FACTORIES AND SHOPS BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 184, 6 August 1890, Page 2

FACTORIES AND SHOPS BILL.

SOME IMPORTANT AMENDMENTS.

Some important amendments bave, writes our Parliamentary reporter, been made in the Factories and Shops Bill by the Labour Bills Committee, and the Bill as amended will probably be placed before the House in a few days. Clause 3, which provides that " This Act shall only apply to factories, workrooms, or shops situated within any city or borough," has been struck out. Under heading Factories and Workrooms an alteration has been made in clause 6, by which the Governor is given power to appoint both male and female inspectors for the purpose of carrying the Act into effect; Section 2of clause 15 now reads : " Every inspector shall bave power to take with him a constable into the factory or workroom," the following words having been struck oub, "in which he has reasonable cause to apprehend any serious obstruction in the execution of his duty." Section 5, which gave power to Inspectors "to enter any school in which he has reasonable cause to believe that persons employed in a factory or workroom are for the time being educated " haa beon deleted. A new clause, 33a, has been inserted, requiring that every outer door giving access to every building containing a factory or workroom and tho door of every workroom shall be at all times unlocked whilst work is going od, under a penalty of £10. Clause 36 has been amended to read : •' No person employed in factory or workroom in which more than six females are employod shall be permitted to take his or her meals in any workroom therein, etc." Clause 41 is so amended that the penalty in respect of bakehousee in contravention of the Act is mado applicable only to persons occupying or knowingly suffering such to be occupied, the words " lets or continues to let" being deleted. After clause 46, a new clause, 46a, is inserted, which requires the provision of separate rooms for each sex in factories or workrooms, except in Buch cases as the Governor-in-Council may by regulation from time to time exempt from this provision. In the clauses which provide for tho granting of certificates of fitness, personal examination is rendered unnecessary, and clause 53, which allows the inspector to annul the medical certificate in certain cases, is struck out entirely. Clauses 54 and 55 havo been altered to read, "no boy under fifteen (formerly fourteen) and no girl under sixteen shall work in any factory or workroom between the hours of 6 p, m. and 6 a.m." 55 : "No boy under fifteon (formerly sixteen) and no girl under eighteen shall work as type-setter in any printing office, provided that nothing in this clause shall apply to any boy or girl at the time ot the passing of this Act engaged in type-setting in any printing office ;" the balance of clause 55 being entirely struckout. Thebeading"Holidays"is made to read, " Special Holidays," and are confined to Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Queen's Birthday ; the following words being struck out, "and any other day set apart by proclamation of the Governor as a public holiday." Under the heading "Hours for Closing," the whole of clauses 58 and 59, together with their subsections, have been entirely dropped, and new clauses have beon inserted in their stead as follows :—"All shops carrying on busine _ in either a city or borough, except such as are mentioned in the third schedule of the Act, shall be closed in each week at the hours mentioned below. 1. On each and every evening for four working days every week at 6 o'clock. 2. On the evening of one such working day at 9 o'clock. 3. On the afternoon of ono such working day at 2 o'clock. Any such city or borough council may from time to time by .pecial order declare on which working day of the week shops—except those mentioned in the third schedule--Bhall close at 9 p.m. and 2 p.m.; and every such order may he altered by such city or borough council from time to time, but not so far as to be inconsistent with this Act." A penalty of £25 is provided for those who do not act in accordance with these new clauses.

Under theheading "Regulation of Shops," clause 60 limits the period to fifty instead of fifty-two hours, during which a woman or person under eighteen years of age shall b. employed in or about a shop, including meal-time, in any one week. Clause 82, which provided for a declaration by a medical authority as to the age of persons employed in a factory or workroom, has been struck out, and a now clause, 82, has been inserted as follows :—" Any person making application to the Inspector or Minister of the Crown for exemption from any provisions of this Act shall hotify his intention by advertisement inserted in the daily or weekly papers circulating in the district in which the factory or workroom is situated, or by written notice to the Inspector, to be by him communicated to the Trades and Labour Council for the provincial district." Notice of the granting or refusal of such license is also required to bo gazetted. An entirely new clause is proposed to be inserted, which provides that in ca6e of any accident occurring in a factory or workshop, either fatal or otherwise, notice shall be given by-the employer or occupier to either the Inspector or medical officer of the district within six hours of the accident happening, With a view to having an authoritative report on the event drawn up. In the second schedule appended to the Act, clause 5 has been altered to read—"in any grinding in the motal trades other than dry grinding, or in friction cutting, a child (instead of person under the age of fourteen) shall not be employed." In the third schedule, the Words " booksellers and news agents" have beon struck out, limiting shops not required to be closed to chemists' shops, cofi.e-houses,, confectioners, eatinghouses, fish and "oyster shops, fruit and vegetable shops, restaurants, tobacconists shops.