The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1912. BOOKS BY POST.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 84, 4 December 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1912. BOOKS BY POST.

The recent experiment made of carrying books by parcel post to and from the Wellington Public Library at tile rate of one penny per pound or fraction thereof, has by no means met with the support' expected. So few country people applied for books by mail that really the experiment has had no chance whatever, and the original three months’ trial having been wasted the Postal Department, much surprised at this apathy, agreed to renew the offer for a further three months, and has hinted at a withdrawal if the public continues to be indifferent to the privilege. This result so far obtained is not likely to induce the Postal Department to continue giving a special rate for library books, especially as the first of January will, it is understood, see a considerable reduction in parcel post rates for all kinds of packages. One explanation of the public’s apathy in regard to books by post is that there was a lack of publicity when the scheme was started, and that “the country people who were expected to make use of the exceptional facility afforded them were not told in anything louder than a whisper what was being done for their benefit.” As a natural consequence, the venture found little support. The Wellington “Post” says that as far as the Wellington Library is concerned it has no wish to poach on the preserves of country libraries—quite the reverse. The city library is able to help the rural institutions by lending them books which they lack. It seems that the advantages of the scheme are not sufficiently appreciated, and perhaps some of the blame mustbe put upon the country Press, which lias not given the matter much prominence. As the scheme is almost entirely for the benefit of country folk, the Press should give them an unmistakable reminder about it. If the Wellington district fails to take advantage of the cheap rates book lovers throughout New Zealand may suffer, because if the Postal Department sees cause to despair at Wellington it will not be likely to try the concession system elsewhere. The “Lyttelton Times” expressing regret at the failure of the trial hopes “the Postal Department, which is going to continue the concession for three months, will take measures to catch the ear of the Wellington reading public. Penny a pound postage opens a long vista of pleasing possibilities and if the dominion as a whole is going to be judged by the outcome of experiments in Wellington and in Dunedin, where fish has been conveyed at the cheap rate, we are all interested in securing a fair trial for the experiment. It has

not been suggested that the rate is j unprofitable, but wo presume that it will not prove payable- unless the amount of business done is large. The community is seldom quick to take advantage of improvements in the public services unless the position has been explained very fully and clearly, and since the tost period has been I made very short the need for advertis-; ing the peuny-a-pound concession is proportionately great.” ;

EMPLOYERS, NOTE!

A case of very considerable importance to employers generally, was heard at Dunedin on Friday last, so that the facts as related by the Otago Daily Times should be given the greatest possible prominence. John Warded, a grocer, was charged, under “The Shops and Offices Act, 1908,” that, though he was bound by the Grocers’ Assistants’ Award, he failed to keep a wages and overtime book, as required by section 58 of “The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1908. Mr A. S. Adams, who appeared for the department and pleaded not guilty, challenged the regulations of the Act. Every employer was required to keep in a book with a large number of columns a great deal of information. He submitted that the provisions of the Act simply stipulated that a wages and overtime book should be kept, and the defendant had done that. Whore there had been overtime it had been entered, and where there had been no overtime it had not been entered. Though the inspector said the book prescribed in the regulations, must be used, he contended that the book used by the defendant was in substantial compliance with the act. There was surely no necessity to keep a book with separate columns which were left blank week after week. In Mr Wardell’s establishment there was practically no overtime, and there was therefore no earthly reason why he should have such a book. His answer to the information was' that the book that had been kept was perfectly genuine. It was produced under the requisition of the inspector, and it showed the overtime had been entered, therefore it was , sufficient under the act. The book had been kept for a number of years in good faith, and there had never been any complaints of fraud or impropriety. A case like that should not have been brought into court, but should have been made the subject of a warning. The Magistrate said ho thought the . defendant must be convicted. Section 58, which obliged all persons bound by the Arbitration Court to keep books, was merely an amendment of section 100 of the original Act. The duty of the inspector under section 100 was to see that the regulations were carried out, and if the regulations made under the section did not carry the matter further than the section and insist that a bonk should be so kept as to show the hours worked every day, it was clear that the object of the act would be defeated, and the powers of an inspector would: be very restnnhted.-vTlie book had been kept in such aovay that the inspector could not satisfy himself that the regulations were being carried out. The defendant would be fined £2, with costs (9s).