48

ME. OER

1.—9

Mr Robert Orr ■I am employed by Messrs. Travers, Russell, and Campbell. I have been a law clerk for thirty-four years, and I can say that this Bill, as far as we are concerned, is quite uncaUed for \si are well paid, and next to schoolmasters have the shortest hours and most hohdays and if we go back to work overtime we are well paid for that. There is one clause in £ Bn'which would affect me personally, to which I wish to call attention, and which I object to I live in the country, and the clients of the office often come to me at my residence and ask me to prepare dements* or them. At present I can prepare them in the office hours, and take them out to be signed by the parties concerned, but under this proposed Act I should not be able 00 Sat Igoto mv office at half-past 9 o'clock, and I leave at half-past 4 My opinion is that tis a mistake to include solicitors' clerks in the provisions of this Bill. They are totally different from™ eusual clerks in mercantile houses. They have to think more for then- employers ShoiTimiohanfe office. Ithink that to put any statutory restncfo n- between . law clerks and their employers would tend to cause friction between them, and I therefore hope that the Committee will exempt us from the provisions of the Bill. Mr Hardy : Perhaps some of the members of the deputation are not aware of the intention of the Bill" I understand that the evidence shows that the law clerks are doing very well, and if Sis B 11 were brought into operation would there not be a bit of a cut-up, so that some ot the outsidepeople might like to come in, which the bulk of the people cannot do now Mr Orr ' You appear to think that you can train your law clerks mechanically, and that they only work as mechanics. I assure you it requires something more. Take my own instance : 1 require to have experience and a knowledge of the law to enable me to get up cases for my employer q BB Mr Hardy.] You do not think it would be an advantage to have a greater number o law clerks trained ?-I hold that there would not be so many fit to do the work if the provisions of thlS g U the evidence given to-day-which would tend to show that it miriit be necessary to shorten the hours of employees ?-If you do so with regard to law cleiks it wUVbebadfo-them Every one can now enter into the business with the idea of getting into the nvofession and you should go through the experience of a law office before you did that. p lo fession and you s J the %vidence g.ven to-day, and had no idea that there were any employees doLcr so well ?-We think we are doing well, and .we see no reason why you should fnterfere If thereTβ an evil, then by all means remedy it; but why should you interfere with us to any one who can pass the necessary examinatSa into a lawyer's office at all, so that the legal profession is one of the most in the coCy°at the present time. No doubt there are some lawyers who are not doing SO others The firm by which lam employed is an old-established one, with a large number of c ients but probab y some of the younger men in the city, and also many in the up-country tow2h& are £? making a large income. 8 There are about seventy solicitors in this city, and 9Olne M, f M:rrri b gua d ranf e rth W at tnTart more than thirty solicitors in Wellington who are nM d rS7^erwTsti?on: r Xrsion used by the first speaker wh.ch I did not quite Unde Sr^ 6 S II fe oe in ]U no U s should it bemaS applicable to only a section of the community or to the whole of it Wt should be for the, class who ,*e opposed. £or bank clerks and those { ther bus i ne sses and leave the law clerks' alone ?-I have endeavoured to show that the relations between a law clerk and his employer are different to those between ordinary clerks in mercant.le houses and banks ami illBU ?Hff m ] an You tlrltCr, said that if this Bill passed it might lead to retaliation on the part of tht employers ?-I said that it might cause friction between us and our employers, • I ?V e $£*£ JSSS !" c ov c e X r"me ? -You cannot in solicitors' offices do without it. There Wef than they can help, so that occasionally we have to get documents ready for execution by the providons in the present Bill have been in operation since then ?-I am not aware of it, and, if S0 ' th 96 y An" contained in this Bill could have been enforced during the last " me Mr Y Orr : I was not aware of that. If it is so, what is the necessity for introducing this Bill ? 1 Sh * the schedule to this BillQ8 Ts there anything to prevent their being increased ?—JNo. 99! You haVe no legal enactment relating to your hours of work, and the employers can increase or decrease them as they think fit ? Mr. Wedde ; Yes; and if this Bill is passed it will be the same thing.