LABOUR DEPARTMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 229, 25 September 1903, Page 5

LABOUR DEPARTMENT.

POWERS _?ST) DUTIES

(By Telegraph— Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, this day

The Government have brought down

a measure providing for the creation of a Department, of Labour and declaring the powers and duties thereof. The Governor is empowered to appoint a secretary and other officers, ami it is provided that the persons holding office at present in the Department of Labour shall be deemed to have been appointed under this Act. The expenses of the department are to be paid out of moneys appropriated by Parliament for the purpose. The general duties of the department are to administer the labour laws and promote sound knowledge on all matters connected with the industrial occupations of the people with a view of improving the relations between employers and workers, and the collection of reliable information relating to the industries qf tho colony, the cost of production, and payment* of wages. For the purpose of obtaining the necessary information to enable the department to carry out the Act the Minister and officers are entitled to procure from all officers of any industrial society, .union or other association of workers such information in writing as to the membership, etc., as the Minister requires. They may require an employer to give the names of his employees, the hours of work, .and so on; and they are also entitled to obtain from all persons able to furnish the same such other information as the Minister deems necessary relating to combinations of capital or labour, and their effect on production and prices of commodities, and the collection of Customs duties and their effect on the operations of labour. The. information so obtained is not to be divulged, and every person who commits a breach of this'division is liable to a fine not exceeding £50. A fine not exceeding £20 may be imposed on any person failing or refusing to furnish the information required for the purpose of obtaining information under the Act. The Minister for Labour, or an officer, is to have all the powers conferred by the Commissioners Powers Act, 1367.