SHOPS AND OFFICES.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 89, 12 October 1904, Page 5

SHOPS AND OFFICES.

THE TOWN v. COUNTRY ISSUE. THE OPPOSITION VIEW OF LABOUR LEGISLATION. At 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon the House again went into Committee on the Shops and Offices Bill, the interpretation clause being under consideration. Mr. T. Mackenzie said if the present law was stringently administered, as threatened by the Premier, it would work very harshly in country districts in regard to the delivery of goods, seeing that it would be a breach of the Act if a man drove home from delivering gooA after 1 p.m. on the haft holiday. It was impossible to fix a regular hour for the return of delivery carts. Mr. J. C. Thomson thought it would be sufficient to provide that the man in charge df the delivery carts should not solicit orders. This is a new departure, said the Leader of the Opposition, /who pointed out that under the Act of 1894 a man who delivered goods was not a shop assistant, as this Bill proposed he should be. That was going too far, and such a change was not asked for and was not wanted, and would act very harshly on the countrjr storekeepers. Mr. Wilford stated that under tho Act of 1896 the person who delivered goods was included in the definition of shop assistants. The Leader of the Opposition: Yes; but not in regard to hours. Mr. Wilford said at one time a batch of informations was laid against country storekeepers. It was pointed out in one case the man could not possibly get back at closing time, and since then no informations had been laid against, country storekeepers. The Premier said the present proposal was exactly the law as laid down by the Act of 1896. Mr. Duthie: It is inoperative. . The Premier: It is operating in the direction of checking what was an abuse before we passed that Act. Unless there was some such law assistants would D? kept in the shop till 1 p.m. on SaihTdays, and then sent out all day delivering orders. The way out of the difficulty was to provide that the return .journey after delivery should not count. Eitae.that, or they should let the law stand as at present, and only take action in unreasonable cases. The troubles of the country storekeepers vere debated on these lines for some time, and various proposals were made as to the best way to relieve the country storekeeper from the difficulty, and at the same time to j'revsnt the assistants bein.* wrongly done by. In the course of a strong appeal on behalf of the country districts, Mr. A. L. D. Fraser hinted that if he had to stop here till Chxistmas the Bill would not pass, in its present form. Mr. T. Mackenzie's suggestion for the solution of the difficulty was to insert a proviso that the definition of "shop assistant" should not apply to country storekeepers' regular delivery carts, boats, or packhorses delivering bona-fide madeup packages or receiving farm produce, such delivery or reception not to be made within a borough or within three miles of a borough, nor within a district with regard to which an award has been made under the Arbitration Act in this respect. After the dinner adjournment, the Premier urged that the area within which the proposed exemption should apply ought to be within five miles of a borough. Mr. T. Mackenzie agreed with this, but said his proposal meant that a, storekeeper in a borough should not be exempted from the operation of the clause if his assistant delivered goods within three miles of the borough in which he had his business. Sir W. Russell did not know that even this would do, and he remarked that ,' every day we are tinkering and tinkering until the country howls with pure annoyance." It was, he urged, inexpedifnt to mike a hari and fast law for all parts of the countiy. They must have separate legislation for the towns, for a law which would operate beneficially in a town might easily be a great hardship in the country. Eventually the Premier accepted the principle of the amendment proposed by Mr. T. Mackenzie, and moved a new proviso on those lines, the distance from a borough being, however, altered to five miles. Mr. T. Mackenzie, however, said he was going to stick to his own amendment. Alter further discussion, the Premier nioyed that the interpretation of shop assistant should not apply to persons carrying on business in boroughs of not les? than 1500 inhabitants. This appeared to satisfy Mr. T. Mackenzie, but members found fault even then, pointing out instances in which its operation would be anomalous. Mr. Taylor resented the determined opposition which, he said, was shown to the Bill by certain members, although the principle of the Bill had been accepted by the colony for years, and remarked that if the Bill was to be stonewalled and wrecjked, the sooner that announcement was made the better. These remarks brought a dozen members to their feet, and country representatives again set themselves to point out that special consideration must be shown the country districts, Mr. Jennings suggesting that the question should be relegated to a committee of country members. Mr. Remington, however, said the country storekeepers were as a-nxious as anybody for their employees to have the weekly half holiday, and those in his district had represented that they had no difficulty in delivering their goods, and they were anxious to be brought tinder the Act. The suggestion was also made by Mr. Laurenson that the opponents of the Bill were anxious to bring about its death— a suggestion that was repudiated by Mr. Jennings and others, who urged that all they asked was a slight amendment in the interests of the country districts. Mr. Jennings added that *if the necessary amendment was not made he would oppose the. clause as long aa he was able. At this point the Chairman^ in, reply

to a question, 6aid the Committee was really discussing only one amendment (although several had been moved) — viz., to alter the definition of "shop assistant" by exempting employees who deliver goods. To remove a possible misapprehension tke Leader of the Opposition made an official explanation. It had been said, he remarked, that the Opposition wanted to go Jjack on existing legislation — on the legislation which had been accepted for the past ten years. There were two forms of opposition — the official Opposition and the opposition to the Bill, and he thought it would be admitted by the Premier himself that a great many members of his own party were included in the, opposition to the Bill. Speaking for the official Opposition, he said they had not the intention or desire to go back on the legislation, of the past ten years, which legislation had been accepted by the people of the country. They had no wish to go back on the weekly half-holiday, or the Arbitration Court, or the fixing of the hours of labour. There* was, however, a real difficulty pointed out by country members, and his proposal was that the definition of "shop assistant" should only apply to the four large centres, or any borough within ten miles thereof, or any other borough in connection with which the local authorities may apply to the Gover-nor-in-Council. "We thank the Leader of the Opposition ior nothing," retorted M». Taylor, who added that if the. Leader of the Opposition had twice his present following behind him the country would sweep him off his feet if he dared to repeal the main Act of 1894. Mr. Duthie did not think that such remarks were justified. The Opposition had not in any way expressed a desire to go back; they merely desired to go no farther, thinking that this experimental legislation had gone far euough Mr. Harding said those who were opposing the clause were prepared to accept the clause, providing that country storekeepers were exempted from its operation. The charge was made by Mr. Taylor that the opponents of the Bill were desirous of taking away the half-holiday from the country employees — a charge that was met by a storm of denials and a fierce reiteration by Mr. Taylor*, who contended that the storekeepers' assistants both in town and country must have their half-holiday protected by legislation. Eventually the Committee decided on the voices that employees engaged in delivering goods shall be included in the definition of "shop assistant." The Premier then moved a new paragraph providing that the definition shall not apply to persons engaged in delivering by vehicle, boat, or pack-horse, on any other day than the statutory half-holiday, goods which have been ordered and Dona fide made up, or in receiving farm produce or kauri gum, from persons outside not nearer than three miles from any borough or town district other than that in which the occupier's premises are situated, and outside any area comprised within any award of the Arbitration Court, provided that the increase of hours shall not be more than three hours in any one week. This was agreed to on the voices, and the clause as amended was added to the Bill. Clause 3, fixing the hours of employment at 52, excluding meal times, was next considered. Mr. Baume moved an amendment to provide that the provision should be subject to any existing or future awards of the Arbitration Court. Mr. Duthie doubted whether the provisions in the clause regarding payment for overtime were necessary. Assistants as present were paid for overtime and Government regular holidays, and he questioned whether it was wise to dis* turb the existing relations between employer^ and employed. The present concussions were far in excess of the exigencies, and the present provisions simply brought the parties into harsh mercenary relations. To this the Premier replied that the Government hiwi received petitions for relief from the present conditions signed by 30,000 people. The Government had fixed the maximum hours of factories, of miners, of children ; why should they not fix those of shop assistants, and say that if they worked longer they should be paid overtime? For a certain clasb of employers they must fix the maximum number of hours. The debate proceeded at great lengtn, which led the Premier to remark \vit'» considerable emphasis that he was going on with the Biil, if it took this week, the week after, and the week-after that. Mr. Baume's amenlment was agreed to on the voices. The Premier then moved that ' women and children should not be employed between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. on four d^s a week and 9 p.m. and B.a.m. on one day of the week. This was agraed to, and the clause as amended was added to the Bill. At clause 8, "shops to close on statutory closing day," the Colonial Secretary moved to provide that in the event of any other day than Saturday being appointed by the local authority as closing day, any shopkeeper shall be entitled to close his shop on Saturday on due notice being given. i This was agreed to on the voices, and progress was then (1 a.m.) reported on the Bill.