture of salt. Manufacture of footwear. Manufacture of tires and tubes, rubber. Fruit and vegetable canning. Manufacture of wooden heels. The industry brought within the provisions of section 23 of the Act: — The retail sale of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Appeals. —The Hon. Sir Francis Frazer has continued to act as the industrial efficiency appeal authority. During the year twenty-two appeals were lodged by eighteen persons, these being classified hereunder according to the industries concerned : — Paper-pulp and products .. 3 Fisheries .. .. .. 2 Footwear .. .. .. 1 Petrol reselling .. .. 3 Fruit and vegetable canning .. 3 Malt extract .. .. .. 2 Fish-liver oil .. .. .. 7 Asbestos-cement products .. 1 Of these appeals, ten were allowed, seven disallowed, three withdrawn after been partially heard, and two have yet to be heard. Brief resumes of the principal action which has been taken during the year in regard to the more important of the licensed industries are set out hereunder : — Motor-spirit.—For the year ended 31st December, 1943, applications to the Bureau under the provisions of the Industrial Efficiency Motor-spirits Licensing Regulations totalled 288, as compared with 237 received during 1942, and 700 during 1939. Of this number, 8 only were for new licenses, 2of which were granted ; 179, or approximately 62| per cent, of the total, were applications for transfers of licenses; and 101 represented miscellaneous applications mainly concerned with variations of existing licenses. During the period, 207 licenses (including drum licenses) were surrendered or revoked. Wholesale sales of motor-spirit during 1943 were approximately 60 per cent, of the pre-war volume. The impact of this cut was felt almost entirely by legitimate resellers, those resellers situated in urban areas having suffered to a greater extent than those in the country districts. The general position has been eased to some extent by the closing-down of a number of reselling units either on account of petrol restrictions or owing to resellers having entered the Armed Forces. The policy of the Bureau, in so far as those licensees who have been compelled to close down for either of the two above reasons are concerned, has been to conserve their licenses for them to enable them to resume operations under the licenses on their discharge from the Armed Services or when the petrol-supply position improves. Fisheries. —In general the supply of fish continues to be adversely affected under conditions of war, and it is not anticipated that any material improvement will be seen until such time as the fishingvessels taken over for naval service return again to augment the catches of the fishing-fleet. With the introduction of meat rationing, a heavier demand for fish has been experienced. A substantial number of fisherman are serving with the Armed Forces, and in these cases the licenses are held in safe keeping for them until their return so that they may again take up fishing as their livelihood should they desire to do so. During recent months the Bureau have had to deal with an unusually heavy volume of applications for industrial fishing licenses, more particularly at out ports. When the full effects of the additional licenses granted are felt, it is hoped that some relief by way of additional supplies for country districts should obtain. The following table shows the number of licenses current as at 31st March, 1944, and these are shown in the various classifications. The table also shows the number of fishing licenses held by the Bureau on behalf of members serving with the Armed Forces :— Licensed fishermeh .. .. 1,550 Licensed fish exporters .. ..25 Licensed fishermen serving with Licensed fish-canners .. .. 14 the Armed Forces .. .. 325 Licensed fish retailers .. .. 650 Licensed oyster-dredgers .. .. 11 Licensed fish wholesalers .. 43 Fish-oil licensees .. .. .. 4

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