DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 16 August 1901, Page 3

DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR.

The Father of the Shop and Office Bill. (OUE PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER.) "Wellington, This Day. The annual report of the Department of Labour was laid before Parliament this afternoon. The report states that there is an in* crease of 306 in the number of factories registered. The number of hands employed has increased by 4,522, the total number being 53,460, and these figures do not include 1,703 men and youths employed in the Government Railway workshops.

The total number of hours of overtime worked during the year was 211,725, the number of persons so working being 7,247 as compared with 138,169 hours and 5.090 persons working during 1900. The secretary of the Department expresses the opinion that the legal hours of permitted overtime are too long, and he recommends that overtime should not be permitted for boys and girls under 16 years of age. He also recommends the fixing of a minimum wage for overtime for shop assistants.

Secretary Tregear practically fathers the Shops and Offices Bill now before the Council which has raised such a storm of protests from bank employes and warehouse officials, from the North Cape to the Bluff.

He says I sincerely trust that the Bill of last year regulating clerical labor in offices will again be laid before the House and this session pass into law. The generous treatment which the clerks in a few banks and offices receives from their employers only throws into darker contrast the “ sweating ” and parsimony to be found in other establishments. Only the firm hand of tne State can possibly secure permanent improvements. Warehouses have hitherto escaped notice in labor legislation, being neither shops, offices, nor factories. They, however, in some cases are in need of supervision and should be brought into line with other industrial establishments in regard to sanitation, hours etc.