LABOUR LAWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 18

LABOUR LAWS

INTERNATIONAL BODY ACTIVITIES AT GENEVA The work of the International Labour Organisation formed the subject of an address given by Mr. E. J. Riches, New Zealand member of the economic section of the International Labour office, Geneva, at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday. Mr. Riches said it- was unfortunate that the work 'of the Labour Organisation was one of those activities of the League of Nations which was seldom mentioned in cable news, for one of the most important functions of the League was to weave together the common interests of ordinary people in all countries. The particular problems with which the Labour Organisation was concerned were those of "industry and labour, its task being to secure and maintain fair and humane conditions of labour in all countries. Tn Geneva inquiries were carried out into conditions of labour, and a study was made of outstanding economic and social problems of the day, particularly unemployment, and reports were prepared accordingly.

The organisation was a body of States, including every important industrial country in the world with the exception of Germany. Working, conditions in those States were controlled by labour laws, and the organisation sought to get the nations to agree on standards of"labour laws adequate to safeguard and improve labour conditions. The standards agreed upon covered a wide range of subjects. It was provided that women and children should not work in industry at night, that all workers should have a weekly day of rest, and. that seamen abroad should be repatriated and not left strffnded in a foreign port' after a wreck hr accident. "The conference itself is the nearest thing we have to a world industrial parliament," said Mr. Riches. "It brings together each year in Geneva representatives from some 50 countries.''