9

M. FAGAN j

I.—4b

,19 Eon. Mr Guinness.] If the clause in the Bill provided, Mr Fagan, that a shift should on Saturday work only four hours, would that carry out your suggestion of a forty-four-hours week ? —That is so. 20. I understand your evidence to be in that direction : the first shift, at 8, would onlywork till 12 midday, the second from 12 to 4, and the night shift would go on at 4 and come off at 8. The effect of the Bill is to make the week a forty-four-hours one. Striking out the words " twelve o'clock noon and five o'clock in the afternoon " and saying in their place that shifts shall on Saturday work only four hours will meet the case, will it not?—Undoubtedly I have seen it worked in New South Wales, and it is in operation at Charters Towers, Queensland, and other places, and has been for the last thirty years. Charters Towers is a very big place. 21. The proviso was inserted so as not to interfere with the hours of labour in privately owned mines—that is to say, where all the miners themselves work without wages-men. It was put in so as not to affect these miners; but it could be altered, because I understand from the miners' delegates that they are quite willing to have it binding on mines owned by companies, large mine-owners, or by private miners. 22. Mr E II Tai/lor ] May I ask, Mr Fagan, how this affects tributers. On the Thames Goldfield, for instance, there are a number of tributers. Do you think it would liberate tributers, or restrict them from working from 12 noon to s?—ln answer to that question I may say that, so far as my experience goes, tributers are the first to take advantage of their freedom. Tributers are men who work mostly for themselves, and in my district one of the mines is worked solely by tributers, and they knock off at midday In my opinion it should apply to tributers as well as to miners working on wages, because a tributer would have sense enough to know that the holiday would benefit his health. 23. Supposing he has reached gold, and wants to get it out?—l think it should be made to apply to tributers. 24. Mr. Anderson.] If the suggestion made by Mr Guinness in his question were given effect to, it would do away, of course, with the half-holiday—that is to say, the miners would not cease work on the Saturday afternoon as provided for in this Bill?—It is unworkable. 25. A portion of the miners then would not have the half-holiday They would simply have a half-day's work. They would not be able to take part in any sports on Saturday afternoon? — Two-thirds would not. It is not sports we are after; it is fresh air 26 Mr Golvin.] I understand that the men want a forty-four-hours Bill—that all men be compelled to knock off after a forty-four-hours week ?—That is my meaning 27 Mr Anderson.] Your experience applies solely to gold-mining : you do not know how it would affect coal-miners ?—There are two coal-miners' representatives here to give evidence. William Edward Parry examined. (No. 8.) 1 The Chairman.] What is your name?—William Edward Parry. lam president of the W T aihi Miners' Union, and workers' inspector 2 Let us hear your view r s, Mr Parry?—l will give my views briefly in regard to this Bill. It seems to me that there is a slight misunderstanding, and that we are trying to split straws in connection with the Bill, and I think that at this juncture I may say that as this Bill now reads it is impossible to give a half-holiday to each man on each .shift. If the Bill is to have any great effect at all it will be better to make it so that the hours of work will be reduced a certain amount. I think if the Government makes provision to decrease the workers' hours of work per week, and the companies can be left to fix the starting-times of shifts, it would be a great advantage to the workers. Ido not see, myself, how we are going to get over the difficulty of this half-holiday question unless it is distinctly stipulated in this Bill that the hours of work are going to be so-many per week. Under this Bill the companies, I understand, if they so desire, can open the mine again at 5 o'clock and work on until 12 That is what the miners are very much against, and it should be made to apply to any gold or coal mine where men are employed. The workers of the Dominion are very much against the contract system. It would not apply to a great extent to Waihi, where nearly all. the work is carried on on the contract system, and that system there is proving very detrimental to the workers, not only at the Waihi Mine, but it will prove detrimental to the rising generation. During the past twelve months £200 has been paid out on account of blood-poisoning The doctors that I have had conversation with say that the poisoning is caused through the men becoming run down in health, the blood becoming impoverished, and there is a consequent on the part of the men to resist the effects of any poisonous matter That being so, it would be for the benefit of the miners if the hours of work could be reduced, because lives would be prolonged. Another thing in connection with the contract system is that the whole of the responsibility is placed on the workers. I may say that the workers are working the Waihi Mine, the responsibility being taken from the company, and the system at the Waihi Mine at the present time they did not want to encourage. The Bill, if passed into law, would encourage that system. lam strongly in favour of the reduction in the number of hours worked per week, and that is, in my opinion, the only way in which we can come to any satisfactory conclusion. There is no doubt that if this Bill came into force there would be a great deal of wrangling in regard to the fixing-up of the hours of labour At Waihi the men start on Monday morning at 1 o'clock, and that is an unearthly hour for any man to begin at in order that he may earn his livelihood. He works forty-seven hours a week on the 12-o'clock shift, and on the day shift and afternoon shift he works forty-six, so that the night shift would have to be changed considerably I may say this: that the miners of this country are going to fight for the abolition of the night shift, and I think, myself, they are entitled to the abolition, simply because the men working on night shift cannot obtain the same rest as the men on day shift, and their home affairs are not the same. Through trying to sleep in the daytime,

2—l. 4b.