W. T. YOUNG.j

7

L—9a.

12. It just struck me when you were talking about those vessels that seamen and firemen ought to get the whole day off. There must be some principle contained in the Bill. Would you say all the cooks and stewards should be entitled to the same thing?—l am not conversant with the system of work by the cooks and stewards. 13. lam only showing you what we should get up against. There are all the passengers and men on board the vessel to be considered, and there would be a great deal of noise about it? —1 think the same thing can be done on board a ship as can be done in the hotels in the city. 14. You would get a larger staff?— Yes. At the present time the law compels the hotel and restaurant keepers to give their employees half a day each week. There might be a certain amount of inconvenience about that, but nevertheless the fact remains that the law is obeyed, and these people get the half-holiday. I have a good recollection of the great disturbance that was made through the columns of the Press and on the public platform about the proposal to grant a halfholiday to shop-assistants. To read and listen to it one would have thought a great eruption was going to happen in New Zealand; but the law- was passed, and is now working satisfactorily to everybody concerned. 15. There are certain callings in life that necessitate labour for the benefit of other people— labour which cannot be regulated in the same manner as that mentioned. For instance, the domestic servants are barred here—the Bill would not apply to domestic servants. One has only to think of several callings where it is absolutely necessary that seven days' work a week should be done. Take the dairying as a case in point : you could not allow the cows to stand one day without being milked?—ln New Zealand a large amount of the dairying is done b}' the small farmer ami his wife. 16. I think it is going in. the opposite direction—the farmers are getting more cows and employing milking-machinery ?—They gradually grow, of course; but even in that occupation 1 do not see why they should not employ an extra man in order to meet the requirements of the Bill. 17. Has any one made any attempt in discussing the Bill to ascertain what the increased cost would amount to to carry it out? —No, it is a very difficult thing for us to arrive at such figures. It is only the employer who is in a position to tell us what it is going to cos! him. 18. We can only go to a certain length in anything. Are you going to make the wages the same for six days as are paid for seven?—l think the principle of the Bill is in operation in some places on the Continent. 19. The conditions are altogether different there; we have a higher standard of living here. Wherever there is an enhanced standard of living the cost is much greater. There are so many exemptions that would have to be granted that 1 do not see how it can be done? —That may be so. 20. Mr. ljuke.] Is it more arduous work to do watch-and-watch on a deep-sea voyage than in the coasstal boats? You work four hours watch-and-watch—is the intercolonial work more arduous than deep-sea work? —Certainly it is. The man in a deep-water ship does not work any cargo at all. 21. He is getting continuous work all the same? —Yes. When the ship is lying in port he works his full time, but when at sea he gets watch-and-watch of four hours each. 22. In your opinion, you having been in the intercolonial trade, is that more arduous?— The work is not to be compared with the intercolonial and coastal trade. 23. I want to know how the work affects men in the intercolonial as compared with the coastal trade? —When everything is taken into consideration there is not a great deal of difference, but if there is a difference at all it is in favour of the intercolonial man, because on the coast the men work very laboriously all day at cargo. They stow the cargo in the hold and discharge it. This is especially the case in the small vessels. 24. You say you could make arrangements to deal with the delivery of milk; but you could not call any one in one day a week in the city to supply the milk? —I do not see why it could not be done. 25. If you had a milk-round in the city, and a man had to get a full day off one day in the week, where would you pick up a man who would fill the function for that particular day? —It is quite competent for one man to know all the rounds. He could be put on A round one day, B round the second day, C round the following day, and so on. 26. Will the Bill not have the effect of increasing the number of big employers and be detrimental to small employers, and so be against what we require in the way of individual effort?—l do not think it will, for this reason: that the half-holiday has been in operation for a considerable number of years, and that concession has not by any means reduced the number of small business men; on the contrary, they have very much increased. 27. If you take" it from the shopkeepers' point of view I may concede it, but from the employers' point of view it has had considerable influence on business? —It is perfectly clear that the number of manufacturers in New Zealand has very much increased, and the Legislature, during the time, has imposed a number of restrictions Notwithstanding those restrictions, the manufacturers have increased, and I venture to think that if this Bill is put on the statute-book they will go on increasing. 28. Mr. McLaren.] In this Bill there are certain exceptions provided for. Is it the desire of the bodies you represent that the twenty-four hours free should be allowed in all cases and be applied whether it can be shown to be impossible and entirely impracticable?—We think that the principle of giving each worker twenty-four hours off in each week should be applied to every occupation. 29. You mean that you would not have any exceptions under the Bill at all?— None whatever. 30. Are you concerned whether the industries are on a small or a. large scale so long as they are carried oil satisfactorily ?—lt is a matter of indifference to me whether they are carried on on a large or a small scale so long as they are carried on on a satisfactory basis. Personally lam a very strong supporter of the small man.