consumption of the two countries in 1899 was for the United Kingdom 164,287,000 tons and for the United States, 222,590,000 tons. The number of persons finding employment in this industry is greater in the United Kingdom than in any other country, being for those engaged both above and below ground, 686,700 for that country in 1898, as against 401,221 in the United States for the same year. Germany ranked next in order, with 357,695 employees. Lignite is of considerable commercial importance in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The statistics given relate mainly to production, value, and number of employees. Tables showing the production of petroleum in the United States, Russia, and Japan, in the first two countries for a period of 20 years, and in Japan from 1894 to 1898; also amounts imported, exported, and retained for home consumption in the United States and Russia, make up this part of the report. In the following table is given the production, in gallons, for each country for the years indicated: GALLONS OF CRUDE PETROLEUM PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN, AND OF RAW NAPHTHA IN RUSSIA, 1894 TO 1898. Statistics Relating to Coal Mining, 1886 to 1900. 1901. 8 pp. (Published by the British Board of Trade.) This report consists of seven tables, "showing for the United Kingdom and the principal coal-mining districts the quantity and value of coal produced, and the number and average wages of coal miners in each year, 1886 to 1900, together with the estimated amounts expended on miners' wages and remaining for other expenses and coal owners' profits in the United Kingdom in each year, with explanatory memorandum." The following table presents data showing the number of employees, average weekly wages, amount and value of product, and amount per million tons of product expended on wages and remaining for other 6451-No. 40-02-7 expenses and owner's profits in the coal industry, for the year 1900, together with the annual average for the ten years 1890 to 1899: EMPLOYEES, RATES OF WAGES, AND AMOUNT AND VALUE OF PRODUCT IN THE COAL INDUSTRY FOR 1900, AND AVERAGE FOR 1890 TO 1899. The proportion expended on wages and the proportion remaining for other expenses and owners' profits in the coal-mining industry of the United Kingdom for each year in the period reported are given herewith, expressed in per cents: PER CENT EXPENDED ON WAGES AND PER CENT REMAINING FOR OTHER EXPENSES AND OWNERS' PROFITS IN COAL MINING, 1886 TO 1900. Items. Wages 1886. 1887. 1888. 1889. 1890. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899. 1900. 69.0 68.5 68.8 65.1 60.3 65.0 70.0 83.8 72.7 75.7 74.1 71.9 73.0 61.5 53,0 31.0 31.5 31.2 34.9 39.7 35.0 30.0 16.2 27.3 24.3 25.9 28.1 27.0 38.5 47.0 ONTARIO. Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industries for the This report consists of two parts: Part I, relating to agriculture; and Part II, relating to chattel mortgages. AGRICULTURE.-Under this head are presented statistics of the weather, crops, live stock, and poultry, the dairy and the apiary, labor and wages, values of farm property, market prices of products, etc. For the year 1900 the value of land is reported at $574,727,610; of buildings, $219,488,370; of implements, $57,324,130; and of live stock, $123,274,821, each item showing an increase over the preceding year. The total is $974,814,931, a gain of $27,301,571 over the year 1899. The average annual wages of farm laborers for 1900 were $155 with board, and $248 without board. Monthly wages during the working season averaged $16.57 with board and $25.73 without board. Domestic servants received an average of $6.65 per month. In each instance there is something of an advance over the year previous. CHATTEL MORTGAGES.-There has been a steady decrease in the number of chattel mortgages since 1895. Their amount also decreased for the four years 1896 to 1899, but the year 1900 reports an increase of above $600,000. The number on record on December 31, 1900, was 17,321, their amount being $11,669,806. Of these 8,440, amounting to $3,110,543, were against farmers. DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR. [This subject, begun in Bulletin No. 2, has been continued in successive issues. All material parts of the decisions are reproduced in the words of the courts, indicated when short by quotation marks, and when long by being printed solid. In order to save space, matter needed simply by way of explanation is given in the words of the editorial reviser.] DECISIONS UNDER STATUTORY LAW. EIGHT-HOUR LAW-MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS PAVING STREETS— State v. Atkin, Supreme Court of Kansas, 67 Pacific Reporter, page 519.-W. W. Atkin was convicted in the district court of Wyandotte County of a violation of what is known as the "eight-hour law" of Kansas, and appealed. This law provides "That eight hours shall constitute a day's work for all laborers, workmen, mechanics or other persons now employed, or who may hereafter be employed by or on behalf of the State of Kansas, or by or on behalf of any county, city, township, or other municipality of said State, *." Contracts made "by or on behalf of the State of Kansas, or by or on behalf of any county, city, township, or other municipality of said State," come under the same rule of law. * * Atkin had a contract for the paving of a public street of Kansas City, Kans., a city of the first class, and had permitted a common laborer engaged in this work to work more than eight hours per day. The constitutionality of this law had been determined in the case, in re Dalton, 61 Kans., 257, 59 Pac., 336, 47 L. R. A., 380 (see Bulletin of the Department of Labor, No. 28, p. 610). The only question, therefore, was whether the city is such an agency of the State in doing the work contracted for as to bring the case within the principle of the case above mentioned. In the course of his remarks, in which he sustained the decision of the court below, Judge Smith, who delivered the opinion of the court, said: The law which appellant [Atkin] violated must have its application in the light of the fact that municipal corporations are the creatures of the State. The legislature gives them being. They let contracts for the improvement of streets under express authorization of the legislature, and could not do so in the absence of such authority. It is and always has been the duty of the State to lay out and improve highways of travel. The city in contracting to pave Quindaro boulevard, exercised delegated authority, and acted as an agent for the State. If the State had been doing this work, it can not be denied that it might, at its pleasure, have given the current rate of per diem wages in the city for eight hours' work. This is the principle of the Dalton case. The judgment of the court below will be affirmed. EIGHT-HOUR LAW-PAYMENT OF DEPUTY SHERIFFS-CONSTRUCTION OF STATUTE-Christian County v. Merrigan, Supreme Court of Illinois, 61 Northeastern Reporter, page 479.-Suit was brought by Lawrence Merrigan against the county of Christian of the State of Illinois to recover compensation for services, etc., while he was acting as a special deputy sheriff during the progress of a strike at Pana, in said county, in 1898. The first count of his declaration alleged the time of his service to have been one hundred and twenty-four days and the second count one hundred and fifty days of eight hours each. Each count alleged that he was entitled under a statute of the State to compensation at the rate of $2 per day. In the trial court a judgment was rendered in his favor under the first count, and upon appeal to the appellate court of the third district of Illinois this judgment was affirmed. The county then appealed the case to the supreme court of Illinois, which rendered its decision October 24, 1901, and affirmed the judgments of the lower courts. Merrigan himself appealed on the ground that the judgment in his favor should have been rendered under the second count of his declaration, which claimed compensation for one hundred and fifty days of eight hours each. From the standpoint of labor this is the only interesting point in the case and the grounds of the plaintiff's appeal, as well as the reasons for the decision of the supreme court denying it, are set forth in the opinion of the court, delivered by Judge Carter, who used the following language: Appellee [Merrigan] has assigned cross errors, and contends that the act making eight hours a legal day's work (Hurd's Rev. St. 1899, p. 840) applies, and that he should have been permitted to recover, under the second count, for one hundred and fifty days of eight hours each; that is, that the plaintiff should have been permitted to divide the days into periods of eight hours when he was engaged in his duties as deputy, and thus permitted to recover, under the statute, for as many days as there were periods of eight hours' actual service. This point was also correctly decided below. We agree with the appellate court in its holding that the statute has no application to cases of this kind (Phillips v. Christian County, 87 Ill. App. 481), but that it is confined to mechanical trades, arts, and employments, and other cases of labor and services of like character, and does not embrace services of an official character. Moreover, if the eighthour statute applied, appellee performed the services required of him each day without any agreement (even if there could be such agreement in such a case) that he should be paid for extra time. In the absence of such an agreement or contract no recovery could be had for extra time employed over eight hours during the same day. We are of the opinion that the per diem required by the statute to be paid for the time actually employed was only for one day in each twenty-four hours. EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY-EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN-NEGLIGENCEDAMAGES Ornamental Iron and Wire Co. v. Green, Supreme Court of Tennessee, 65 Southwestern Reporter, page 399.-Luther Green, a |