OUR FACTORIES AND SHOPS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1834, 8 August 1895, Page 4

OUR FACTORIES AND SHOPS.

The following reports appear m the annual statement of the Labour Department : —

FACTORIES

Factory Inspector's Office, Timaru, 30th March, 1895.

Sir,— l have the honour to report on the Factories Act for the year ending the 31st March, 1895.

In the Timaru district 103 factories and workrooms have been registered under the Factories Acts, 1892 and 1894, against forty m the year ending March, 1894, the increase being due to the amendment of the First Schedule. The amount of fees received to date, £40 ss ; and 503 males and 174 females at present employed. Two flourmills are shut down for their annual overhauling.

The tailoring and ladies' dressmaking trades are very dull. When these places are m full swing from 100 to 150 persons aye employed.

Sixteen permits ha.vo been issued to young persons under sixteen years of age' —ten males and six females— copies of their register of birth having been obtained, also school certificates. Permits to work overtime have been given to seventy-five persons. I may say that clause 55 of the Act gives dissatisfaction, inasmuch as it only allows ,two consecutive days' overtime, which may not be sufficient time to complete an order urgently required, and, perhaps, additional hands for the particular work not obtainable.

With reference to clause 63 of the Act, I called attention to the clause m my last year's report. The tradespeople consider it hard upon them to bo compelled to give their workpeople a holiday on the Thursday when there haß been public holidays during the week. The general opinion here is that the 3rd clause of the Shop Act should apply to the Factories Act.

Witli' regard to the sanitary conditions of the several factories and workrooms m my district, I beg to state I have, as far as time would admit, paid particular attention to this clause, and that my suggestions have been carried out. Several alterations and improvements have also been made for the comfort of the employees— viz., water-closets have been built, ventilators constructed, rooma enlarged, dining-rooms provided. In one tailoring establishment the stove for heating the irons has been removed from one room to another to regulate the temperature, and m one firm a fireescape has been erected.

It would be almost impossible to carry out this portion of the Act to the letter,

owing to the buildings being so cramped for space, and an. alteration to any tfieat extent would mean large outlay, which, [ m the present state of depression, would be ruinous to the small tradespeople. There have been three aci ulents during the year, two of which were very slight ; the third was of a more serious nature, causing a young man to lose his hand, he having been "skylarking" while attending machinery. There has been one prosecution during the year (non-registration of factory), when conviction was obtained, and a fine of 5s imposed. Shops and Shop-assistants Act, 1894. I have the honour to submit my annual report on " The Shops and Shopassistants Act, 1894." Thursday half-holiday has been held here for some years past, so that I have not had to contend with the same difficulties which have been experienced m other districts where there has been no fixed day. But I regret to say there are several clauses m the Act which are looked upon with disfavour. For instance, the interpretation clause, which permits persons who reside on the premises and employ no labour to keep open their shops for business, gives dissatisfaction to the persons who have to close. With reference to clause 18 of the Act closing offices at 1 p.m.— this is most disastrous to Timaru. as Saturday is the market-day, and most of the country people are m town, and agents and merchants do most of their business on that day ; therefore the closing of offices not only causes a serious loss to merchants, etc., themselves, but great inconvenience to the public, who do not care to break the week by leaving their work. This refers principally to farmers. I think notice should be given to the Inspectors when el»>rks ate going 10 work the three hours' overtime as allowed by the Act, to enable the register of the hours worked to be kept, otherwise it would be difficult to carry out this clause.

I might say that the desire of the majority of the employers here with regard to the half-holiday is that the law may be so altered that it will compel all retail houses to close on Thursday afternoon, and that all employes shall have a holidayon that day, includingclerks. Itwould of course, be impossible not to make certain exemptions — fishmongers, for instance ; to close them on Thursday would mean a considerable loss to them, and inconvenience to the public, as it is necessary to sell fish on that day for consumption on Friday (being the principal day). Also, bookstalls on railway stations should be exempt. But with regard to Timaru, there is very little business done here on Thursday, and I do not think that closing their shops would cause any loss to the shopkeepers generally. At any rate, to give anything like satisfaction, it would be well to make as few exemptions as possible ; that, I think, is the feeling amongst the business people. I may say that I received every assistance from the employers of labour m carrying out both the Factories and Shop-assistants Acts, who seem anxious to comply with the Act as near as they can.

I have, etc., H. Hallett, Inspector of Factories. E. Tregear, Esq., Secretary, Department of Labour, Wellington.

[It is with regret that I have to notice that on 31st May, Mr Hallett, Inspector of Factories, died. The Government thus loses the services of a valuable and painstaking officer.— Secretary.]