11

H.—ll

hotel or restaurant or to any locality where the Court is satisfied that such whole holiday would not be reasonably practicable.* Section 11, also affecting hotel and restaurant assistants, reduces the maximum weekly hours of females and of boys under sixteen in such establishments from fifty-eight to fifty-six. Considerable difficulty is experienced by Inspectors in detecting whether assistants are employed beyond the time fixed for ceasing work, owing to the fact that in allowing the employment of each assistant till a late hour (9 o'clock) on one night a week, the Act has not in any way indicated how that night should be fixed for each week; the result is that unless an Inspector is able to ascertain and prove that an assistant has been employed till such late hour on at least two nights of the week (the first lawful and the other unlawful) he cannot succeed in disclosing a breach. Many breaches no doubt escape detection on this account, and it is desirable, in the interests of those shopkeepers who observe the law as well as of the assistants, that the late night be fixed in some way. Suggested Amendment to Act. An amendment of the Act that has frequently been suggested is that provision should be made similar to that contained in the Factories Act regarding the age at which boys and girls may commence work —viz., that no boy or girl under sixteen years of age may be employed without a certificate of fitness for the work proposed, and in any event no child under thirteen years of age shall be employed. At present there is no restriction in the Act. INDUSTRIAL CONCILIATION AM) ARBITRATION ACT. Strikes. Although most of the circumstances of the series of strikes of waterside workers and others which occurred during the year are generally known, it is well, for the purpose of future reference, to place the facts upon record. The following is an official report obtained by officers of the Department: — Wellington Waterside Workers' Strike and other Strikes arising therefrom. These strikes commenced with the cessation of work by the Wellington shipwrights on the 18th October, 1913, and reached a climax with the calling of a general strike by the New Zealand Federation of Labour on the 10th November following. The strikes were apparently the outcome of a dispute between the Wellington Shipwrights' Union and the Union Steamship Company. This union was, at the time the dispute commenced, registered under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, but had no award or industrial agreement; the members of the union were therefore not bound by the strike provisions of the Act. The members were working under a longstanding verbal agreement; the company's repairing-yard was situated in Wellington City; under this agreement, when work was performed at the Patent Slip (a repairing-yard for steamers, &c, situated some three miles from the city), travelling-time had been allowed either by half an hour's wages or by free conveyance. On the 3rd March, 1913, the Union Steamship Company removed its headquarters for repairing-work from the city to its new premises adjoining the Patent Slip, which had been in course of erection for some time. The company then stopped payment of the customary allowance for travelling-time, holding that the new premises had become the company's place of business for shipwrighting-work. The union demanded that this allowance should be continued. Negotiations followed, but broke down owing to the union refusing to agree to the terms of compromise offered by the company : these were —permanent employment at £3 7s. per week, instead of the hourly rate of Is. 6d. and travelling-time. Ihe union held that the hourly rate plus travelling-time allowance would more than equal the weekly rate offered by the company. Following upon the failure to arrive at a settlement (viz., in June, 1913) the shipwrights cancelled their registration under the Act and joined the Wellington Waterside Workers' Union, which was affiliated with the New Zealand Federation of Labour, a body comprising a number of unions (chiefly waterside workers and miners) not registered under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The Waterside Workers' Union then made claims on behalf of the shipwrights, but the company refused to negotiate with it, on the ground that the existing agreement between the company and the Waterside Workers' Union, made through the Federation of Labour, did not cover shipwrighting. Further negotiations took place between the Waterside Workers' Union and the company, but proved futile. The shipwrights thereupon ceased work (Saturday, 18th October).

* Note.—Since the coming into forco of this Act awards have been made providing, without exemption, for tho whole holiday accordingly.