FORTY-HOUR WEEK

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 201, 22 May 1936, Page 12

FORTY-HOUR WEEK

Christchurch Solicitors Seek Exemption GIVE-AND-TAKE SYSTEM Seventy-four Christ'cliurch solicitors signed a petition which was presented to the House of Representatives yesterday seeking the exclusion of solicitors’ offices from the provisions of the Shops and Offices Amendment Act. The petition was presented by Mr. S. G. Holland (Opposition, Christchurch North).

The petitioners, claiming that they are representative of the legal profession in Canterbury, ask that the definition of “'office'’ in the Shops and Offices Act which excludes solicitors’ offices should be retained and that solicitors’ offices should continue to be exempt from the provisions of the Act. They state that if the exemption is not continued the profession as a whole wi'l be gravely handicapped in rendering professional service to the public, particularly to that big section who are employees and are aide Io seek professional assistance only after hours. It is claimed that the whole conditions surrounding the work in the legal profession are such as to be distinguished from the conditions of mercantile, industrial and commercial occupations and callings. Much of the professional work, it is contended, is of a peremptory nature, which it is found impossible Io coniine within prescribed hours, and a practitioner attending at court all day must do h's urgent work at night and have his staff in attendance. It is also contended that the relationship between legal employees and employers is one cf mutual confidence and reciprocal ion. and that without lhe maintenance >f that relationship it would he difficult to continue tlie standard of integrity of the service given to Hie public: that by inclusion in the Act solicitors would not be able to offer the same scope for employment and that-, as It is, solicitors are accustomed to allow their employees every opportunity *o acquire practical experience and professional skill, an assistance which would be considerably limited by the provisions of the Act. The pel it ion also mentions that it is the practice for solicitors throughout the Dominion tc open their offices for a" average of 38 hours a week, to give legttl employees approximately 30 days holiday tin ntially and to allow them to attend university lectures and prepare for ex aminations. For those .concessions employees were accustomed to reciprocate by working longer hours if called on. The petition concludes that the inclusion of solicitors’ offices in the Act would bo detrimental f o the public interest. the petitioners and their employees: that because of different conditions the provisions of the Act wouid bo inapplicable to the solicitors’ offices' and that an embarrassing burden would be placed on the petitioners who would not bo as free as formerly to give the utmost service to the public.

Returned soldiers in Wellington prefer to be given work to do in return for assistance received, the position apparently being the reverse to that in Dunedin, from where it was reported earlier in the week that a number of unemployed returned soldiers considered that they should receive cash payments from Poppy Day funds instead of having to work on jobs subsidised by Hie fund. Following discussion of the Dunedin Press message, the executive "f the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ tsKoci.'ition authorised the secretary to -lute that it had alwa;..- been the policy <>f the association to find work wherever possible, and this, policy was salisfac<ory to the association, the men, and the employing public.