Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1909. THE SHOPS ACT AND MILK DISTRIBUTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, 5 February 1909, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1909. THE SHOPS ACT AND MILK DISTRIBUTION.

AN EMBARRASSING ANOMALY. LAST week there Was pnblished in our columns a notification fron the Inspector of Factories to local milkmen that they broke .the law as laid down by the' Shops and Offices Act by delivering milk to customers on the statutory half-holiday, which happens to be Saturday for ths time-being. The point involved is that by an amondment of the Act the term "shop" becomes peri, patetic. If a woman who happens to be a neighbour to, say, a grocer, and running out of sugar gets a cupful from the grocer during the half-holi-day hours, paying for it in cash, or letting it be put down next day to her account, the- grocer's shop for the purpose of the Act is then and there at the fence or ba«k door where the sugar has been handed over. The idea, of course, is to prevent the undue competition of hawkers and peddlars with stationary shops, and to minimise the employment of labour after statutory hours of those engaged in the delivery of orders. The intention, like that of most laws, is good ; but th c application is in the hands of _ officials who may or may not be permitted to exercise discretion in imparting some elasticity dictated by common sense and a recognition of the maxim that the wellbeing of the people is the supreme law. As a result, there is a likelihood of She new provision being made oppressive, and distinctly against the common well-being in certain instances, among which any interference with the delivery of milk stands out conspicuously. 9 • • • • As matters exist in Nelson at present the statutory half-holiday is Saturday. Under conditions that will come into force, permarently or temporarily, next month, the day will bo Wednesday again. According to the interpretation of the amended Shops and Offices Act by the local Inspector of Factories, as dairies are not within the exempted shops it will be illegal to deliver milk to customers on Saturday afternoons this month, and on Wednesday afternoons next month. But it must be borno in mind that the embargo does not stop at that point. Unexempted shops — in fact, all shops — are supposed to include the whole of Sunday as within prohibited sale hours Consequently, to be logical, with a statutory half-holiday on Saturday there could bo no legal milk delivery from 1 p.m. on Saturday till 6 or 7 a.m. en Monday— a period of thirtysix hours or so. Tho result of the riuiri application of the law as here interpreted would cause a righteous revolt among mothers of fsmilies, doctors, nurses, nurseries, creches, orphanages, hospitals, convaljscent homes, sjek-beds — among all people, households, and institutions for the care of the sick and the young generally, especially in the summer months. Even whore a* statutory half -holiday was in the m-'ddle of the week, the prohibition i of milk distribution for twenty-four hours would birir.g ab^nt such a complete dislocation of domestic and mediral arrangements that the Legislature mifcht have to be called together, emercently to amond the law so as to give milk-vending a special exemption in relation to Sunday. Realising the cont ; ng»n>:y of a popnla' revolt under the imaginary conditions here set out, the administrators of the law "wink" at its breach. But apparently it has been overlooked that by attempting to apply the interpretation of a peripatetic shop to milk-carts on statutory halfholidavs tho whole question of the logical enforcement of tlie law relating to sales of goodd within prohibited hours hn. been opened for discussion.. • * * • * • In naming cerlaiu callings for exemption from the application of the half-holiday prohibition no one in the Legislature gave a thought to milk-dis-tribution, probably for the reason that, it is often the obvious that is overlooked. Neither in its letter nor in its spirit does the law contemplate hindrance for a single hour throughout the year of the distribution of an article of human food the purity of which depends so vitally upon its freshness. On the contrary, all legislation relating to tho control, of dairies and the distribution of milk is directed towards ensuring the retention of absolute purity by means of cleanliness in the byre and ,prompt delivery under tho most sanitary conditions possible. Hence, the logical enforcement from the Dogberry standpoint of the clauses of the Shops and Offices Act relating to peripatetic shops would stultify and annul the Dairies Regulations for a considerable period in each week. Consequently, it may be taken for granted that, law or no law, no department will dare to prohibit the distribution of milk on Sundays. ■ _». >? f ••>.'•;• • :;. In the - circumstance^ it -will be admitted that,- by 'extending the analogy, there should _ be, no interference-. with, the distribution of milk on the statutory half-holiday. That milkmen's employees should get their half -holiday is admittedly desirable. In ; no calling is the work more continuous, or more laborious so far as "long- and uncomfortable hours are concerned. In fart, one may go further and say that the employer also should get- his halfholiday by law, for in toinety-nine instances out of a hundred in the trade the employer and employee work in common and during the same hours. But a Procrustean application .of the shops law to milk carts •or °to the recognised regular deliveries by milkmen to customers would help to make ridiculous both the law and the department, that administers it. The position, in Nelson, and probably elsewhere, is that after, notification had been served on milkmen the Inspectors have sought definite instructions from the head office with regard to any further action to be taken. And probably the matter will rest there, and nothing more be heard of it. It is understood that, in the event of proceedings, the Nelson milkmen will arrange a test case, when, of a surety, the sympathy of the public will be with them. But it. is almost safe to predict that matters will not be permitted by a fairly level-headed Labour Department to go so far. All the same, the condition is unsatisfactory, and the Legislature should define more clearly the exact- position of milkmen in relation to the sale and distribution of milk on statutory half-holidays and Sundays.