Manamatu Herald. SATURDAY, SEPT. 15, 1900. The Simplicity of Legislators.

Manawatu Herald, 15 September 1900, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. SATURDAY, SEPT. 15, 1900. The Simplicity of Legislators.

An enthusiast in a cause about which he appears totally ignorant has brought before Parliament a Bill, entitled the Eight Hours Bill, an act to provide that eight hours shall be a legal day's work. In theory the idea is sublime, in practice an impossibility, more especially with the class that this wonderful measure is brought ' forward to champion, that of domestic servants and farm labourers. The Bill provides that the unreasonableness of the measure cannot be corrected by the two parties most concerned, the employer and ememployee, as "no person shall be allowed to contract himself out of the provisions of this Act." We hardly like to. touch upon the posi- I tion of the domestic servant, as the general opinion has been very freely | expressed that she has shown herself well able to take oar© of hemelf, but

the Bill proposes that she must have a holiday " from twelve noon mi one week-day in each week, and from two post-meridian on each alternate Sunday." In a country house where a domestic may not have the opportunity of visiting her friends what is to be done ? The mistress cannot turn her out of doors, and she must not work by law, and if only one servant is kept, we have the beautiful ideal brought into practice of the mistress waiting upon the maid ! Our portly and lordly legislator should devoutly trust that his measure shall not become law, as fortunately it is not likely to become, or he might once in the week miss his evening meal through the neglect of his wife or his maid coming to a thorough understanding as to who was to do the work that day. The 3111 would be amended and more in 'rc^pin/} with its contents, by boi'^g described as being an Act to place more worry upon the wives of the people. Nothing is made easier for a woman who has married but everything is being proposed to make the lot of a married woman distasteful to her unmarried sisters. The part where the author of the Bill has given himself completely away is in the provisions relating to " any person whose employment on any farm or in any other occupation necessitates the tending of horses or working-cattle may be required to tend such horses or cattle in addition to the legal day's work, but such persons shall be entitled to the same holidays as are provided for domestic servants." Thus a doctor who employs a groom will have on one day in each week and on alternate Sundays to feed and groom his horse twice each day, to harness him, and employ a special person to travel with him to hold it on his visiting his patients ! Milking on a farm can only be done within the eight hours, as we have never heard cows seriously described as " workingcattle." The member may have had ; "unning in his mind an old-time riddle as to the first work an infant does in the world, and confounded the cows with the child, otherwise all milking would have to be done, by hired labour between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. How often is this done now ? and the answer shows the " ricketty " knowledge the member has of country life Putting aside however the difficulty about the actual time of milking in each day, the Bill absolutely proposes that no farm hand shall milk on one evening in one week and two evenings in the following week alternately through the year, thus throwing the onus of the work upon the farmer and his family. How it has been possible for the waste of time and money in printing such an impossible measure, is, unfortunately, an exhibition' of what will be done to let members propose for electioneering tactics. It would take too long, and as we trust the Bill is as good aa dead now, and be unnecessary, to point out the actual money loss a measure of this sort would be to the settler. No one can urge that there is the slightest necessity for it, for the labourer is sufficiently independent to secure the wage for the working hour he deems just, and the dearth of domestic servants is so great that any advantages they desire in their hiring can be secured by them. The sooner the Bill is put out of sight the better it will be for its author as he has not been able to show rhyme or reason for introducing it.