642 PBOCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



By way of preliminary to the publication of actual current 

 rates, as well as to the computation of index-numbers of wages, an 

 inquiry has already been made, going back to 1891, and returns 

 have now been received from every union in the Commonwealth. 

 This will place the Bureau's whole treatment of the matter on a 

 systematized and final basis, and the index-numbers of wages 

 which are being computed from the data thus obtained should 

 prove of special interest in comparison with the prices and cost of 

 living index-numbers which have already been published. 



It is hoped to throw considerable light an the question of the 

 distribution of wages, and the relation between nominal wages and 

 actual earnings in so far as manufacturing industries are con- 

 cerned, by means of inquiries which have recently been made from 

 all factories in the Commonwealth. Each employer has been re- 

 quired to state for a specified week the number of workers em- 

 ployed at each rate of wage. This will not only enable a valuable 

 analysis to be made of the distribution of wages, but will also 

 furnish part of the data necessary for the computation of average 

 earnings and average duration of employment. The rest of the 

 data, namely, the total amount paid in wages, and the average 

 and maximum number employed during the year will be obtained 

 from the ordinary annvial returns furnished by employers. 



5. Strikes and Lock-outs. 



Arrangements have been made to collect particulars in regard 

 to labour disputes causing stoppage of work throu:ghout the Com- 

 monwealth. Disputes involving less than ten workpeople, or last- 

 ing less than one day will not, however, be taken into account in 

 compiling the returns, unless their aggregate duration exceeds 100 

 mere working days. 



As in the case of changes in rates of wages and hours of' labour, 

 so in industrial disputes the information is being collected from 

 trade unions, employers' associations, and employers. The infor- 

 mation asked for will enable tables to be compiled showing the 

 causes or objects of disputes, their duration, the number of people 

 affected directly and indii-ectly, their results, methods of settle- 

 ment, the estimated loss in wages to workpeople affected, and, in 

 case of the result involving a change in rates of wages or hours of 

 labour, the number of persons affected, and the amount of the 

 change. The results collected will be first carefully compared and 

 checked, and then summarized for tabulation purposes. 



For its primary information as to the occurence of an industrial 

 dispute the Bureau is dependent upon reports from agenta, of 

 whom fourteen have up to the present been appointed in the more 

 important towns, and upon newspapers, trade journals, »nd labour 



