INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 16034, 14 September 1912, Page 13

INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS.

LABOUR LAWS NOT A FAILURE. WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS. SWEATING ABOLISHED. OTHER INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS. [From Our Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, September 13. Twenty-ono years ago the Department of Labour began its operations tinder the title of “ Bureau of Industries ” with a staff of three. To-day ft has a staff of eighty-eight officers. *• When established,” says Mr Lomas, (Secretary for Labour, in his annual fnport, “ its chief work was an endeavour to meet the unemployed, difficulty, which was then most pressing in all the larger towns. To-day, though this work is an important branch, tho duty of administering the labour laws forms the chief responsibility of the Department. Some of these IaWB have served as models for other countries to copy, and it is probable that in some respects our legislation is more humane and farreaching than any yet adopted elsewhere.”

After instancing the Factories Act, the Workers’ Compensation Act and the Shops and Offices Act as examples, Mr Lomas remarks: “Of all the laws administered by the Department, however, the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, passed originally in 1894, calls for tho exercise of the greatest tact and judgment. In these latter days 'there, are critics who declaim for ita early repeal, but I do not think that the workers themselves as a whole, or the employers, or even the community generally, are dissatisfied with its principle and desire to see a return to what may in Now Zealand be regarded as the old strike methods of Securing redress in industrial disputes. The number of Union cancellations towards the end of the past year showed an appreciable decline, and there apEars to be no marked tendency on the rt of the large Unions now registered break away from the Act. In surveying tho twenty-one years’ history of the Department, I look back upon a record of great and lasting work accomplished by the, operation of the humanitarian laws administered by the Department, and the outstanding feature of all is the total abolition of Sweating of the workers and a recognition, hard-won perhaps, from both employers and workers, that each has gained some mutual benefit by the operation of the labour laws of Now Zealand.” According to tho report, tho past year has been about normal, no great fluctuation being noticeable in trade, while, generally speaking, all branches pf industry have been steadily busy, the number of men assisted to work was 5735, a decrease of 1367 on 1910-11. In the first year of the Department’s operations 2593 were found employment, while tho biggest year in this branch was 1908-9, when the nntnber reached 10,391. SOME FACTORY FEATURES. The number of factories in tne dominion now is 12,847, of which 5263 are in the four chief cities, as against 5159 the previous year, out of a total of 12,768. Auckland comes first with 1608, Christchurch having 1322, Wellington 1177, and Dunedin 1156. Christchurch and Dunedin have each two factories each employing over 500 hands, while Wellington’s two largest factories each employs loss than 450, and Auckland’s two largest cadi under 350 hands. A gratifying feature of factory employment is the decrease in young persons between 14 and 16 years Employed, the percentage of such workers ‘being now les9 than 23 per cent, ns against 25 2-3 per cent in 1908-9. Tho permits issued to hoys and girls between 14 and 16 were 1106 and 1293 respectively for the year, a decrease of 5 boys and an increase of 20 girls over the numbers for the preceding year. Accidents in factories during the past year increased from 872 to 1020, but the number of serious ones fell from !77 to 55, while fatal accidents numbered 11, as against 12 in 1910-11. Tho increase in the total is ascribed to the fact that employers' now report even the slightest mishaps, some of which in past years were Careful Inquiries are made into the cause of feach accident by the Department, and any machinery requiring extra safeguards to protect life and limb is at Dnoe attended to. Mr Lomas suggests that first aid appliances, should be compulsory for all factories, where machinery is used. He considers another useful provision to insert in tho Act would be one forbidding workers and others from placing belting on machinery which is in motion. He also expresses tho opinion that tho Factories Act should provide, in the absence of an agreement to tho contrary, that ono week’s notice should be necessary by employers or by workers in regard to termination of employment. A MATTER FOR CONSIDERATION. At the present timo there are 16,577 shops and hotels in the dominion, with a total of 48,938 employees. The wages paid in the four atres puts Auckland first with a wage bill of £318,918, Christchurch £308,132, Wellington £285,961, and Dunedin £234,78-1. There were 298 prosecutions against shopkeepers during the year, an increase of 98, and.of that number six were dismissed. Touching the complaints ihat have been made by hotel

and restaurant employees respecting the ruling of tho Supremo Court that private hotels should be excluded from tho provisions of tho Act limiting tho hours of work, etc., it has been suggested, states Mr Lomas, that the difficulty might ho got over by including such private hotels as employ more than three assistants. Tho matter is one that should receive the consideration of tho Government, he observes. THE UNION ASPECT. Discussing tho question of breaches of award, tho report says:—“Tho general tendency of tho registration of Unions has been to amalgamate them in the different branches of industries within the respective districts rather than in tho direction of splitting the ■differAvfc unions up into smaller bodies, but I think in cases where the interests of two sections of workers in one industry may at times bo even opposed to ono another the question of their being registered separately under tho Act should rcceivo consideration. The work in connection with tho registration of industrial unions continues to bo fairly regular. For the year ended March 31, 1912. twentyeight workers’ unions (with 2180 members) and six employers’ unions (with 165 members) were registered, whilst' seventeen workers’ unions voluntarily Cancelled registration. Four associations of workers were also registered during the period. The provisions of tho Act permitting of the amalgamation of unions in tho ono industry was responsible, for tho cancellation of four unions which amalgamated and registered under one name. SCARCITY OF WOMEN WORKERS.Iho women a emplojunent branches assisted 2210 persons to employment during the past year, a slight "decrease on the figures of the preceding year. ■-’Ll' Lomas states that the reports from officers all emphasise the fact that tho difficulty of securing women workers grows more acute each year. THE SEDGWICK EXPERIMENT. Speaking of the “ Sedgwick ” boys the Secretary remarks of tho trial importation of 50 for farm work that 37 have made good progress and given the Department no trouble. Six have been less satisfactory, but are expected to turn out all right eventually, and tho remaining 7 he' puts down as unlikely to prove successful. Considering the environments from which the boys came, the strangoness of their new surroundings, and their inexperience in farm work and life he thinks that the scheme has on the whole worked satisfactorily. It is doubtful, he adds, if a larger percentage of 50 city colonial boys would have been loyal to their employers and to the Department. “A rather. ’’©markable featuro in connection with the boys who have been unfavourably reported on is that thev are all over the maximum age fixed by the. Department for selection by Mr Sedgwick, viz., eighteen years,” says Mr Lomas, who sums up the subject by expressing the opinion that it has been a valuable experiment, and if full and legal control could be gained over the boys it would tend to perfecting the scheme. Right at the root of tho matter, however, lies the necessity for greater care to be taken in the selection of the boys. Character should form the first requirement, then good health and evidence of physical wellbeing. In no case should town boys, who are over tho age of seventeen years be selected for farm work in New ZealandCHRISTCHURCH CONDITIONS,

The Labour Department’s Christ■church representative describes the yoh-r just closed as a normal one. The amount of business done, in the retail trades lias been very satisfactory, and trade has not fluctuated so much as in former years. There has been nothing to indicate greater prosperity; but, on the other hand, there was nothing to suggest a falling-off in tho volume of business. Money has been fairly plentiful. The slight dislocation of business caused by the transport strike in Great Britain, which considerably delayed the arrival of a large amount of early spring goods and caused a late season in the drapery-line, has had its good effect, as it enabled shopkeepers to dispose of ’existing stock that is usually disposed of at sale prices. Considerably less overtime was worked in factories this year than was worked last year. Tin’s is accounted for by the fact that orders have come to hand more regularly, and in consequence moro work was made up during ordinary working hours. Manufacturers report that the volume of business done has been quite up to that of former years, and in some cases has been considerably above it. Special precautions have beon taken in regard to the means of exit from workrooms, situated above tne ground floor. Thero is still a shortage of boy and female labour for factories and domestic servico. Breaches of award resulted in sixtv-six employers and eleven workers being prosecuted, and penalties totalling £62 imposed. The Shops and Offices Acthas been very well observed, considering the large number of different trades coming under its provisions and the many non-employers of labour who formerly bad very little knowledge of tho labour laws. Tho early closing movement- seems to bo gaining ground. Registered factories in tho district nnv-Vr 1322, and the employees 21,865.