JUVENILE LABOUR

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 190, 8 May 1943, Page 4

JUVENILE LABOUR

Children Under 14 Years In Factories 480 IN YEAR 1941-42

In the Supreme Court, Wellington, recently the judge expressed surprise and the Crown prosecutor said he was “rather horrified" to find that a young girl had been working in a factory since she was 13 year's of age. The latest itvailable report of the Department of Labour shows that during the year ended March 31, 1942, 4208 children under the age of 19 years and 480 under the age of 14 years were granted permits to work in New Zealand factories. Of the children under 1(5 years 21103 were boys and 2145 were girls; of those under 14, 196 were boys, and 284 were girls. In comment the report spates: “The inspector is to .be satisfied before issuing a certificate that the boy or girl to whom it relates is of the age specified therein and is fit for the employment. Further, under section 27, a boy or girl under 14 years of age shall not be employed except in special cases authorized in writing by the inspector. Certificates are not issued lightly to boys and girls under 14 and are endorsed to the effect that the boy or girl concerned must not 'be employed on any machine in any workroom in which machinery is used. Inquiries by the department definitely established that boys and girls below the age stated were not being employed on machines. It may be that in some ’workrooms girls under 14 are employed on power machines of the standard type,, but the work is usually of a comparatively light nature.” An official of the department stated yesterday that the figure of -ISO permits issued to children under 14 during the year ended March, 19'42, could be taken to represent the total number of children of that age engaged in factory work in tne year concerned. It was definitely against the policy ot the department to issue permits to children under 13. An official of the Wellington district office of the department said that permits were not granted to children under 16 unless they were considered to be physically strong enough for the work and had from the Education Department a certificate that they had passed the fourth standard. In the case of those under 14 a certificate ot exemption was required from the Education Department. The secretary of the New Manufacturers’ Federation, Mr. D. I. Macdonald, said that the federation opposed the exploitation of juvenile labour in any form and had supported the policy of raising the school leaving age. The extreme shortage of 'labour at present, howeter, naturally meant that some under-age permits needed to be granted to maintain .production. The number was small and ‘ they were issued only after full consideration by the Department of Labour. » '