While so engaged the plaintiff slipped on the wet floor, sustaining injuries for which he sought damages, on the ground that as a way such floor was defective. In passing judgment in the case the court said in part:

Section 202 of the Labor Law (Consol. Laws, chap. 31; Laws of 1909, chap. 36), which was formerly section 3 of the Employers' Liability Act (Laws of 1902, chap. 600), provides that "An employee, or his legal representative, shall not be entitled under this article to any right of compensation or remedy against the employer in any case where such employee knew of the defect or negligence which caused the injury, and failed, within a reasonable time, to give, or cause to be given, information thereof to the employer, or to some person superior to himself in the service of the employer who had intrusted to him some general superintendence, unless it shall appear on the trial that such defect or negligence was known to such employer, or superior person, prior to such injuries to the employee." No evidence appeared upon the trial to indicate that the defendant knew of any alleged "defect or negligence." *

* *

But beyond this, the floor and drain arrangements of this washroom were not a way within the meaning of the statute; it was merely a place provided for the plaintiff to perform certain incidental services in connection with other employees who were engaged in washing out the beer kegs, and the place being constructed and equipped in a manner concededly well adapted to its main purpose, and not exposing the plaintiff to any undisclosed dangers in the performance of his incidental duties within the room, it is idle to contend that there was any liability on the part of the defendant. * The language of the statute is that an employee, in the exercise of due care, who is injured "By reason of any defect in the condition of the ways, works or machinery connected with or used in the business of the employer which arose from or had not been discovered or remedied owing to the negligence of the employer or of any person in the service of the employer and intrusted by him with the duty of seeing that the ways, works or machinery were in proper condition," shall have the benefits of the statute upon complying with its conditions. (Labor Law, § 200 et seq.) "Works" comprehending the entire plant- all of the real estate, buildings and machinery used in the particular business — while “ only embraces roads, paths, planks or other passageways, it must be entirely obvious that this floor of the washroom, with its sink hole, was in no proper sense a "way." It was a part of the "works," and as a part of the works- as a means to the end in view in the construction and equipment of a washroom-it is conceded that it had no defects. Not being defective as a part of the "works," it cannot be transformed into a way "for the sake of bringing it within the language of the statute for it has none of the elements of a way any more than any other room. Zerweck, 151 App. Div. 432.

"

way"

Kern v. Welz &

Rights of Heirs Distinct from Those of Injured Person. Section 1902 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that an administrator's action may be brought on behalf of the next of kin of plaintiff's intestate within two years of his death. The complaint in this case alleges that plaintiff's intestate was injured November 22, 1906, through the defendant's negligence, and that as the result of said injuries he died February 24, 1912. The defendant in answer

alleges that since the cause of action was not brought within three years after the accident occurred it was disbarred from the statute, and that no right existed in decedent at the time of his death, and consequently plaintiff could not maintain this action. The plaintiff demurs to each of these defenses on the ground that it is insufficient in law on the face thereof. In deciding the case the court said:

In the case at bar we must assume on the issue raised by the demurrer that the plaintiff's intestate died as the result of injuries received because of defendant's negligence, and defendant would have been liable in an action in favor of decedent if it had been seasonably brought; and the mere fact that he never brought an action to recover for his personal injuries for pain and suffering furnishes no reason why his next of kin should be deprived of a cause of action against defendant for pecuniary damages they sustained because of his death, if it was occasioned by defendant's negligence. While the causes of action arose out of the same transaction they are entirely separate and distinct. This is not an attempt to continue or revive a cause of action that may have existed in favor of decedent This cause of action is the creature of the statute and did not accrue until Mr. Kelliher's death, and the appointment of an administrator. This is an action in behalf of the next of kin to recover for their pecuniary damages sustained because of the death of Mr. Kelliher, and in no way involves any damages for his personal injuries, and so long as the action was brought within two years after his death it is in time. Code Civ. Pro., § 1902. Kelliher v. N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. Co., 77 Misc. 330.

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* * *

RECENT LABOR REPORTS.

United States.

Beginning with July, 1912, the publication of the annual and special reports and the bimonthly Bulletin issued by the United States Bureau of Labor was discontinued, and in its place a Bulletin is being published at irregular intervals, each Bulletin containing matter devoted to one of a series of general subjects. Of the new publication the following numbers have been issued to this date:

Workmen's insurance and compensation series.

No. 1. Care of tuberculous wage earners in Germany.

No. 2. British national insurance act, 1911.

No. 3. Sickness and accident insurance law of Switzerland. Retail prices and cost of living series.

No. 1.

Pt. I. Ratail prices, 1890-1911.

No. 2. Pts. I and II. Retail prices, 1890-June, 1912.

Wages of farm labor. Nineteenth investigation, in 1909, continuing a series that began in 1866. Bulletin 99. Bureau of Statistics. U. S. Department of Agriculture. Washington, 1912. Pp. 72.

Part I of the Bulletin gives wage rates, including yearly, season and day rates, and rates with and without board, for outdoor work of male laborers, as ascertained in 19 investigations of the Department of Agriculture, and covering various periods from 1866 to 1909. Part II deals with wages of domestic labor of women on farms for the period from 1902 to 1909.

Opinions of the Solicitor for the Department of Commerce and Labor dealing with workmen's compensation under the act of Congress granting to certain employees of the United States the right to receive from it compensation for injuries sustained in the course of their employment, approved May 30, 1908. From August, 1908, to August, 1912. Washington, 1912. Pp. 646.

ILLINOIS.

Industrial accidents in Illinois for the year ending December 31, 1911. Fifth report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Springfield, 1912. Pp. 364.

The report contains statistics of fatal and non-fatal accidents in manufacturing industries and on railroads in Illinois, with details as to residence, occupation, age, nativity and conjugal condition of victims, character of injury, months in which accidents occurred and causes of the same.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Twelfth annual report on strikes and lockouts for the year 1911. Part I of the fortysecond annual report on the statistics of labor. Bureau of Statistics. Boston, 1912. Pp. 68.

According to the report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics the total number of strikers in Massachusetts, in 1911, was 9,768, the total number of employees involved 16,510, and the amount of working time lost 233,806 days, or less than in any year since 1905, with the exception of 1909, when the number of working days lost was 228,363. Of the strikers, 21 per cent were engaged in the boot and shoe industry and 19 per cent in the building industry. Strikes for increase in wages involved 42 per cent of the strikers, while 23 per cent struck for reduction in hours of labor. Somewhat over one-half (57.3 per cent) of the strikers were wholly or partly successful in their demands, 24 per cent obtained all of their demands, and 42.7 per cent failed in securing any of their demands.

Twenty-fifth annual report on the statistics of manufactures for the year 1910. Bureau of Statistics, Boston, 1912. Pp. xxviii, 141.

The following table, borrowed from the report, gives statistics of manufactures, as well as of wages and wage-earners, for the years 1907, 1908 and 1910:

Figures for 1909 are excluded, the figures for that year being taken from the United States Census, and including many smaller establishments not included in the statistics collected by the state.

MINNESOTA.

Workmen's compensation by Don D. Lescohier and Arthur O. Garrison. Part I of the thirteenth biennial report of the Bureau of Labor, Industries and Commerce of the State of Minnesota, 1911-1912. Minneapolis, 1912. Pp. 48.

The report reviews the present state of workmen's compensation laws in the various States in which such laws were passed recently, and the latest court decisions dealing with workmen's compensation.

PENNSYLVANIA.

Thirty-ninth report of the Bureau of Industrial Statistics, Department of Internal Affairs, 1911. Harrisburg, 1912. Pp. 464.

Contents: Part I (pp. 1-114) Recommendations. population and manufacturing statistics of Pennsylvania according to the 1910 census, industrial accidents in 1911, tentative draft of a workmen's compensation act, and agricultural statistics. Part II (pp. 117-256) Sketches and special studies and investigations concerning industrial and sociological conditions of certain counties. Part III (pp. 257-451) Mining and manufacturing interests of Pennsylvania with comparisons and recapitulations.

WEST VIRGINIA.

Annual report of the Department of Mines for the year ended June 30, 1911. Charleston, 1912. Pp. 307.

The report contains information in regard to production of coal and coke, number and wages of employees, accidents, prosecutions, a directory of coal mines and reports of district inspectors.

International Reports.

Bulletin de l'Institut International de Statistique. Tome XIX, 3e livraison. La Haye, 1912. Pp. 323; XC.

Contents of the third and last part of the nineteenth volume of the Bulletin issued by the International Institute of Statistics include an article on index numbers for most European countries and Canada, Japan and New South Wales, and a general table of contents and index for the nineteen volumes of Bulletins issued by the Institute up to this date.

Bulletin trimestriel de l'Association Internationale pour la lutte contre le chomage. Deuxième année, no 3. Paris, 1912.

The number for July-September of the Quarterly Journal of the Internationa Association on Unemployment deals exclusively with unemployment in connection with migration and employment agencies for agricultural workers.

Foreign Reports.

AUSTRALIA.

Official year book of the commonwealth of Australia. No. 5. 1901-1911. Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics. Melbourne, 1912. Pp. XL, 1277.

The Australian year book for 1911 contains for the first time a chapter on the cost of living in Australia, results of the census of 1911, and additions to the section on vital statistics and public hygiene.

New South Wales. The official year book of New South Wales, 1911. Bureau of Statistics. Sydney, 1912. Pp. 777.

The year book contains, among others, statistics of employment and arbitration. mining and manufacturing industries, social conditions, food and prices, and population according to the census of April 2, 1911.

New South Wales.- Report on the working of the Factories and Shops Act; Minimum Wage Act; Early Closing Acts; Shearers' Accomodation Act; etc., during the year 1911. Department of Labour and Industry. Sydney, 1912. Pp. IV, 61.

Besides the individual reports of the factory inspectors and the early closing inspectors, the volume contains statistics of persons employed, child labor, accidents, and plates showing safeguards against accidents in factories.

Queensland. Report of the Director of Labour and Chief Inspector of Factories and Shops for year ended 30th June, 1912. Brisbane, 1912. Pp. 85.

The report contains information concerning the work of the free employment bureaus, statistics of factories, employees, hours of labor, weekly earnings and rates of wages, and a review of the work of wage boards.

AUSTRIA.

Bericht der Gewerbe-Inspectoren über ihre Amstätigkeit im Jahre 1911. Mit 9 Tafeln und Abbildungen im Texte. Vienna, 1912. Pp. CLXX, 670.

The report on the work of the Austrian factory inspectors for 1911 contains the general report of the chief inspector, individual reports of district inspectors, and new legislation affecting specially the department of factory inspection. Among the new laws is one creating a separate inspection bureau for the building industry, a law prohibiting night work of women in industrial establishments, and several laws providing for the protection of health and life in various industries.

Die Arbeitszeit in Glashütten. Bericht über die in der Zeit vom 14. Juni bis 14. August 1909 durchgeführte Erhebung. Arbeitsstatistisches Amt im Handelsministerium. Vienna, 1911. Pp. X, 121.

In the summer of 1909 the Austrian Bureau of Labor Statistics undertook an investigation of hours of labor in the glass industry, and the present volume contains the results of the investigation, including a technical description of the processes of manufacture, statistics of the duration of working shifts and Sunday rest, photo-engravings of works and machinery, and extracts from typical working regulations.

BELGIUM.

Annuaire statistique de la Belgique et du Congo Belge. Quarante-deuxième année, 1911. Bruxelles, 1912. Pp. CXI, 510.