The Factories Act.

Manawatu Herald, 31 December 1892, Page 2

The Factories Act.

— « It anp°ara as ih mgh 4i The Factories Act 1891 " is {joint? to b* a th )rn in th » sid > . flh « h>»np millers as well a* in the sid* of the parents of large fim lies. Tha. Facto'rv Inspector is ahout and hna nnHfif-rl Hempmillers j that no " child " which means a boy unler thirteen yearn of ag* and a girl under fourteen yeari ot age may be einnlnyed in a "factory." It U alao lnid d that no woman or " ppi-son under thn a«»e 'f eighteen \ y ays " is to be pmployed for more ; thin fo-ty e ; ght hours in any one week, nnd they are to be given a Ji If- holiday on every Saturday after 'noon, or «ome other day as may ba tixed by the Borough Council. Thij,

it will be seen, is a very serious question to hempmillers as the etnp ovment of these young people will disarrange the working of the mill, except a '• shift ' is kept at hand. The A-nended Act "makes tlid case even w >vse as it directs that " eve.y person shall be deem d to bi employed in a f.tctory or work ro m who is e.nployed by an occupier in any manner conn cted with the handicraft or manufacture carried on in the facto y or workroom in any premises or place contiguous or adjacent to such factory or workroom. Any premises or place shall, for the purposes of the principal Act and this Act, be deemed to be contiguous or adjacent to a factory or workroom if only separated thereLoin by a road, street, right-of way or stream." If the Act means anything by the expression "in any premises or place " it means inside or outside t>he building, ad would bring every paddock hand within its scope, as thi j y are certainly employed in con n.^cti >n with the handicraft carried on in the mill. We should certainly advise the millers to get an expression from th 3 government as to whether hands employed in the na r ldocks, so far removed as they are from the mills, come under the denomination of those employed out-ide factories as we have quoted above. We believe the Inspector hold* they do, and by the reading of the clause we agree with him, but that they should is quite another thing. For the millers, and the number of lad*? so profitably employed, it would be well to get this point settled as quickly as possible. Mr H. S. Abraham announces that he has taken Mr A ick Williams as a partner and tun firm will in future be carried on under the style uf Abraham A Williams. Mr Henry C >ley has lost no time in replacing the mill destroyed by tire, a* he will bo r;ndy to s'art work again en Mon day morning 1 Mr Lord returned from Wabganui yesterday and ha« arranged for a n-w and first clas? steam boring plant, so that he will shortly be in a po*i ion to undertake at reasonable rate* the deepest and largest wells desired. The Mt'.rcury J3 to be congratulated on having published one of the best Christmas supplements, which however only reach d us on Thursday. Better late than never. Messrs braham and Williams' Pa nterston stock sale wii. be held on sih January. The copy of the Manawatu Standard of Thursday came to us inside out, if one may sbv so when there really was no o:it» aid* 1 In oih r words the outer pages w ire blank. We are glad the blanks were the advertising sides. The Manawatu Times his puh'ished an almanac on n novel plan, in fact it gives the plan of the towu of Palmeraton and inserts advertisements in tho town lot 3. The novelty is its greatest recommendation. | The j-iry found that the unfortunate ' mau Joseph Endcs who was found d ad in the load near Jackeylown " wa« accidental^ killed from a fall from his horse " The medical evicli nee having shown that on the left aide of the head there was a confus d wound about an inch long, and that deceased had died from a fracture of the base of tho skull. I Mr *• red Mowlam, whilst riding down Main street Paliner-t <h on Tv sdiy got a shock. His hovse reaivd and fell down dead. curious c lincilence has occurred at Wanganui Two doctors, one a lady, the : other a male, have d^scendel upon the | town to give special lectures, one to ladies I only, the oth r to men only. The lady doctor was to give a lecture last night for la ies only, and the male doctor was to have given one, fn* men only, '.he night previous. Both I'Cture in the same hall. We. hope care was taken to pre ent any mistake as to the lecture baing given. Messrs Th.vnne Lint in & Co the local agents for the A..VJ.P, • ocitty have handed us an almanac wliioii it one of th best y^t issued by ih j Soci ty. It has the additional advantage of b. ing a local produc tion Messrs Bock & Co of Wellington being the lithographers. The title is very orna mental and emb Ilish -d with the flowers of the rata and clematis. Two well ex «• cuted vi-w8 are a>s> given, one on th coast and the other inland. It is a most desirable ornament to an office. From Melbourne comes the news of bash fires in the Gnnbower district which have devastated between thirty and forty square miles of country, and destroyed a large quantity of fencing and machinery. N W8 has been received at Auckland hv the TJpolu, from Samoa, that the mai 1 at am r A am»d», whic left uo'<land o>> D c mber 3rd f >r San Francwoo, met with a tidal wave off the K-rraadec Is'ands on December sth. Three ht-avy seas struck the vessel. Ihe second came over th bows with terrific force, and tie chi f ofn>r, Mr Dowd*ll, was carried along the deck and thrown with sue' ■ f- rco against the davits that both his 1-g* were brok n. He r ceived a nevere shock 10 th* system Mr Dowdel was not lan I d at Apia, but was taken 10 San Francisco. The N.Z- Times is nothing if not extra ordinary. . n a <=üb-I«ader in Thursday's issue it asks " Will anyone give' odds that the dynamite outrage in Dublin was not the work of some land'ord or b >dy of landlords driven beyond the mual madness ot their da s by the advent of the Gladstone power? It is not a thin? to dogma" is v on, but that to'mion r ally appears just as i> alible as any oth r. Or omr^e, it i^ not the only pos ib c s >lniio>i " It mig'i< have gone a step further anl su^g-sied that Lord -a'.isbury in mt pr ihaW'y w*-» at the bottom of i». ■ uch nha-g'S hav j as yet n<-vor been proved again t the lanl lords, but lh«y have too often h°en proved against members of the various soci 'ties formed against the g ivi nnent of Ireland. The Inspector of St"ck for the N»lson Diß'rici is now in Wellington, and is pre par -d to giv« th- St >ck Department a certificate that the sheep in his distric are absolutely free from scab, says thß Post. This makes the whole colony o:Hjially clean, and step* will be tak«n at once to make the fact known to the word. It may l« tspac'ed ihat the proc'amation i d- claring the c >lony clean will apo&ar in eitl.er the next or the f . bwin ' issue of th»i Gazotte— im Med'a'.tl. „n txe:, the signature of the MinNter i.: charts of the d-purtmnit can b« o>Hiied. The Australian Gov< mm nts wil' then duly uo-tifi-d in o d r that the r stri ti ms upon the intercolonial transport of s.ock may be removed. ■■■ v

Mr Bert Shortt, one of the employees in McMillan tfe Khodes' 3tore at Sanson, had a very narrow escape from a serious accident one day towards the end of last week. He was driving the van along Penny's-line, when a part of the harness gave wav, and the horses bpc imp frightened. ?hortt at tempted to run the animal into the bank, bui ie got into the diicli at the side of tho road, and hortt was thrown out, one of the wheels of the car pasßing over both of tiis legs, a boy, who was also in the cart, jumped out safely. The horse, witn the cart attached, bolted down the road, and met a dray of VI r Jams*s H arris, behind which a draught hor.se was being led. With this horse one of the shafts of the runaway vehicle came in contact so violently as to pieroe it almost through, the animal dying almost immedia ely. This brought the runaway to a stand still, shortt escaped with a severe shaking, and some bruises on hia legs. -Advocate. Mr Ravenhill has received a letter from Dr McGregor in reference to the recent election of members to the Palmerston District Hospital Board, in which he states that h) has no power to interfere, and the election must stand (says the Times). The following ia the text of the letter referred to : —" In reference to your complaint re the Palmerston Hospital Board election, I have r.'Cfivpd the report of the Returning Officer, which c aotly bears out your statements, and though I am convinced that the election was conducted in an illegal manner, I regrot that the Act gives th« Government no power to interfere, and , therefore the election must stand." I Mes?rs Maule and Nixon started for Tanpo via Hunterville ou Saturday lapt in a light, strong buggy made by Mr J. W. McDuff, says the Waoganui Herald. After a little difficulty, the party safely reached Taupo-this morning, andean congratulate themselves on the fact that theirs is the first buggy that has ever been driven through from Wanganui. Two French gentlemen, with the courage of their opinions to an extraordinary extern, says the Paper Record, have patented a hypodermic Ryiinge all over the world. This fact arrested the attention of a writer in Le Figaro, who at once became curious to know the cost of the operation. It seems there are 64 countries where an invention can claim protection, or rather where patent fees may be paid. Sixteen of these are in Europe, eight in Africa, four in Asia, 27 in America, and nine in Oc ania. The total price of these 64 official scraps of paper amounts to the nico little sum of £3600. j