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system would not only help to protect the poorer classes from the effects of unlimited competition, but deliver the general public from many chances of spreading infectious diseases. There is need of preventive legislation in regard to unsecured and unprotected machinery. At present sufficient safeguards are not provided against the occurrence of accidents, as the section of the Act which brings factory machinery and apparatus under " The Inspection of Machinery Act, 1882," is not specific enough to be applicable to the different varieties of accidents which may occur. In regard to the cleansing of inside walls of factories and workshops, and their being painted or lime-washed, the occupier should be compelled to bring satisfactory proof of the time when such painting or lime-washing was last executed. There is at present no section of the Factory Act dealing with the question of providing fire-escapes for those working in the upper stories of lofty buildings. This very necessary provision requires to be legislated for before some terrible sacrifice of human life draws attention to the subject. Dressmakers, tailoresses, and others are now at work on the upper floors of large shops, which are often filled with light and inflammable materials, the only means of egress being through dark, steep, and crooked stairways, which, when filled with smoke, would become impassable. The question of working overtime is a difficult one, as it is desirable that some elasticity should be given to the working-hours in certain trades at some seasons of the year. This is wished for both by the employers and by the workers themselves, the latter being glad now and then to make a few extra shillings. The desire is, however, not always consonant with conditions necessary to health ; and, moreover, the overtime worked must always be arranged to suit the convenience of the employer, not the wage-earner. It is, therefore, beneficial that the Inspector should have some margin wherein his individual knowledge of the circumstances should be given play, and that he should adjust permission to work overtime to the particular case. So small are the wages of some of the employes (such as those of girls in the lower grades of dressmaking) that the pay per hour of overtime is almost infinitesimal, and by no means rewards the exhaustion produced by too long hours of monotonous work. Therefore a minimum of overtime-payment per hour should be legally fixed. Several attempts have been made to evade the section of the Act which provides payment of wages to'women and young persons during five statutory holidays of the year. The effect of a judgment in Court proved the necessity for a review of this section, as the penalty for a breach of it was not deemed to be expressed in the Act. It is desirable that the payment of wage-earners should be secured in the strictest manner, in order that the spirit of the original enactment should be carried into effect. The factories in which women and youths are engaged should be closed on holidays and half-holidays, to prevent wage-earners being compelled to do piecework therein after their wagehours are completed. It is well that the schedule of fees should be reconsidered. At present there is a sudden jump from ss. to a guinea, as the inclusion of a single worker over the ten, for which the lowei rate is fixed, compels the payment of the higher fee. An intermediate ten-shilling fee would be more just to employers, and would sometimes prevent the rejection of the additional (No. 11) operative. CONVICTIONS UNDER FACTORIES ACTS, Ist APRIL, 1893, TO 31st MARCH, 1894. Auckland. —26th April, 1893 —clothing-factory; working boys after 1 p.m. on Saturday; fined 55., and 16s. costs. 26th April, 1893 —tailor; working girls on Saturday half-holiday; fined 10s., and £1 18s. costs. 13th May, 1893 —clothing-factory ; non-payment of wages on Good Friday and Easter Monday ; fined 55., and £1 Is. costs.* 13th May, 1893 —shirt-factory; non-payment of wages on Good Friday and Easter Monday ; fined ss. 31st October, 1893 —tailor ; employing girls after 1 p.m. on Saturday; fined 55., and £1 12s. costs. 31st October, 1893 —bootmaker; employing boy after 1 p.m. on Saturday; fined 155., and 10s. costs. Wellington. —l3th February, 1894—laundry ; women working on half-holiday ; fined £1, and £1 10s. costs. 27th February, 1894 —laundry; women working on half-holiday; fined 55., and £1 Bs. costs. Christchurch. —llth December, 1893—bootmaker; girls at work after 8.15 p.m.; fined Is., and £1 Bs. costs. 10th January, 1894 —cycle-maker; youth at work on Saturday afternoon; fined 10s., and £1 Bs. costs. 10th January, 1894 —biscuit-maker; girls at work on Saturday afternoon; fined 10s., and £1 Bs. costs. 10th January, 1894—dressmaker; girls at work on Saturday afternoon ; fined 10s., and £1 Bs. costs. 10th January, 1894 —pickle-maker; women and boys at work on Saturday afternoon ; fined 10s., and £1 Bs. costs. 10th January, 1894—tailoress; women and boy at work on Saturday afternoon; fined 10s., and £1 Bs. costs. Dunedin. —lsth April, 1893—dressmaker ; employing women on Good Friday; fined £2, and 9s. costs. 24th August, 1893—bdxmaker ; youth employed on Saturday afternoon; fined 10s., and lis. costs. 11th January, 1894 —cordial-maker ; employing hands on Saturday afternoon; fined £2, * and £1 15s. costs. 11th January, 1894 —cordial-maker; employing hands on Saturday afternoon ; fined £1, and 17s. 6d. Costs. Oamaru. —lsth January, 1894—tailor; employing girls on half-holiday; fined 55., and 7s. costs. Dargaville. —lsth May, 1893—sawmill-proprietor; employing boys on Good Friday; fined £4, and £1 7s. costs. Invercargill. —l2th October, 1893—dressmaker; employing girls on Saturday evening; fined 2s. 6d., and 7s. 6d. costs.

* The employer attempted to evade section 58 of " The Factories Act, 1891." This section states that women and young persons who are wage-earners are entitled to be paid for certain statutory holidays, Good Friday and Easter Monday being included. The employer had not paid wages for these days. The Resident Magistrate, Dr. Giles, decided that there had been a breach of the Act; but an appeal was made by the defendant. Mr. Justice Conolly quashed the conviction, on the ground that the Act did not state a penalty for this offence, but that the employes could recover as for a debt. The learned Judge pronounced that' section 61, which prescribes a penalty for not complying with certain provisions of the Act, did not apply to section 58.