LABOUR BILLS COMMITTEE (REPORTS OF THE). (Mr. ARNOLD, Chairman.)

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1905 Session I, I-09b

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1905 NEW ZEALAND.

LABOUR BILLS COMMITTEE (REPORTS OF THE). (Mr. ARNOLD, Chairman.)

Presented to the House of Representatives, and ordered to be printed.

ORDER OF REFERENCE.

Extract from the Journals of the House of Representatives. Wednesday, the 28th Day of June, 1905. Ordered, " That .Standing Order No. 218 be suspended, and that a Committee, consisting of twenty-one members, be appointed, to whom shall be referred the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill and certain other Bills more particularly referring to labour ; five to be a quorum : the Committee to consist of Mr. Aitken, Mr. Alison, Mr. Arnold, Mr. Barber, Mr. Bedford, Mr. Bollard, Mr. Colvin, Mr. Davey, Mr. Ell, Mr. Fisher, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Kirkbride, Mr. Laurenson, Mr. Millar, Sir W. R. Russell, Mr. Sidey, Mr. Tanner, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Witheford, Mr. Wood, and the mover."—(Right Hon. R. J. Seddon.)

INDEX.

BEPOETS.

Shops and Offices Act Amendment Bill. The Labour Bills Committee, to whom was referred the Shops and Offices Act Amendment Bill, have the honour to report that they have carefully considered the same, and have taken evidence thereon; and they recommend that the Bill be allowed to proceed, with the amendments as set forth in the copy attached hereto. (Vide Appendix 1.—9.) Bth August, 1905.

Factories Act 1901 Amendment Bill. The Labour Bills Committee, having given careful consideration to the provisions of the Factories Act 1901 Amendment Bill referred to them by your honourable House, have now the honour to report that they recommend that the said Bill be allowed to proceed, subject, however, to the amendments shown on a copy of the Bill attached hereto. (Vide Appendix 1. -9 a.) 11th August, 1905.

[o. Petitioners. Page. ! No. ! Petitioners. Page, 45 033 634 Ah Lop and others Aitken, E. B., and others Andrews, A. E., and others 2 2 2 030 620 McCune, T. W., and others McDougall, William, and others 2 2 646 Nicholls, B. S., and others 2 12 92 81 Bell, L. E., and others.. .. Bryson, Charles, and others Buttertield, T. H, and others 2 2 2 621 Orme, W. H., and others 2 616 010 Cunningham, W. J., and others.. 2 2 82 637 638 44 622 Parrott, E. M., and others Pay, J. H., and others Pichlis, E. E., and others Pratt, Fred, and others Price, E. V., and others 2 2 2 2 2 Dennis Bros., and others Factories Act Amendment Bill.. Factories Act 1901 Amendment Bill 2 1 648 652 Roberts, A. J., and others Rosser, A., and others 2 2 835 Goodall, James, and others 2 317 Henderson, G., and others 2 Shops and Offices Act Amendment Bill .. 1 518 Innis, A. C„ and others Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill 2 2 639 623 Thompson, J., and others Till, E., and others 2 2 649 43 Willis, L., and others Winny, Charles H., and others Workers' Compensation for Accidents Bill 2 2 2 McCausland, F. F., and others 2 819

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Nos. 44, 43, 45, 81, 62, 92, 610, and 12.--Petitions of Fred Pratt and 111 Others, Charles H. Winny and 101 Others, Ah Lop and 4 Others, T. H. Butterfield and 10 Others, E. M. Parrott and 5 Others, Chables Bryson and 109 Others, Dennis Bros, and 47 Others, L. E. Bell and 700 Others. All the above petitioners represent that the present Shops and Offices Act Amendment Bill will be injurious to their trade if passed in its present form. The Labour Bills Committee, having fully considered the matter embodied in these petitions when dealing with the Shops and Offices Act Amendment Bill, have the honour to report that they have no recommendation to make. 15th August, 1905.

Workers' Compensation for Accidents Bill. The Labour Bills Committee, to whom was referred the above-mentioned Bill, have the honour to report that they have considered the same, and have taken evidence thereon; and recommend that it be allowed to proceed, with the amendment as shown tin the copy attached hereto; and further report that the Committee is surprised that Supplementary Order Paper No. 25, containing the proposed new clause 4, has not been referred to them. 23rd October, 1905.

Factories Act Amendment Bill. The Labour Bills Committee, to whom was referred the above-mentioned Bill, have the honour to report that they have considered the same, and taken evidence thereon; and recommend that it be allowed to proceed as printed. 23rd October, 1905.

Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill. The Labour Bills Committee, to whom was referred the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill, have the honour to report that they have carefully considered the same, and taken evidence thereon; and they recommend that the Bill be allowed to proceed, with the amendments as set forth in the copy attached hereto. 25th October, 1905.

Nos. 616, 617, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622, 623, 633, 634, 635, 636, 637, 638, 639, 646, 648, 649, and 652. —Petitions of W. J. Cunningham and 76 Others, G. Henderson and 1,113 Others, A. C. Innis and 899 Others, F. F. McCausland and 384 Others, W. McDougall and 599 Others, W. H. Ohme and 100 Others, E. V. Price and 3,850 Others, E. Till and 125 Others, E. B. Aitken and 541 Others, A. E. Andrews and 554 Others, J. Goodall and 40 Others, T. W. McCune and 38 Others, J. H. Pay and 269 Others, E. E. Pichlis and 1,081 Others, J. Thompson and 359 Others, B. S. Nicholas and 34 Others, A. J. Roberts and 76 Others, L. Willis and 593 Others, and A. Kosseb and 107 Others. Petitioners pray that your honourable House will be pleased to take steps to prevent the establishment in this colony of a huge trust whose methods and operations, not being subject to labour laws akin to those of New Zealand, will be detrimental to the best interests of the workers of this colony. The Labour Bills Committee, to whom was referred by your honourable House the above petihave the honour to report that the matter involved is one of policy, and they refer the matter to the earnest consideration of the Government. 26th October, 1905.

Final Report. The Labour Bills Committee have the honour to present their final report for this session for the information of your honourable House. The following five Bills have been considered and reported on: (1) Shops and Offices Act Amendment, (2) Factories Act 1901 Amendment, (3) Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment, (4) Factories Act Amendment, (5) Workers' Compensation for Accidents. Twenty-one petitions (with 1,603 signatures) were received by the Committee on the Shops and Offices Act Amendment Bill, and nineteen (with 10,857 signatures) in connection with the Harvester Trust —a total of forty petitions, with 12,460 signatures. The total number of meetings was thirty (including three sub-committees), and the number of divisions recorded was twenty-eight; while 239 witnesses attended the various meetings. The number of members on the Committee, and able to attend, this session was twenty, and the average attendance for the twenty-seven meetings was 13 - 3. 26th October, 1905.

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