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During the year the Clothing Stabilization Committee was set up, including representatives of the Tribunal, Treasury, and the Economic Stabilization Commission, to assist the Tribunal in dealing with applications involving payment of subsidies on certain types of essential clothing and to securc co-ordination between the Departments named. Various other subsidies approved by War Cabinet are being administered by the Tribunal. Generally speaking, traders have continued during the year to co-operate with the Tribunal, and this attitude is much valued. Appreciation regarding the assistance given them by the Tribunal's officers has been expressed by numerous ex-servicemen who have returned to business or commenced new ventures. LIBRARY AND INFORMATION In the past year greatly extended use has been made of the information available in the library. On 24th September, 1944, the Metal Trades Group of the Wellington Manufacturers' Association sent a deputation to inspect the library. After discussing the methods that could be adopted to ensure maximum utilization of the resources available, it was suggested that a bulletin of summarized technological information be prepared and sent out to individual manufacturers. Consideration was given to this matter, and the Permanent Head, Factory Controller, and the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation were consulted. There was unanimous approval of the proposal, and a circular letter was sent to manufacturers asking if they would be interested in receiving a copy of a periodical circular of technological information. The response was instantaneous and encouraging, and approximately five hundred replies were received, almost by return mail, there being only two of these in negative strain. This response demonstrates that the need for some such service was being felt in industry. The first Bulletin was mailed on 10th January, 1945, and to date eleven have been issued and mailed to approximately one thousand manufacturers, local authorities, and educational institutions. The effect of this phase of the library activity has been most helpful to industry, and has assisted materially to increase production and to improve manufacturing techniques. This can best be demonstrated by quoting from the large volume of correspondence " We appreciate the work your Department is doing for manufacturers." " Your service is going to be of direct benefit to us." " A service of this nature ultimately benefits the consumer by reason of a larger and improved range of products, and the economy of the country as a whole by a saving of abortive experimental effort." " It is most helpful to our college staff and to advanced students." " We would like to express appreciation of the way your Industrial Bulletins are set out and their value to manufacturers." ;; " Thanks for information on infra red. We can cut drying cost of cloth from 4/2 to 1-12." Manufacturers' Research Committee : " Members generally considered that the material was well chosen, that the material would be complementary to any technical and scientific information which should be issued by the Committee, and that the librarian and staff concerned were to be congratulated." " The service provided by your Department has already proved of considerable value." " Your service is a progressive move and very useful to manufacturers." "We would like to express our appreciation of the services rendered by the library. We have been able to locate a considerable amount of useful information through it." " Your Industrial Bulletin is a wonderfully complete and invaluable reference. It has saved much valuable time, as we have gone to our local library and found the information to which our attention was directed." , ;j " The City Engineer has found your service an interesting and valuable aid." It is worthy of note that in the first ten Bulletins issued, 179 items were dealt with. Arising from this, the mailed inquiries for further information totalled 312, while personal calls and telephoned requests have lifted the total to an average of 40 per week. Apart from the Bulletin service, the Library has furnished information to manufacturers on a number of diverse subjects, this entailing much research and the full co-operation of the Country Library Service, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dominion Laboratory, General Assembly, Public Works Department, and Department of Agriculture libraries. Amongst the topics on which information has been requested by manufacturers and supplied are motion study, personnel management, gravity die-casting, plywoods, plastics, apprentice training, foremanship training, concrete, sewage disposal, lithographic work, varityper machines, mattressmaking, paints, enamels and lacquers, timber treatment, engineering materials, machine design, sheetmetal work, metallurgy, marketing, vinyl resins for footwear, factory layout, spray painting of mirrors, furniture designing, building materials, adhesives, aluminium paint, packaging, manufacture of cosmetics, essences, production assembly, costing systems, electrodisposition, coating tinplate, bricks, silverplatmg, oil seeds, refractories, food processing, galvanizing, &c. The record of the work accomplished would be incomplete without reference to the splendid assistance received from the technical officers in Washington and the Liaison Officers in Sydney, Melbourne, and London, all of whom have expeditiously dealt with inquiries which had to be referred overseas for further data. The flow of technological information from these sources has been particularly heavy and very helpful. Much material has come to hand which has had a greater interest for other Departments, and data has been supplied to the Railways, Social Security, and National Service Departments, the Wheat Research Institute, and the Public Service Commissioner's Office, &c. A constant flow of material is received from Washington and all New Zealand offices overseas, while subscriptions are paid to most of the helpful technical journals in the United Kingdom and the United States. This is carefully scrutinized, and summaries thereof provide the basis of the

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