The Hastings Standard Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1896. FACTORY LEGISLATION.

Hastings Standard, Issue 74, 22 July 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1896. FACTORY LEGISLATION.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

Imitation, it is said, is the sincerest form of flattery, and, judged by this, the present Government should feel highly flattered over their labor legislation. Mr Seddon and his colleagues have not received the full measure of praise for their efforts on behalf of the working classes, and yet it must be confessed that ever since the present party assumed the reins of government Acts of Parliament safeguarding the rights and privileges of the workers have found their way into the statutebook in quick succession. So great has been the volume of the labor legislation that the workers themselves have been sorely tempted to cry out " Stop ! " It is needless to say that our labor laws are not all perfect, and will not reach that stage until given a fair and foil trial and the ascertained

defects remedied. The labor legislation of the Seddon Administration was a new departure, and although the other side can claim to have introduced Labor Bills, they cannot assert with truth that they made any genuine effort to get those Bills passed by Parliament. The credit of turning Bills into Acts rests with the present Government. The Factories Act of New Zealand has furnished the sister colonies with the basis for similar laws, and the latest to imitate the ways of our Government is New South Wales, where last week the Factories Bill introduced into Parliament by the Democratic Reid Government has been under discussion and passed its second reading. Not so long ago it was cabled from South Australia that the Government of that colony wa3 watching the proposed New Zealand experiment to stop usury and to establish State pawn shops. The Advances to Settlers Department has been copied by South Australia, the Labor Bureau has found its counter part in nearly all the other colonies, and so the progressive legislation proposed and carried by the present Government is copied by the other colonies. This is not merely flattery, it shows beyond doubt that the legislation is of that character which is calculated to benefit the greatest number, otherwise it would never be imitated by our neighbors. Many hard things have been said of Mr Seddon and his ministerial colleagues, and we have not spared them in our criticism, but we believe in giving credit where credit is due and we delight in saying that the labor legislation of the present Government, though far from being perfect, is in the right direction, and its adoption by the other colonies is ample proof of the soundness and usefulness of that legislation. Whatever may be the faults of the present Government, their labor legislation stands as a monument to their credit.