CHRISTCHURCH EMPLOYERS AND THE FACTORIES BILL.

Evening Post, Volume XL, Issue 31, 5 August 1890, Page 3

CHRISTCHURCH EMPLOYERS AND THE FACTORIES BILL.

Ohbistchuroh, 4th August. A largely attended meeting of shopkeepers and employera of labour, held, to-tii^ht to SoWßidWr ftuP Shot and "Factories 1 rßill,r Bill, tynailmoasly resolved " Thai in the opinion of this meeting the Faotory and Shops Bill now before the Honao is altogether unneaessary, harassing, and oalonlated to injure and retard trade and industry. The 'ciroumstances of manufaoUre in New Zealand do not require snoh legislation,' air it" ia ovident from the inquiry and report of the reoent Sweating Commission that the present Employment of Females and Others Aot io workjng-Mtlsfab'tprily'; and \l properly jMminißterod is all th,at is neoessary in re«n ; Ming labour in this country. " Tho mooting strongly Qbjeoted. to the inspector under the Aot befntr appointed otherwise than directly by the Government, and considered that the inspector's duties as defined in the Bill are officious and inquisitorial, and the informs* tlon required to be given by employers will entail unnecessary labour and expenoe ; that tho sanitary provision* of the Bill are already fully provided for in the existing Health Aat s that the olanse providing spqoial dining rooms for omplovfo, with furniture, is oppressive and impraotioablo j that the suggested amotdment in oonnootion with tho employment of female typesetters under 18 is uniust and unnecessary; that the closing of manufactories and ahops and payment of holidays would be a serious tax upon the manufacturers and employers of labour ; that the proposed Shops Bill is nnneoesiary, and has been proved, after five years' experienoe in Melbourne of compulsory shop olosing, to bo unworkable, and objected to alike by employers and employes ; that the hours shops are open generally in New Zealand are less, and the pay of shop assistants greater, than in many other parts of the world ; that the meeting takes exception to the proposed exemptions in the Bill, whioh, if carried, should be general in all oases, and that seotion 60 is unworkable. Auckland, 4th August. In his address at a meeting of the Bay of Islands Coal Company to-day, tho Chairman (Dr. Campbell) said that the oompany had now to face the Union question, and. it remained to bo seen whether the negotiations now in progress between them and their workmon would end satisfactorily ; bat it was oertain that if the mine could not pay its way it wonld hire' to be closed. " n I ChkißtohiJkch, This Dat. It is understood that a 'movement is qn fodf to fdrjft a a lldion of capitalists and employers qf labour in Ch,rißtohuroh..