FACTORIES AND SHOPS BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 183, 5 August 1890, Page 2

FACTORIES AND SHOPS BILL.

OPPOSITION MEETING IN CHRIST-

CHURCH.

A largely-attended meeting of shopkeepers and employers of labour was held <at Christchurch last night; to consider the Shops and Factories Bill. It was unanimously resolved, "That, in the opinionlo thie meeting, the Factories and Shops tun now before the House is altogether unnecessary, harassing and calculated to injure - the retail trade industry; that the circumBtunces of manufacture in New Zealana .do, nob require such legislation, as Iβ evident from the inquiry and_ report of the recent Sweating Commission ; *ke preeenb Employment of Females and Others Act is working satisfactorily, and, U , properly administered, ie all that is necessary in regulating the labour in this coun--wy." '.'The "meeting strongly' objected to . the inspectors under the Act being ap- % pointed otherwise than directly by the Government, atu i considered that " the inspec- ' tore -duties as defined in tho Bill are officiQ *?»"K[&ieUorial, and the information rewn^ 6 given by employers will entail rrJ?? labour and expense ; that the .JWHtary provisions of the Bill are already 'Ssf.W! 1 * I '' o * , in fche exietiag Health ' ftlr *'' ** tn e clause providing special dinoi W?» for employee* with furniture is * B«teT * c * ttd impracticable ; that the sugetew ■*' e ' Q^menfcß * n conneetiori with the of, female typeeettere under; eloiik!i n » k unnecessary ; and that the ■■ and sbopa on and , % holidays would be a serious

fax upon manufacturers and employers of labour ; that the proposed Shops Bill is unnecessary, and has been proved, after five years experience in Melbourne of compulsory shop closing, to be unworkable and objected to alike by employers and employees; that the hours shops are open generally m Now Zealand are less, and the pay of shop assistants greater, than in many other parts of the world; thab the meeting takes exception to the proposed exemptions «> the Bill which, if carried, should be general in all cusee; thab section o0 is unworkable."