The number of employees by classes with their salaries and wages in 1920 is shown in the following table: The total working time of manufacturing plants amounted to 44,584 days on full time and 3,876 days on part time, an average of 290.1 days per establishment. In upholstering and repair plants, the respective totals were 41,666 days on full time and 2,217 days on part time, an average per establishment of 286.6 days. The average hours worked per day and per week, in the manufacturing plants were 9.1 and 52.1 respectively, and in the upholstering and repair plants, 8.6 and 50.0 respectively. The Brush and Broom Industry in Canada during 1919 and 1920 An advance report on the brush and broom industry in Canada for the calendar year, 1920, with comparative figures for 1919, contains statistics of 78 126 25 499 6 1,256 16 1,605 11 1,515 3 1,245 56 1 | 380 18 860 158 REGULATIONS governing the wages paid to female telephone operators were issued during March by the Ontario Minimum Wage Board, and become effective on May 15, 1922. These regulations establish various rates according to the status of the employees and the population of the communities served, the urban centres being divided into categories as shown in the following table. In the more sparsely populated districts throughout the Province the minimum wage rates are based upon the number of subscribers connected with the exchange, subscribers being counted by subscriber station, and extension sets on the same premises being excluded. For exchanges having less than 200 subscribers no rates are enjoined. Inexperienced female employees over 18 years of age are considered experienced after one year, and young girls under 18 years after two years' service. If, however, a young girl should pass the age of 18 before completing this two years' training, the schedule rates will continue till the two training years are completed, but in no case is she to receive less than the wages prescribed for an inexperienced adult of her own age. In exchanges situated in communities of population under 4,000 no distinction is made between inexperienced employees over and under 18 years, the training period for both these classes being limited to one year. Part time payment is to be calculated upon the proportion of the number of hours worked in any week to the number of hours in the normal weekly work THE annual report of the Explosives Division of the Dominion Department of Mines for the year 1921 shows a total of 20 factories licensed for the manufacture of explosives during the year. Three new factories were established for the manufacture of blasting explosives and one for the manufacture of fireworks. Thirty-one visits of inspection were made of these factories, and in one case it was found necessary to suspend for a time the license of a factory because of repeated contraventions of the regulations. A considerable increase was shown in the number of magazines under license, or continuing certificates, or temporary license; there being in effect at the end of De cember, 72 licenses including continuing certificates-and 98 temporary licenses. Several of these temporary licenses were issued in the latter part of the year, in anticipation of the requirements of construction works and logging camps in the spring. All the magazines in use were inspected, and there were many reinspections. Visits were made to 125 cities and towns for the purpose of inspecting certain representative stores as well as discussing with officials of various municipalities questions relating to the conditions of storage. Systematic inspections were made by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police of over 1,500 premises containing explosives; two visits on the aver age having been paid to each. A change was made in the regulations previously in force under Order in Council of March 1, 1920 (P. C. 363) by an Order in Council of August 13, 1921 (P. C. Total No. of No. of Killed Injured Killed Injured 530 213 530 218 000 4 10 1 1 2 3 2 1 6 0 0 3 3 4 11 1 4 8 2864), whereby licenses for factories and magazines were made valid for periods not exceeding one year. Three hundred and twenty-eight permits were issued for importations during the year. The accompanying table shows the number of killed and injured by explosives and their causes. The accidents due to playing with detonators and other explosives are shown in the report to have been brought about by persons, usually children, tampering with explosives they have found. The report emphasizes the necessity of persons permitted to store small quantities of explosives for their private use, keeping them as prescribed by the regulations and terms of license for the larger users of explosives. Of the two fatalities that occurred in manufacturing, one was attributed to spontaneous ignition of the free admission of air to the explosive, a part of which had probably been in contact with heated bearings, and the 5 other fatality occurred while the employee was removing dry fulminate of mercury from the drying house. One fatality in the conveyance group was due to the cart conveying the explosi ves being hit by a train, and two deaths occurred when a box of dynamite being carried by a man fell, due to the breaking of the strap by which the box was slung. already under way into the question of setting up a Minimum Wage Board and a Mothers' Allowances commission. Both of these bodies have since been established. A series of bulletins, entitled "Vocational Opportunities in Ontario", was also undertaken. (Some of these publications have been reviewed in previous issues of the LABOUR GAZETTE.) A large part of the present report is occupied with the report of the General Superintendent of Ontario Government Employment Bureaus. The bureaus, he reports, "have now been firmly established and are functioning with a gratifying degree of success. Much detailed and intensive work, however, remains to be done before the service can be considered as complete. Development should be, the report claims, in the direction of setting up a service for specialized employment in certain fields, including a service for professional and technical men and women; and for the placing of handicapped and juvenile workers. The scope of the Employment Bureau should not, in the opinion of the Provincial officer, be limited by "a policy of false economy," which would hamper the service as a permanent and efficient institution. Under the Stationary and Hoisting Engineers' Act 9,941 certificates were granted during the fiscal year ending October 31, 1920, to stationary engi neers; 700 candidates qualified by examination in the 4th class; 433 in the 3rd class; 60 in the second; and 35 in the first class, the balance of the total number being renewals from the previous year. The number of hoisting engineers' certificates for the same period was 1,819. The inspection of factories, shops and office buildings was carried out by a staff of twelve inspectors, of whom three were women. Inspections during the year numbered 13,812, of this number 5,199 being second inspections. The total number of employees in the industries inspected was 203,923. Of this number 72,644 were females over 18 years of age; 8,547 were females between the ages of 14 and 18; and 281 were children under 14 years. Six prosecutions were instituted for violation of the Act, convictions being secured in all cases. During the year 117 complaints were investigated, about half of these being upheld. Several complaints were made through trade unions and associations; others came from individuals, and two or three were anonymous. The accidents reported during the year numbered 5,185, with 55 fatalities, as compared with 4,029 accidents and 57 fatalities in the previous year. The report also contains the records of boiler inspection in the Province during the year. THE MINING ACCIDENTS IN ONTARIO IN 1921 HE Ontario Department of Mines recently issued its report on accidents occurring during the year 1921 at the mines, metallurgical works, quarries and clay and gravel pits regulated by the Mining Act of Ontario. The report shows that 1286 accidents, of which 24 were fatal, occurred in 1921; as compared with 1526 accidents, of which 29 were fatal, in 1920. In 1921 about 9,000 workers were employed as against about 11,486 in 1920. The greatest number of fatalities in recent years occurred in 1913 when 64 men were killed out of a total of 16,293 workers employed. The highest ratio of fatalities per 1,000 employees in recent years was in 1908 when 47 fatalities occurred with 9,185 men employed, the percentage being 5.11. In 1921 the percentage was 2.66 per 1,000 employees as against 2.61 in 1920. The classification of fatalities in 1921, according to industry, was as fol |