THE FACTORY HALF-HOLIDAY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13274, 1 May 1907, Page 4

THE FACTORY HALF-HOLIDAY.

We must confess that from aj"constitutional point of view we have far greater admiration for Mr Millar's administration of the law than for that of his predecessor at the head of the Labour Department. It. >. inconvenient, no doubt, to. have factory arrangements disorganised -bv the circular which lias just been issued under Mr Millar's instructions, but as a local draper stated to our reporter in the course of his enquiries yesterday, the proprietors (,f •these premises knew that tliey .were working only on. sufferance, and they should have had the law altered if they considered that it needed altering. They were, however, not so much to 'blame as the Minister who ordered that the Act should remain a, dead letter, and at whoso mandate the ( statute law of the-.colony has been isyste- < matically set'at nought for a considerable number of years. The factoiy-owners ( were anxious only to secure' conditions un- , der which they could carry on their business to the best advantage, and it did notmatter very much to them whethe'r an obnoxious section in the Act was sus'pended by a Minister or by Parliament. It seems to us, however, to matter a good deal from the point! of view of honest administration, and while we are of opinion that Mr Millar might just as well have continued an imposition of several years' standing for a few months longer until . Parliament had an opportunity of review- I ing the question, are quite satisfied ' that no encouragement .should be given to j the practice of Ministers constituting tliem- { selves superior to the law of the-land. It ' should bo beyond the power /of the most autocratic Minister to suspend the operation of any law, and'while we are at a loss to understand Mr Millar's sudden access of zeal in this particular instance, cannot deny the accuracy of ; his coiiten- , tion that it is the province of Parliament to amend the law, ; .an'd the duty of Ministers to see that it is carried out.