contrary with his employer notwithstanding. It was further enacted that any person employed in a factory should receive at least 2s. 6d. a week, and that no premium or bonus was to be charged directly or indirectly for engaging or employing any female apprentice or improver in making articles of clothing or wearing apparel.

The Act was not a permanent enactment; it was first passed in 1896, re-enacted with some amendments in 1900, and continued until September, 1902, when it lapsed on the dissolution of Parliament. At the time of the expiry of the Act there were thirty eight special boards in existence. When Parliament met after the elections, amongst the first bills introduced was one to revive and continue in force the Factories and Shop Acts and all regulations thereunder, as well as the determinations of the special boards. The lapsed laws, with some modification in regard to special boards, were continued until the 31st October, 1903, and before that date an Act was passed continuing the then existing law until otherwise provided by Parliament. The Act continued the old laws but modified them in certain important particulars, and constituted a court of appeal to hear appeals against determinations of special boards, and for dealing with references in regard thereto by the Minister. The principles of future determination as to wages and rates were laid down as follows:

(a) The board shall ascertain as a question of fact the average prices or rates of payment (whether piece-work prices or rates or wages prices or rates) paid by reputable employers to employees of average capacity;

(b) The lowest prices or rates as fixed by any determination shall in no case exceed the average prices or rates as so ascertained; (c) Where the average prices or rates so ascertained are not in the opinion of the special board sufficient to afford a reasonable limit for the determination of the lowest prices or rates which should be paid, they may so report to the Minister, who shall in such case refer the determination for the consideration of the Court, and the Court in that event may fix the lowest prices or rates to be paid without having regard to the provisions of subsection (b);

(d) Where it appears to be just and expedient, special wages

prices or rates may be fixed for aged, infirm, or slow workers. The effect of the provisions of the Factories and Shops Act in regard to the industrial conditions of Victoria has been much discussed. For detailed information on the subject the enquirer should consult the Reports of the Chief Inspector of Factories, and the Report of the Royal Commission on the operation of the factories and shops law of Victoria, dated February 19th, 1903. The apparent results so far as concerns the wages of operatives are considerable. Taking the operatives in trades in respect of which determination as to wages were arrived at, there has been a general increase in the pay of male labour, equivalent to 19 per cent., and of female labour to 17 per cent.—in

the one case the increase represents about 5s. 9d. per week, and in the other 2s. 3d. If the industries working under special boards in Victoria be compared with like industries in New South Wales, it will be found that the results work out as follows:

The averages for New South Wales are those obtaining before the Industrial Arbitration Act came into force, and both for males and females are uniformly below those for Victoria; this was not the case prior to the establishment of the Special Boards, for the average earnings of all male workers in Victoria were only 30s. per week compared with 34s. 6d. in New South Wales, the remuneration of female workers averaging about the same in both states. It will be understood that the foregoing comparison deals with only a portion of the workers in these states. If all workers be included, the average wage for males in Victoria is £1 14s. 9d., and in New South Wales £1 15s. 11d.; and for females 14s. 2d. in Victoria, and 13s. 3d. in New South Wales.

A comparison of the average wages paid to workers of various ages (a) in trades regulated by Special Boards in Victoria, and (b) other factory workers, is interesting reading.

It will be seen that the wages determined for male workers by the special boards are uniformly lower for boys and youths than in the non-regulated factories; but for adult workers the wages are higher, and for females the regulated wages are in every case higher. For all male workers the average in regulated trades is £1 15s. 9d., compared with £1 11s. 1d. in other trades, showing a difference of 4s. 8d. per week; this is higher than an inspection of the figures in the foregoing table would lead one to expect, and is due to the fact that in the regulated trades three-fourths of all workers are adults, whereas in other trades the proportion is not more than three-fifths.

The amendments in the minimum wage law of Victoria made by the Act of October, 1903, will probably modify in some degree the tendency of Special Boards to raise wages, but the law even as it now stands embodies so much that is novel and important in industrial legislation that its working is being watched with very keen interest both in Australia and in Europe and America. Nor is the interest lessened by the fact that while in Victoria and South Australia the principle of the legal establishment of the minimum wage is in operation, side by side as it were, in New South Wales, Western Australia, and New Zealand the essentially different system of conciliation and compulsory arbitration is at work to prevent the occurrence of strikes and lockouts, and regulate the earnings of all classes of labour.

The admirable publications of the New Zealand Statistical Department show the wages in various trades at intervals since 1891, and from these the following summary has been deduced, which gives the average weekly earnings of employees in the various factories and works of the colony at the last three census periods:

It will be seen that the average earnings both for males and females is less in New Zealand than in New South Wales and Victoria. In the absence of the ages of the workers in New Zealand, however, it is impossible to go beyond the statement of the average earnings. As the table shows, the average rate for males has increased by 2s. 5d. per week, which is equivalent to 8 per cent.; the earnings of females, on the other hand, are slightly lower than they were in 1891.

As already explained, the Arbitration Act of New South Wales has not been in force sufficiently long to admit of statistics being obtained as to its probable effect upon wages; but the average weekly rates of pay for males and females engaged in the various manufactories and works of the state in the year immediately preceding the passage of the Act were as shown below:

:

663

VITAL STATISTICS.

BIRTHS.

TH

'HE total number of births in each state, and the rate per thousand of the population during the year 1902 are shown in the following

The variation in the birth-rates disclosed in these figures is not very considerable, and may be set down as due for the most part to the larger proportion of married women found in some states than in others. Taking the general average for the last two years (26·72), the birth-rate of Australia will be found lower than that of most European countries, and very much below the former experience of these states, as shown by the following statement, which gives the number of births in each