SWEATING COMMISSION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2779, 6 May 1890, Page 2

SWEATING COMMISSION.

SWEEPING RECOMMEND ATIONS.

BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION]. Wellington, Last Night. The Sweating Commission finally revised and adopted a draft of their report this morning. The report has not yet been made public, but it is understood that a sweeping recommendation is likely to be made. That workshops and workrooms of all descriptions shall be made subject to the Factories Act and, furthermore, that a register of such establishment-!, large and small, shall be kept, and the registration by the proprietor be made compulsory. ■Stringent observance of sanitary arrangements will also be insisted upon, and means ;ire suggested under which due attention to this can Iβ enforsed. That sige and educational qualifications to entitle boys i r girls to work in a factory will be raised is reckoned as almost a certainty, while very considerable extension of the powers of factory inspectors may also bo looked for. The laxity of the apprenticeship system in vogue in the colony has been so forcibly put before the Commissioners in all parts of the colony, that it is believed a majority of their members are prepared to recommend that legislation be introduced to compel the substitution of proper indentures for a reasonable term in lieu of mere agreements between parent and employer that now prevail so generally. Another favourite scheme of some members of the commissions is, the insistauce of affixing registered trade marks to all manufactured goods, and some modification of this idea will probably be contained in the report. Another widely spread impression is that the Commission will propose a system of registrations of setvants, registry offices and regulations for methods of conducting them. An acknowledgement is also made of the good work done by Trades Unions, in preventing the lowering of wages to any unreasonable level, and a limiting of the hours of labour may also be looked for. The Commissioners will draw the attention of the Government to the grievance of subcontractors and railway servants, and also the long hours worked by mercantile and bank clerks. The report of the Commissioners is generally expected t« be in the direction that there is no practical existence of the sweating system in New Zealand, but that numerous complaints have been made to them of the increase in the hours of work, with reduction of wages. The latter, however, is attributed to competition. It is understood the Commis sioners will make no special recommendation regarding early closing.