H.—s

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Mr. X. examined. 674. lam an apprentice to a pastrycook, and work at 's. I was working at Hopkins' at the same business, but was not there a hound apprentice. 675. At Hopkins's we generally started at 7 a.m. and worked straight on. We had no fixed meal-hour, and after dinner we again worked on till 7, 8, or 9 o'clock. 676. On Saturdays one lot started at 5 o'clock in the morning, and they knocked off at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The other half came on at 7 o'clock in the morning, and worked till half-past 11 or 12 o'clock on Saturday night. 677. I was at pastry-work, cleaning tins and odd jobs. I was there about nine months, and was past sixteen when I went there, and passed my seventeenth birthday while I was there. 678. We never got allowance for overtime. I had 12s. a week when I left, and I started at Bs. a week. He was to give'me 7s. 6d., but he raised my wages as I went on. 679. There were five working in the bakehouse and one going messages. All worked the same hours. 680. The ventilation was very bad. Tho room was underground, and there was only one grating to it. When you went down the first flight of steps there was another small flight, about seven steps, down to another bakehouse, where there was not a " stank"—a grating. Then there was another place where the butter would not get soft, but when the gas was turned out it was so dark you could not see your finger before you. 681. When I went there my employer said I was to work from 7 in the morning till 7 at night, but the rest worked on and I worked on too. 682. There was no overtime, except for Christmas, when I got paid for two weeks and a half overtime. 683. There were about six there younger than I was—about fifteen. 684. There was no fixed time for meals, and we got our meals on the benches in the bakehouse. 685. There were no sanitary conveniences ; you had to go outside to the station or to the saleyards. But we went on working away. We did not care to leave, and had to wait on till we went home. 686. At Wood's we have the Union hours. He is a Union man, a member of the Breadbakers' Society, so our hours are from 7 o'clock in the morning till 5 o'clock at night, and all after that we get paid for. 687. The ventilation at Wood's is very good. There is nothing to complain of down there. 688. I have told nothing but the truth in what I have said about Hopkins's. 689. There are no bound apprentices. All work till they learn their trade. Miss Y. examined. 690. I am employed at Clarke's steam laundry in the North-east Valley. 691. We have pretty long hours—from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with only half an hour for dinner. The hours are the same on Saturdays. 692. We are at piecework, and prices vary, 1 make more sometimes than at other times— about £1 a week. 693. The room we work in is pretty warm. The stoves for the irons are going all day. 694. I am employed ironing shirts. 695. About twenty-five women are employed in the laundry, and there is an engineer and a lad who drives the express also employed there. 696. We have no complaint to make, excepting that we want an hour for dinner. We need the rest in the middle of the day. 697. We do not get any holidays excepting Christmas Day, aud sometimes New Year's Day. 698. I have been ill, and most of the others get ill after a time : I think it is from the heat and the standing. 699. We should be satisfied if we got an hour for dinner. 700. I am on piecework, but there arc others working by the day, and all are expected to work the same hours. 701. The irons weigh 91b. or 101b.; but there are smaller ones. 702. The sanitary arrangements are satisfactory. 703. There are young girls working there. Two of them are about twelve years of age, and the next would be sixteen years old. All work the same hours. Miss Z. examined. 704. I can corroborate what Miss Y. has said, and have no other complaint to make. 705. I have often been a bit sick from the heat and standing. It is pretty hard work, and in the summer time it is awfully hot. 706. The room we work in is a long one, and there is not much ventilation in it. It has two skylights, and the windows open from the one side. When the wind blows from town there is no ventilation. The windows on that side are closed, and there are only two on the other side. The building is one story high, and it has a boarded ceiling following the roof. 707. I like to go out to work at the laundry instead of going to service, because I wish to be at home at nights with my father and mother. lam the eldest of the children, and the others are not able to go out.