SHOPS AND OFFICES BILL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7939, 22 October 1904, Page 4

SHOPS AND OFFICES BILL.

As considerable interest has been manifested locally in the .Shops and. Offices Bill, a brief summary of the alterations made in the Bill during its stormy passage through committee should be of interest to our readers. In the first place solicitors' offices, mining companies' offices, and miners' union offices are excluded from the operations of the Bill. Then the persons described as shop assistants who come under the operation of the Bill are narrowed down by striking out all reference to those " indirectly employed" by.the occupier.of a shop, and a new paragraph is added providing that the Bill shall not apply to persons engaged in delivering" by vehicle, boat. oi\ pack-horse, 0 n any other day than that fixed for the statutory half-holiday, goods which have been ordered,, and bona fidernade-up packages, or in receiving produce or kauri gum from persons outside, and not nearer than threemiles to any borough or town district other than that in which the employer's shop is situated, and outside any area comprised within, the award, of the. Arbitration Court, and the delivery of the goods being to, or" the receiving of the produce or kauri gum from, persons residing not less than four miles from the shop of any employer; provided that the return to the shop of the person delivering the goods or receiving the produce shall not, under ordinary circumstances, be more than.three hours beyond the hour limited to be employed in any week. The hours of employment are passed-as* originally in the Bill, except that a new paragraph has been added to prohibit the employment, of women and girls after six o'clock on four days of the week, or after eight on one day of the week, the remaining day being, of course, the half-holiday. There is also added a paragraph to the effect-that the whole of the provisions of the Bill with respect to hours are subject .tothe awards of the .Arbitration Court, or in other words, the Court may, if it sees fit, fix'a;l6nge_ working day than is prpvided'ih the, Bill. .. ,'■:.. ': /.'■■/ _■.

The proposed poll on a cornpulsbry •Saturday half-holiday , was struck out, and the "half-holiday is to be fixed as at present by conference among the local bodies., Any . shopkeeper desiring ;to close on any. other day than that fixed by the conference, may do so on giving notice to the -inspector. Among the. classes of shops which:are not compelled to ..observe a. half-holiday are added coffee-houses, eatinghouses, and bakersj and it is .also provided, that shops in which there are post offices* may-keep open for postal, telephone, or telegraphic

business. can- keep" open for the /,'salei.of /urgentme<3icines, but. words have been added.; that they can be open for -that purpose? only.; clauses to give a compulsory: half-holiday to assistants in hotels,; eatinghousesr etc.,' are struck out andin theirplace there is added a simple clause of three lines^that all^^assistants .m\hoteVbars shailjiave a half onsome;'day-ipf tfe week;. Tlri^applies only to. the as sistants'ih thfebars. *;' The clause A to prevent the em-*: •ployment of barmaids aft'erTsevenin..the; evening; is struck Tout. r-Th*e p6wers of * inspectors /under" the Act arerlimitca to the: extent > that;;'they: cannot inspect books' other than wages and time books; ;The"bill," if cwiUbe remembered, passed .itsfinal* stages; mthe^Hduse 6 [sentatives .his week■•'by.'6lvotes to 3._."