LAUNDRY HOURS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 578, 5 August 1909, Page 6

LAUNDRY HOURS.

EUROPEANS V. CHINEBE. DEPUTATION TO HO!N. J, A, MILLA] a With a.view of securing amendments :■ the Factories Act, which would bring alx e equably of competition between Europet g and Chinese, engaged in the laundry bi : ness, a deputation representative of 1 e European laundry, firms throughout 1 i Dominion waited upon the Hon. J. i- Millar, Minister for Labour, yesterday. . Mr... Fishor, M.P., ia introducing the i . putation, pointed out that its members c . not represent the large steam laundries. against the small European laundries, b a;combination of the two, to protest agaii the. privileges that were enjoyed by t Chinese, and not by any other section I the community. He went on to say that , the present time the Chinese sc 3 tobacoo and groceries up to 11 o'clo 3 at night, and to carry on laundry work i all hours, whereas European laundry fin r and other tradespeople were not granted t same facilities. The deputation did not a , that advantages; should be given to t t European as against the Chinese,. but reco r nised that when a Chinaman" paid the pi 3 tax he 'had a right to enjoy the privileg .. ■of the law. • In this instance, the man: 1 : the. laundry business found that he w ■ worse off, although he were Now Zealai i born, because he was not a Chinaman. Wh : the deputation asked was that that anoma should, be removed. Thero were,.'he co ■'. tinued, 38. Chinese laundries in Aucklan and forty-one. in Wellington. Only the la 1 month sis new firms had Btarted here. U: | less the Factories Act was amended there wi I every probability that the Chinese wou collar, the laundry trade, as they had cc ; lared every other branch of tirade in whic > they had embarked. The deputation, 1 . added, represented the views "of Europes I laundrymen from north of Auckland to Ii , vercargili. . : • • '. . Mr. Naismitb, and other members of tl ; deputation, said that they only wanted fa ; legislation to protect thfcmselves against ui fair competition of any kind. "Under tl f existing conditions, Chinese laundryine ; were in a better position than Europeans i , the business. It. was stated that tho Eu'ri pean firms employed female labour, and' tl , ;hours :of work were limited' to forty-five rx week..".- As the Chinese, did' not' omplo women _ workers . they wero' under no sue restriction. ■' As. there wero a gres many ' Chinese laundries in Wellingto .the European firms hero were feeling th to a serious extent. It wa alleged that Chinese could be seen workin every evening,, on Saturday afternoons! o all holidays, and frequently on Sundays What was desired was an amendment of fch Factories Act, which would place all firms whether European or Chinese, on the sam footing. Mr. M'Laren, M.P., stated that the appea was not. one for discrimination in favour o the European as against the Asiatic, but ; protest against discrimination in favour.o the Asiatic as against the European. It wa his opinion that the Chinese were gradaa'l' sweeping the -Europeans out of the laundr business.' "" ■ . Mr. Wilford, M.P.. thought the who! point was whether the Chinese should . b< allowed to,oust the European: If the Chines< could come to Now Zealand and set up thei; the Europeans could not compet* with them. -.-,, Mr. Wright, M.P., concurred ii the viewi that had been expressed. The Minister stated that they .were dealing with a very thorny subject. Two vears'agc he had endeavoured to prevent the growth ol what was now the subject of complaint, bj : suggesting that no Chinaman should bt ■ allowed to be registered as the owner of anj factory after the passing of the Factories Act._ The proposal of the deputation, including as it did the imposition of restrictions on the Chinese, would -'have to be placed beforo the Imperial authorities., When : the Chinese; were, admitted into the countrj after complying with, the'eonditions laid down . they .hadi.the, same-rights as tho Europeans. ; What 'Was',now proposed by the deputation was to take-away those rights. ■ He. might say,'that he was in entire! sympathy with the deputation. Already,he had sent along an , outline of a clause which he thought should meet the case. It was his intention, oven if he; had to bring up the clause as a Bill separate-from.the Factories Act, to introduce his proposal before Parliament. From inquiries ;hc had ,'made it.would appear that the Chinese did- not canvass for orders, nor did they deliver the goods. Mr.'Fisher mentioned a case . where a large order, was sent to a Chinese laundry owing-to; the fact that a European firm-could riot obtain overtime permits for three nights runnings ./.:'" ; • '. :•. , -;' -Mr/Millar pointed out that under tho Factories Act only two overtimo permits could be given in one week. ,Ho had instructed tho Department to sunply'him with a full report^concerning Chine'se laundries. Only two. Chinese laundry employers in Wellington'paid wages; the others, were, working- irrpartnerships., In coping with: the difficulty, ho wished to, avoid' the' necessity of having amendments which would . first have to bo submitted to the Home authorities. STATEMENT BY CHINESE CQNSUIJ' - .THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECT. . Mr. Yung-Liang Hwang, the .Chinese Consul, has been going into the questions brought before the Minister for Labour by the European laundry proprietors, and has obtained detailed statements from his fellowcountrymen engaged in the laundry business in this, city. When seen Inst evening' by a Dominion reporter; Mr. Hwang sought !»o. remove several common impression's .which he' regarded as-erroneous. ' . .' --\ .-■: ' 'He stated'that it was.a mistake to suppose that .the" Chinese ' laundrymen worked' at cheaper,-rates than .their European, competitors. . Thoir : .price-lists would ..show-(hat their charges ..in,, ; connection with, certain .articles .were higher, than those f of the Europeans. . The Chinese only ..washed ' *ha smaller pieces of: clothing,-':and did ,not .go to the steamers, hotels ( , and boardinghouses to collect.,the largo ~.piec.es'.: ; They .washed very, little but collars, and cuffs, not many shirts, and ho bed or table linen. They i-id not collect or deliver their work, .but their customers ,had\ to : bring it to them, arid' fetch it away. Under these conditions, and without machinery, it" was impossible '.of them to do a large enough business to 20mpote'with, European steam laundries employing. 20 or 30.women and girls.. ': In,regard to working hours, Mr, Hwang read a statemont handed to hiin on-behalf of the Chinese laundrymen of Wellington,' to theeffect that they never wash on: Saturdays' or Sundays, only half the day on Mondays, a few hours only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and a very little on Fridays. .On the; question .of .'partnerships among the Chinese laundrymen, Mr. Hwang acted the Minister's stateriient that"all'the Chinese laundry workers' in Wellington, except two,' were" working in small.partnerships. He had no' doubt that. the' inspectors. had given a correct'report, as the Chinese would not be inclined to deceive them, arid would.scarcely be able to,-even if it' were to their interest to do,so. -He believed J that these" partnerships were perfectly genuine and hona-fide,' as he had seen some of the deeds; and had been appealed._<to'_ for . assistance in. settling partnership disputes. '•: ' , Mr. Hwang strongly. urged that if these partnerships of Chinese were to be in any way restrained by law, . similar restrictions must- in fairness ho placed upon all partnerships .in, all kinds of business. Otherwise there would be racial discrimination again si the Chinese, who were now, simply carrying on .their business in accordance with, the law "If the Nov,* Zealand Government helps these peoplb to restrict the Chinese intorest," ho .continued, "why should we not restrict the European traders in China" and ' discriminate against them? If you want us to treat -you well, you should' treat us well. In China wo protect the interests', of the Europeans, and they make riiillions of money and take it home .with them and build mansions. Wo are not jealous of them, hut it : seems to me that the New Zealand Govern- ' men should also protect foreigners. Otherwise they will not he showing international 1 courtesy, or proper consideration. The • Chinese, who are foreigners hero, are ' not ' what people call hustlers, like the Americans; they simply come here to, do a little-., quiet < work, and;the Europeans have no need to - take these proposed precautions against them.".. '■