The Star. FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1893. Three Labour Bills.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4714, 4 August 1893, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1893. Three Labour Bills.

The latt three Labour Bills introduced in ', tbe House of Representatives by the Hon . W. P. Eeeveß are measures which are so i obviously in the interests of the working ! classes, and sq obviously fair and just that j Parliament, if its members have bb mnoh i regard for the interest of those classes as j they profeas to have, will pass them without material amendment. The measures in question are the Conspiracy Law Amend- ; meat, Workmen's Wages, and Labour | Department Bills. The fact that the firstI named Bill is necessary in this last decade ; of the free and enlightened nineteenth ■ century is a curious commentary on the ! " liberty " which was allowed the working i man by his good friends the Conservatives | before " blatant demagogues " and " selfseeking politicians" took up his cause. ■ The Bill simply provides that if two or ; more persons agree or combine to do— in | contemplation or furtherance of a trade ! dispute between employers and workmen— j any act which ia not punishable as a crime ! if committed by one person, they Bhall not be guilty of conspiracy. As the law at present stands they are. They have been i deliberately made so, for, in order to give i effect to the provisions of the Bill, it is i necessary to provide, as one of its clauses | does, that three Acts of the English Parliament Bhall cease to have force in this 1 Colony. One of these was passed in the dayß of good Quesn Bess, another in those of George 1., and both, therefore, may be regarded as belonging to the dark ages; but the third was passed in the first half of this century, in 1825, in the lifetime of men still with us. It is the fashion with the Tories to stigmatise as "class legislation," measures which are introduced by the Liberals with the view of benefiting the workers ; but, verily, " class legislation " of the kind promoted by Mr 1 1 Beeves and his colleagues is needed Ito remedy the evils inflicted on the i working classes by the legislation of the past. The Workmen's Wages Bill is designed to remove a grievance which men employed by contractor have fouud to be a very real one. It provides that when a contractor fails to pay a workman j in his employ, the latter may recover his j wages from the contractee out of money j due to tbe contractor. In order to do this I he must first obtain judgment for the I amount against the contractor. He has power, pending the proceedings in Couit, ' to cause money due to the contractor to be attached, i.e., to compel the contractee to hold it until the Court shall determine to whom it shall be paid. In order to prevent a contractee and contiactor conspiring to defraud workmen of their wages, it is provided tint the former shall not pay the latter in advance. There are provisions in th 9 Bill for conserving the rights of the contractee in respect of money properly paid to the contractor prior to the service of the notice of attachment ; and the measure is fair and equitable, the rights of all parties being conserved. The Labour Department Bill provides for the creation of a Labour Department, the duties o£ which shall be to "acquire and diffuse among the inhabitants of New Zealand useful information on subjects connected with labour in the most comprehensive eeusa cf the word, and especially in its relation to capital." The department is to have power to obtain information from employers, friendly, industrial or provident Societies and Associations of workmen ; and a penalty of {rot less than .£2O, nor more than .£IOO, is provided for refusing or neglecting to furnish information of some clatses, such as the membership, benefits or advantages of Societies, the names of managers of businesses, the number, work, hours, wages, &c, of workmen, and the causes of and facts relating to controversies and disputes between employers and employees. Information obtained under the Act is not to be divulged, except for J the purposes of the Act itself, under a penalty not exceeding .£SO, a provision which should go far towards satisfying the scrupleß of employers as to revealing tbe details of their business. No doubt the Bill will be branded by some of the Conservatives as "inquisitorial." They apply hard names to every measure introduced by the Liberals, especially if it be likely to prove of real, pract'eal benefit to those of whose interests they are so tenderly careful, tbe workiug clashes. It .■liouUl bo borne in raind, Ticwiver, tbat the Bill only aims at giving tbe CiovcrEiueßt powers poEGessed by thoio o? other countricp, notal-Iy the United Stater, where reports of gic\t vnluo and utility aro isnutd by the Department of Labour, under provisions similar to those of Mr Eeeves' B : ll.