FACTORY HALF HOLIDAY

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13274, 1 May 1907, Page 5

FACTORY HALF HOLIDAY

A DISTURBING CIRCULAR. Some consternation was caused to certain employers in Timaru by receiving from the local inspector of Factories, Mr' Keddie, the following printed notice, addressed to each recipient as the occupier of a registered factory:— - " j 1 "-Notice isi hereby given that- fourteen I (14) days from date the provisions of section 33, subsection (2), of thg- Factories Act will M .enforced—i.e.,V that'- ilie per-j mission hitherto given to close your factory on, t'lio day set apart for the sliops : half-holiday is rescinded, and 1 your employees -engaged in the factory coming un- | der the provision of the said section must receive the half-holiday from one of the clock- every.' Saturday. , I trust, that you will/-see your way clear to fall into linewith these reguirements, so . that no . friction may ensue between yourself and the Department.—l have the honour to be, yours obediently, J. Mackay, Chief Inspector." ■, Hie notice was originally dated in print " Wellington, 21st April, 1907," but, April 21st- being a Sunday and "fourteen days from date " being a Sunday also, Mr .Ked-,. die altered the date to the 22nd i Learning that the ciVcular had bleil issued iii Timaru, - a Herald " reporter called lipoh Mr Kteddie, to learn its pre- | ciso meaning, and Mr. Keddie explained that it refers only to women and boys under 18., as reference to 'the cited section dnd sub-section of the Factories Act shows. .The operative portions of the citation are.— " The. occupier of a factory shall allow to every woman and boy under eighteen years of age employed in factory . . . a half-holiday on every Saturday from the hour of one of 'the clock in the afternoon.". This provision,' saicl Mr Keddie, has been in force in the ioui' chief cities since the parsing of the Act, but not elsewhere, because when the Act was- passed there wasan outcry about it from the smaller towns,and; the late Mr Scddon',: who was Minister pf-Labojir at the time, instructed the; local inspectors not to , enforce -.the la-vv, but to, alioyc existing arrangements to con'tinua,; wliere theise provided for the factory holiday being observed on some other day. than .Saturday. ; ' ■ The reporter-informed Mr-Keddie that the subject had been ventilated earlier in. Geraldine and Temuka;: that -Mr Flatman had, b&sn communicated with, and -had! telegraphed J:o the Hon. Mr Millar, Minister- of Labour, who wired to him the following reply on Monday afternoon- - In regard -to the notics issued to" factory owners re observing Saturday as halfholiday, It-have no option bat fovsee the law is complied with. As head of the Department, I have been notifed that I am delibeirately allowing tlie" law 7 to Parliainent lias stated. that Saturday is to be half. holiday in factories, and it is xny duty to see the law carried: out. Parliament alone having power to alter it, you can quite understand what a * dangerous precedent it would be to permit- a,ny Minister to suspend the operation of the law,, and this is in effect what people are ask-' ing mc to do. I have rigidly enforced the law lately in two or three cas£s, aiid if .1 am to b8 fair and just in my administra-" tion I must make 110 distinction." Mr Flatman will .probably , suggest to Mr Millar that the Act should continue suspended till Parliament meets • ~ "It appears from your explanation," remarked; the reporter, "that Mr •■Millar is- not -setthißr .'a dangerous precedent.' inasmuch as the precedent was se-t.-by .Mr Seddon." : . "That is so," replied Mr Keddie, "but Sir Millar appears to be determined to carry out, the law sirictlv, and of course the subordinate officers of the department have to obey orders." Mr Keddie stated - that several 'people had been to see' him about the effect of the circular upon their business, and- being misled by the warding .of the circular, which seemed; to refer to all factory employees, instead: of to* worn-en and youths onlv, were greatlv disturbed by. it.: * Some of the factories and . workshops, Mr Keddie pointed- out-, have- had* their half-holiday altered from -Saturday to Thursday bv awards of ' the Arbitration Court.,' and he instanced tlie case of the Timaru Carpenter's Award, which permits carpenters '"employed in sawmills to take their half-holiday on Thursdayand, there was many suc-li cases. 'This?, is ft alV lowed by section 18/ sub-section. 3 of the j Act. ' ' .v.

Our reporter made inquiries among certain classes of business people who would be,affected by the enforcement- of the provisions refered to and ascertained that it will be felt as a hardship : in businesses combining' both selling and branches, such as saddlers, watchmakers, cycle-dealers and repairers; and- still worse as a in-the case of drapers ■employing' females as tailoresses, dressmakers and milliners. In the former case boys must be given the half-liolidav on Thursday, because the shops must be shut' as shops, and it would not pay to keep the boys alone at work ; and the boys must be* given a- second half-holiday again on Saturday. In the case of the drapery firms, ifc will mean that the women employees will have to work on Thursday -afternons when everyone elseis having a holiday, and that- one or more members of the 'supervising staff mustremain in charge of thejn.: the alternate being the reduction of t-lis week's work for females and boys to five days. "If it- were the. 'thin end pf the wedge to tlift introduction of a universal Saturday half-liolida-vv' said more than one person, " it- would bs a good thing in the ions' ran." "The Thursday half-holiday is a nuisance," said a-• worker in wood. The boys play football on Thursday afternoon, and waste tlie most of Friday talking about it. If tlvey had their football on Saturday they would have forgotten it. by Monday." i' The country ladies, or customers," said a draper, " come to town chiefly on Saturdays, and when tliey are having

dresses made they usually make two visits for fitting, at least one of ■ them in the afternoon. It will mean inconvenience to them." i "It serves .us right," said another draper. " We knew that we were only working as we were oil sufferance ; we ought to have got the law altered, if we wanted it altered. In the long run," he continued, " a compulsory Saturday half-holiday would do no harm; it would tend to spread bnsim-ss bitter throughout the week, as is the case in jlie larger centres, which have no particular 'market day.' It was the custom of -everybody to come to Timaru on Saturdays for the horse sales >iru'T. other auctions, that determined the decision against the Saturday half-holiday for shops, and it was said that it was the oif>»osrtiori- of .Tima.ru Co any change that.-l:-d Mi~'-Berldor to cuspehd-t.te law in the srrnlW towrs." "It, will' be very awkward for small m7si"e?=;es," < aid a draper in a large way, "and it. will mean inconvenience for,.me, as I shall haye to give- up liiy Thursday afternoon;to look aftr-r the womeii workers. And th?n I Way b-;< -.prosecuted myself for not itaking the. weekly half-holiday vr: a shomnan. It will be a great niiiwrtice." The factory workers, jno'vs than one person raid, would prefer to have their halfholiday nt the s.am-vtinwv as the shops. is too a. place to run two half-holidays. The young— neoi)le often hn-'-e it.h»ir chums a"ros c ' th? line, n nd thev will kick 'against the. change.' . That sort of thing does not count so much iii the larger towns-. DISCUSSION BY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. A 1 the annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce last night this subiect ■ was brought up by the President, ISIr Newman, who referred to the "most 6bnoxious circular" which had been received from the Deparbuent-.of Labour, the effect of which would be to close the half of some businesses' on Saturday and the other, half on Thursday afternoons. Mr .explained "'lie application of the circular and said it must be impracticable to keep businesses' going for the sake of the female ■employees' and youths.. Mr Godfrey referred to the Hon. Mr Carroll's statement at New Plymouth that there must be some mistake. Mr Orwih said a deputation, waited on the Hon. Mr Millar at Auckland, and the Minister replied that the Act said so and so, and he must enforce it until Parliament amended it. Mr W. R. McLaren did not see why the! Act could not have been allowed to remain in abeyance till Parliament met, / byb Mr ISlillar as by his predecessor. , This should be. recommended to Mr Millar." ]\lr Bascand said compknce with _ the circular would be yery inconvenient in a business like Ballantyne's, so long as Saturday was th&- recognised market d*iy. Under the old l Act, before 1901',. each Borough fixed its own half-holiday, for factories) ais well as for shops; the 1901 Act fixed Saturday for factories, arid -petitions were sent, froni many towns to Mr Se'ddon'', who told his officers to keep quiet. Mr. Millar, as a Itadical Labourite, had taken ;a difj'.Srenfc standi It would not nialce so much difference to a place like theirs, but it would fe hard on smaller places. Many people could, only g-et s m from the country once a week, .and their most conyeniept day M r as Saturday. If /the law were ~ enforced, .it would; mean that .they, must break through their custom and come in v on some other day. He presumed that this was ,a; move in the direction of a universal Saturday half-holiday. _ They knew what; was iii. the Act,, and ought to' have got it altered before, , *' The- President thought it d- pity the Government did> not enforce* the Act from / the first. " _ . -'i". . . ' ■•Air Craigie suggested waiting' on the r.Ffori. W, 'Hall-Jones. and the- Presfident supesed that lie would not interfere with his colleague s department. , Mr W Penrose asked' the Chamber to pass a resolution disapproving .of the 6irculai, a<- it a\ ould -irieh.il a considerable loss to liivve two half-holidays in the week, to tli? drapers'- business at, all'.events, while Timaru retained Saturday as slippping and market day. It was desirable j that shops and factories should have the same half-holiday, : and 1 the : ■ objections of the employers to the change was not so strong ,as that; of the employees, who-did not want to have a holiday when their chunis were at' work. He asked tlie Chamber to support tlist visw as strongly a-s . possible. . \ , .On the motion; of Messria Hole and Kuucliffe ib waV resolved that tlie President, Vice-president, a-iid the Mayor should wait 'upon the Hon. W. Hall-Jones and lay, before him the objections that had been nro -ec i " <ui(i on the motion of the irpesidi£t it was resolved to send a telegram to the Minister of Labour, asking him to allow the Act to remain in suspense until thb House, meets again, in view of the attempt that will be made to get the compulsory Saturday half-holiday clause re- -. pealed. : _____ MEETING AT GERAfjDINE. A mee'ing. of business men iin Messrs Guinness and LeCren s buildings, Geraldine, on Monday evening to. consider the matter of the closing of factories and workrooms on Saturdav afternoon asieauired bv sub-section 2 of section 33 pt the Factories Act pf 1901, which was r,ow beimr enforced, by the department. Mr W A Da wson presided and Mr * • JuatnijiiL- M.H.R. read a, telegi'am which he j\ad received from the Minister of Labour with reference to : the fatter Several present spoke of the hardships that would be imposed on them through, having to clase- their iworkvoomis when their shops ii,-, the sinae building would be open. The clause defining any place a. factory where two' persons were" employed also came in for a good deal of adverse criticism. _ It wa ; > .that a, meeting of employees should be' called, a resolution from whom would carry more weight than one from a meeting of employers aiiiy. it. was further pointed out the detrimental ■effect that the Saturday lialf-h6liday would have on sports clubs as at present tliese bodies many of their members froip . shops and from tlie workrooms. Aftel a considerable amount of discussion it was moved by Mr B. Brookes " That tte meetiirn- of business people of Geraldine ie-s-pectfuUv asks the ]Slmist-er of Labour to consider" the advisability of further su,pending the operation of sub-section of % ; section 33 of the Factories Act, 1901, until Parliament meets. Mr J- Morrison , seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. It was. tother d e cldeA ' forward the resolution through Mi * lonian, M.H.R. ' PROTEST FROM OAM'ARU. Per Press Association. April 30. At .a metting of the Employers' Association to-niglit it was decided to emphatically protest- against- the action of the Labour Department in withdrawing the permission to clof© factories on the same dav as the local half-holiday for shops and substituting Saturday-instead. f' 1 . 13 resolution is to be forwarded to the Minister for Labour.