H.—s

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433. I am afraid that the men who form unions, feeling their power, are likely to become too arbitrary in their demands. Personally, I have argued for Boards of Conciliation. I believe that would be fair, and that workmen would lose nothing by having a Board of Arbitration, presided over by an unbiassed Judge. 434. I believe an Arbitration Board might be to the advantage of all concerned. It is quite possible for the balance of power to go from one side to the other, and to be abused, and I say that would do the workmen no good, because there are certain conditions under which trade can live, and if those conditions are not conserved, away the trade goes to some other town. 435. lam decidedly satisfied that the Union has done good. It has killed sweating. 436. I think the Union has done away with sweating by compelling the work to be done on the factory premises. There we have control over the men, and know what the hours of work are. 437. Neither the women nor the boys engaged in the boot-factories are within the Union, because they are not eligible by our rules. 438. The heavy sewing-machines in all the boot-factories I know of are looked after by men ; the women do the silk and light thread work. Mr. M. examined. 439. I have been four years connected with the trams, three of these years on the Caversham section. 440. I am a conductor. 441. I produce a table showing all the shifts for fourteen weeks, and I have worked on each one. 442. The average for the week is fifty-five hours, not including Sundays. 443. The wages are £1 10s. a week, and 3d. in the pound commission. 444. For Sunday-work they have got a special shift. I have been as long as thirteen weeks without getting a Sunday off. 445. The average of fines would be about 2s. a month, for alleged carelessness. 446. I am a single man. 447. I begin work at 7 o'clock, and get off at 4 o'clock in the evening, and no time for meals. This is on the long shift. 448. I get my meals on the car, and eat as I can. There are no meal-hours except during the long week, when we get one trip off for dinner. On Saturday we also get a trip off for tea, having extra hours on Saturday. 449. On holidays we are very badly off for meals, being sometimes twelve or fourteen hours without getting a meal except what I can snatch on the car. 450. I can save about £20 in the year. 451. If the shifts were more equalised we would not have anything to grumble at. 452. The only way that I can see to let the men have meal-hours is to have a relieving-man. When I am at work on Sundays the hours are about five. Mr. N. examined. 453. I am a dairyman at Anderson's Bay, and am well acquainted with the milk trade generally and the hours they work. I commence at sin the morning and finish at 8 o'clock. 454. As regards the boys, I have been informed by the masters and the boys that in the majority of cases they rise at half-past 3, and their work is not finished until 7 o'clock and later. James Henderson examined. 455. I have been a dairyman at Anderson's Bay for four years. 1 know most of the dairies in Anderson's Bay, and can corroborate what Mr. N. has said as regards the long hours the boys have to work in the trade. They work Sundays and holidays. Mr. O. examined. 456. lam a shop-assistant at 's. I was at 's before for four years. The hours were 9 to 8, on Saturdays to 10 and 11, and one hour for dinner, and one for tea on Saturdays. 457. The assistants were worked in alternate weeks—l mean as regards the hours of attendance —being 6 one week and 8 the other. The hours in other shops I have worked in are very irregular. 458. I have no reason to make complaints about w 7 ages. I get from £3 to £3 10s. a week. 1 was almost the highest-paid in the shop. 459. Boys got from Bs., 10s., 125., but they did not continue long there. 460. There are about ten or twelve girls, and the long hours are very hard on them. There was scarcely a week but what some of them were away for a week. 461. Young women working as milliners, and therefore under the Act, were kept after their hours in the shop as assistants on Saturdays till 9 or 10 —until the time of the closing of the shop. 462. I have had experience in other shops in Dunedin for twenty years in the soft-goods line. 463. I believe nothing but an Act of Parliament will secure early closing. 464. Have never seen the Factory Inspector in a factory. Mr. P. examined. 465. I am a draper's assistant at —■ 's, a draper's shop in George Street, and have heard part of the evidence of Mr. 0., and corroborate what I heard. 466. The hours are 8-45 to 9, but supposed to go at 8. On Saturdays, 9 to 10-30, and two hours for meals. 467. The wages are, in one department, £2 10s. 467 a. The girls complain of the long hours. Their hours are the same as ours. 3—H. 5.