ful for the strikers, and the results of the remaining strikes were indefinite or unknown. During the years 1901 to 1905 there were 577 trade disputes in Canada-104 in 1901, 123 in 1902, 160 in 1903, 103 in 1904, and 87 in 1905. Out of the total disputes during the period, the causes of 238 of them related to wages and hours of labor; 283 disputes were settled by negotiations between the parties concerned, and 54 by conciliation or arbitration; 194 disputes resulted in favor of employers, 175 in favor of employees, and 143 were settled by compromise.

There were in Canada during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1906, 1,071 fatal and 2,758 nonfatal industrial accidents. Of fatal accidents the greatest number (219) was in the railway service, and of nonfatal accidents the greatest number (549) was in the metal trades. Mining had 100 fatal and 151 nonfatal accidents, while in lumbering there were 103 fatal and 186 nonfatal accidents.

Accounts are given in two sections of the report of the action of the department of labor in reference to false representations to induce or deter immigration to the Dominion and of the administration of the alien labor laws.

Report of the Royal Commission on a Dispute Respecting Hours of Employment between the Bell Telephone Company of Canada, Ltd., and Operators at Toronto, Ontario. 1907. (Issued by the Department of Labor.) x, 102 pp.

This volume comprises the report of a commission appointed on February 2, 1907, to make inquiry into a dispute between the Bell Telephone Company of Canada and the operators employed in its offices at Toronto, with respect to wages and hours of employment and all matters affecting the merits of the said dispute and the right settlement thereof.

The commission in its inquiry into the causes, nature, and incidents of the strike examined 70 witnesses, and from the evidence obtained and from documents and correspondence submitted were made fully acquainted with the material facts and circumstances relevant to the controversy under consideration.

The cause of the strike of the operators, which commenced on January 31, 1907, was the decision of the telephone company, reached during the month of January, to enforce a new schedule of wages and hours whereby the hours of work were to be increased from 5 to 8 per day, and the manner in which this decision was made known to those whom it concerned.

At a meeting of the strikers, numbering over 400, held on the evening of February 1, a resolution was passed in which the operators requested the minister of labor "to cause a public inquiry to be made under oath into all matters in dispute between them and the said

company, agreeing, that in case said inquiry is ordered, to return to the company's employ in order to prevent inconvenience to the public and a general disorganization of business, and to be bound by the finding of said board in all matters between themselves and the said company."

The intention of the Government to have inquiry made into the grievances of the operators, and the appointment of the commission having been announced, the operators, in accordance with the terms of the resolution they had passed, presented themselves for reemployment at the offices of the company on the morning of February 4. A large number were immediately taken on, and the strike, to all intents and purposes, was at an end.

The line of the commission's inquiry embraced the remuneration of work and cost of living, duration and intensity of work, methods of work and elements of nervous strain, opinions of leading physicians, etc.

Before the strike the operators were kept continuously at work at high pressure five hours per day. On January 24 a notice was posted in each of the several exchanges that from and after February 1 the operators would be expected to work eight hours each day, although at a slight increase in salary, but there was no assurance given that there would be any lessening of the pressure under which they would be obliged to work during the hours of employment. Against the proposed change the operators struck.

In the arrangement as finally come to before the commission, the total number of working hours was fixed at 7, spread over a period of 9 hours, divided as follows: 2 hours work, 1 hour relief, 11⁄2 hours work, 1 hour intermission, 2 hours work, hour relief, and 14 hours work; and, further, the work would be at such a pressure as would be moderate and not too great a tax upon the strength of the operators. The commission also recommended the strict prohibition of overtime, the granting of a weekly half holiday as in other occupations, the prohibition of 7 days' continuous work (after working 6 days, before entering upon a subsequent day's work, there should be a break of at least 24 hours), the prohibition of young women from entering this class of employment until they have completed their eighteenth year, the examination of operators as to their health (especially as to their nervous system, throat, lungs, sight, hearing, and tendency toward tuberculosis), before being accepted by the company, and the adoption of various measures and devices for the additional comfort and health of the operators.

In conclusion the commission says:

In our opinion many of the difficulties inevitable to the successful operation of a large telephone exchange might be overcome and harmonious relations between the company and its employees proa permanent board of conciliation established, com

mote.

posed of representatives of the officials of the company and its operators, to which board questions concerning arrangement of hours, reliefs, overtime, discipline, and the like might be referred at stated intervals, an appeal to be had to the head officers of the company where matters in dispute might fail of successful settlement before the board.

GERMANY.

Reiseberichte über Nordamerika erstattet von Kommissaren des Königlich Preuszischen Ministers für Handel und Gewerbe. 1906. 490 pp.

This volume is an account of the results of an investigation made in the year 1904 by a commission sent out by the Prussian ministry of commerce and industry to study the conditions of trade and technical education in the United States. The particular occasion of the undertaking at the time chosen was the opportunity afforded of prosecuting such an investigation in connection with the exhibits made at the international exposition of that year, at St. Louis, though the study was not confined to those exhibits.

The volume consists of a series of reports by various members of the commission covering different phases of the question. The first part is taken up by a somewhat general discussion of (a) the intermediate schools in their relation to commerce and industry; (b) the public schools and the training of teachers; (c) the training of industrial workers. Then follow accounts of the observations made with reference to education in industrial art and drafting, as this was shown in the patterns and products exhibited at St. Louis, the construction of machinery and the working of metals, shipbuilding, the textile industries, and ceramics, and an appendix containing a general discussion of a variety of economic and industrial questions. An article on the production of small tools and machinery of iron and steel is illustrated by 15 full-page plates.

GREAT BRITAIN.

Accidents that have Occurred on the Railways of the United Kingdom during the year 1905. Report to the Secretary to the Board of Trade. 78 pp.

This volume presents a general report on the accidents that have occurred in the working of the railways of the United Kingdom during the year 1905. The accidents are grouped under three main heads, as follows: (1) Train accidents, as collisions, derailments, etc.; (2) accidents caused by the movement of trains and railway vehicles, exclusive of train accidents, and (3) accidents on railway premises not due to train accidents or to the movement of trains and railway vehicles. They are further subdivided in each of the three groups according as they relate to passengers, employees, and other persons.

The following table summarizes the returns, showing by class of accident the number of accidents, fatal and nonfatal, relating to each class of persons:

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS DURING 1905, BY CLASS OF ACCIDENT.

From the above it will be seen that during the year 1,099 persons (148 passengers, 399 employees, and 552 others) were killed and 6,459 persons (2,368 passengers, 3,800 employees, and 291 others) were injured by accidents due to the running of trains or the movement of railway vehicles. The figures for the previous year (1904) were 1,073 persons killed and 6,889 injured, while the average for the previous nine years was 1,149 persons killed and 6,651 injured. The 39 passenger fatalities in train accidents during 1905 were largely due to two disasters, in one of which 21 passengers were killed and in the other 10. For the year (exclusive of holders of season tickets) there was 1 passenger killed in each 30,744,156 carried and 1 injured in each 3,027,834 carried. In 1904 (exclusive of holders of season tickets) there was 1 passenger killed in each 199,758,000 carried and 1 injured in each 2,244,472 carried. The number of passengers and other persons (exclusive of railway employees) killed in train accidents in 1905 was 40, as compared with an average of 23 for the previous thirty-one years, while the number injured in 1905 was 404, as compared with an average of 730 for the previous thirty-one years.

Of railway employees (engineers, firemen, guards, and brakemen) in train accidents in 1905, there was 1 killed in each 14,201 employed and 1 injured in each 755 employed. In the thirty-one years previous to 1905 the yearly average of railway employees killed was 14 and the yearly average injured 136.

The number of passengers killed in 1905 in accidents connected with the movement of trains and railway vehicles (exclusive of train accidents) was 109 and the number injured 1,972. In the 25 years previous to 1905 the yearly average of passengers killed was 106, and in the 9 years previous to 1905 the yearly average of passengers injured was 1,589. Excluding season tickets, taking the number of journeys into account, it was found that in 1905 there was 1 passenger killed in every 11,000,202 journeys and 1 injured in every 608,023 journeys, as compared with 1 killed in every 8,394,206

journeys, and 1 injured in every 704,657 journeys, on an average, in the previous periods of 25 and 9 years.

Not including contractors' employees, in this second class of railway accidents in 1905 there were 381 railway employees killed and 3,661 injured. The yearly average of railway employees killed in the previous 25 years was 460, and the yearly average injured in the previous 9 years was 3,964. The accidents to persons other than passengers and railway employees who were killed or injured in 1905 were incurred, with few exceptions, either deliberately or through carelessness.

Accidents on railway premises not due to train accidents or to the movement of trains and railway vehicles resulted in the death of 18 passengers, 38 employees, and 25 other persons, and injury to 782 passengers, 10,535 employees, and 460 other persons. These accidents, with few exceptions, were not attributable to railway operation and should not properly be classed as railway accidents.

During 1905, through coming in contact with electric "live" rails, there were 14 accidents to railway employees (1 fatal and 13 nonfatal) and 6 to trespassers (1 fatal and 5 nonfatal).

The total length of the railways of the United Kingdom at the end of 1905 was 22,847 miles; the total track mileage (single track) was 38,431 without sidings and 52,322 with sidings.

Illustrations of Methods of Dust Extraction in Factories and Workshops. Report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department. 1906. 93 pp.

In the United Kingdom during the last decade great improvements have been made, either by voluntary effort or by statutory obligation, in the hygienic conditions of many industrial occupations, more particularly in trades in which injurious dust or fumes are generated.

The present report, by the chief inspector of factories, consists of 58 plates of sketches and plans with descriptive text, collected from various sources, showing methods of extracting dust in different processes in flax, hemp, jute, and tow manufactures, wool-sorting and wool-combing works, metal grinding and polishing, bronzing, etc.; also various systems for humidifying workrooms.

Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories and Workshops, for the Year 1906. Report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department. xvii, 379 pp.

At the end of 1906 there were upon the registers of the factory department 106,337 factories, 6,940 laundries (with and without power), and 141,912 workshops (other than men's workshops), or a total of 255,189 establishments, an increase over 1905 of 3,377 establishments. The works under inspection during 1906 did not include

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