PRIVATE HOTELS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1259, 16 October 1911, Page 6

PRIVATE HOTELS.

» EMPLOYEES' GRIEVANCES STATED. THE HON. J. A. MILLAR SPEAKS PLAINLY. "BLACKGUARDED THROUGHOUT TIT 13 COUNTRY." The grievances of employees in Auckland private hotels were brought under the notice of the lion. .1. A. Millar (Minister for Labour) by a large deputation on Saturday afternoon. It comprised representatives of the principal branches of the New Zealand I'ederation of Hotel and Restaurant Employees and mem hers of the Legislature as follow-Messrs. E. J. Carey (socrct-iry of tho "Wellington branch), T. Long (secretary of the Auckland braicli), R. Breon (secretary of the Otago branch), and the Hon. ,T. Barr (secretary of the Canterbury branch), the Hon. J. T. Paul, M.L.C., and Messrs. 11. Davey, G. Laurcnson, .1. F. Arnold, P. M. B. Fisher, D. M'Laren, and W. D. S. Maedonald, members of Parliament. Mr. M'Lartn explained that tho deputation wishel to discuss with tho Mini/ter the position which had arisen as a result of the non-administration of the Shops and Offices Act in relation to private hotels. 'H some of the private hotels in Auckland girls were being employed for as much as 105 hours a week for' a wage of 10s. This no regarded as a most outrageous statu of affairs, demanding instant remedy. Mr. Biven said tho recent decision of tho Arbitration Court in Auckland had forced the union to take immediate action to have this injustice removed. The grievance was particularly an Auckland one, but it was of general application lliroughoiit the Dominion. The Court had refused to make an award controlling the private hotels in Christchurch, it had made one in Wellington, and now had declined to grant: an award in Auckland. Tho deputation asked that the Act should be put into operation to remedy the injustico under which tho workers in these houses were labouring. Labour Department's Doctrine. Mr. Long said that on several occasions ho had urged upon the officers of the Department the necessity of bringing tho amending Act of last session into operation. He failed to obtain any satisfaction, and the union then filed a dispute against fourteen of the largest private hotels in Auckland city, and the. ease was heard a fortnight ago. The Arbitration Court refused an award on the ground that: the Legislature had apparently decided to deal with the hours in privalo hotels, oyster saloons and tearooms. Tho Act defined private hotels as those in which single meals and beds were sold, and there were places within this description to which the Act had not been applied. The Minister■ Every private hotel l» under an award, and is being administered by tho Act. Boardinghouses aro not being touched. Mr. Long: No attempt has been made to bring under tho Act places which are distinctly private hotels. The Minister replied that tho Department had been instructed to take action at once in tho caso of houses where single meals and beds were sold, and in. which the provisions of tho Shops and Offices Act were being ignored. Instructions had been given to test the position in Auckland. lie had alrev:ly refused to bring boardinghouses under "the Act, u:i.l the Government had no intention of retreating from its position. Mr. 1/ong said the union could make out. a good caso in support of its contention that proteatioi -.liould bo given to the workers in a house like one in Auckland, where a stall' of nineteen was employed. It was absolutely impossible for anyonii to obtain a meal there, but the house was in ev;ry respect a private hotel catering for the travelling public, and in direct competition with tlw principal licenced hotels. Tho Minister: It is a boardinghous» from a. legal point of view. Mr. Long added that at another Auckland boardinghouse which could accommodate between 150 and '200 guests, the female employees were worked outrageously long hours. In fact every one of the fourteen houses cited by the union had a daily tariff, was in direct competition with tho licensed houses, and was in tho view of the union a private hotel. Workers in restaurants dispensing sixpenny meals had been given an award but those in establishments such as lie had mentioned where the minimum tariff was 10s. per day had been refused protection. Mr. Fisher: They are precisely tho same as the hotels except that they had n.) bar. Anyone can go t'o them for a single night:. The Minister: They are not privato hotels. No one can go into one of them and demand a single meal or a bed. ' Wo are not satisfied with the Court's decision and wo are going to take a test ease to decide whether Glenalvon is a privato hotel. Wo hope to provo that it is. Mr. Paul: These big private hotels will take any respectable client. The Minister: But it is optional. Ha declared that if boardinghouses wore to be brought under tho Act he would rs. peal tho provisions governing privato hotels. Sir. Fisher: Why not define public* boardinghouses? Could it not be dono by numbers? Tho Minister replied that the difficult) was to draw the lino between a publit boardinghouse and a private house. Continuing, Mr. Long said that Mr. Scott stated from the Beneli that the private hotels were covered by tho Shops and Offices Act of 1910, but it was of such general application that the Department dare not put it into operation. The Minister said that his reply to Mr. Scott was that every private hotel had been brought under the Act. Mr. E. J. Carey said the Act was being administered in every privato hotel in Wellington. The Minister: And in Dunodin and Christchurch also. Mr. Barr: Correct. Mr. Brceu: Ye?, but according to the Department, all that is ended now. "Stultified and Nullified." Mr. Carey said that the action of tho Department had stultified and nullified tho Act. Parliament should have enacted legislation this session to give effect to its original intention. The Court had granted protection to the workers in private hotels in Dunedin, Wellington, and Roforua, but it refused an award to the girls in Auckland, who were working outrageously long hours. He expressed his opinion that when the term "private hotel" was introduced in tho Act the opinion of the Crown Law Office should have been obtained, so that a correct interpretation might have been provided. The Minister sharply retorted that lie had learned one moral from this statement. Mr. Carey had asked liini to insert the amendment when the Bill was going through Committee, and he had agreed to do so. Now he complained that the opinion of the Crown Law Office had not been obtained. In future hu would not amend a Bill at Mr. Carey's request after it had been dealt with by the Labour Bills Committee. Mr. Barr said that tho administration of the Act in Christchurch had been entirely satisfactory. The complaint there was against tho Arbitration Court, which had oil three occasions refused to give an award covering the employees in private hotels. In Rotorua the' Court had made an award covering exactly the same class of house. The solution of such a difficult matter must depend on a more sympathetic consideration by the Arbitration Court, and if that result could not bo attained through the Court as at present constituted, then the personnel of tho Court must be altered. (Hear, hear.) The Solution. The Minister: I believe the solution is to wipe out the private hotels altogether. Mr. Paul said tho Legislature should bo able to devise a remedy. "If the Arbitration Court is to be saved," ho declared, "the position must be considered at once. In the interests of the large majority of tho workers, wo must keep the Court in existence. A tremendous danger is threatening it, and we are faced with the loss of one of the most beneficial pieces of legislation this country has ever had." Mr. Paul added that the Court was devised l'or tho protection of the woak uiiiou?, and that vight was now denied them. A suggested definition was that u private hotel was a placo iu which lodg-

ing was provided for the travelling public for lesser-periods than ono week. The Minister's Reply. The Minister, in his reply, said that from tho first he had declined, and ho did so now, to bring in any amendment of the Shops and Offices Act which would bring tho ordinary boardinghouse under tho Act. Messrs. Paul and Long: We do not ask for that. Mr. Millar continued that ho had dono his best in tho past, and the result had been that ho had been blackguarded throughout tho country by the very men for whom lie had worked. Someone else might stand it, hut he would not. - .Air. Long: 'Jlhat is an extraordinary statement. Mr. Millar: T make it with a full sense of responsibility. He explained that the criticism had been published in the newspapers. Mr. Oarey interjected that tho Employers' Federation had challenged the Minister to bring the amended Act into operation. Mr. Millar: I do not care for the Employers' Federation. I shall not be bounced by it or by the Cooks' Union. I shall see that legislation is made in the interests of tho workers, and I shall stand by them, as I have always done. I have never done anything else, and I am not going to start now. Mr. Millar said that tho linion was blaming tho Labour Department for something the Court had done. The Department would bring a test case in Auckland to see whether the big boardinghouses could be brought under tho Act, and that case would -bo carried as far as necessary to determine the position. When it was settled, he would consider the matter. There was no time to amend the Act this session, but there might be an opportunity of going into the matter luoio fully after the ejections. Regarding the Arbitration Court, Mr. Millar said that he had already stated on the floor of the House that the constitution of the Court would havo to be altered. Very careful consideration must be given to devise a constitution that would carry out what was intended by the existing legislation, which was now wide enough to cover every class of labour. Ho did not approve of the present Court, and lie was going to alter it if Parliament would assist him. Regarding tho girls who were working 105 hours a week, Mr. Millar said that the Women's Employment Hureau in Auckland could find positions in domestic scrvieo for all of them at 15s. per week.