I.—9a.

72

[J. H. HINTON.

shop they have still their cash to balance. You cannot start balancing your cash while the shop is lull. 6. How long does it usually take to balance the cash'(—-It may take anything from ten minutes to half an hour. It depends whether it pans out oorreotly. 7. How often does it pan out correctly?— That depends on the assistants. Sometimes we will have a spell of two or three months without there being any difficulty with the cash. At other times there has been a paid-out made and it has not been put through the register. The man to whose till that shortage is sheeted has to ta\ Ins memory until he can give some account. 8. Is it worth while extending the time for the sake of instance* which may happen only once in three months according to your own admission?—-You are not legislating really for everyday work you are legislating really. I take it. for particular circumstances; and under one of these circumstances, if we do happen to have our assistants there for the half-hour, necessarily we are committing a breach of the law. As 1 say, we do not propose to take any mean advantage of any concession that is given in that way. I question very much whether the fifteen minutes' grace is used except under necessitous circumstances. ] know that my employees are often away within three minutes of the lioui when there has been a slack spell jusi before closing-time, and they have been able to put up the shutters and get all their stuff fastened up before (5 o'clock. Milt we want protection for special cases—for cases when we may need the extra fifteen minutes. 9. Would you Ik agreeable to inserting a clause in the Bill that wages must be paid weekly.' —I do not think there is any objection. Personally I pay my wages weekly. I think the general rule is to pay weekly. 10. With regard to clause II (</) and this default for seven days, is not that long enough in your opinion, especially if you pay once a week?—'l ho point I endeavoured to make was this: it is very often the fault of the employee himself that he does not get his full wages, because where a man is employing a considerable number of younger hands their birthdays come round so quickly that an employer may not really be aware of it unless he has got them all scheduled. The onus, to my mind, lies on the employee to inform his master when he reaches the age which entitles him to a rise. It is only fail- that he should. 11. With regard to clause 4, you say you believe in the addition to the clause providing that when an employee simis the book for his wages he shall also sign it as a certificate of oorreel ness I —That is so. 12. Do you not think that might work out very unfairly sometimes to the employee? How can he be sure that the sheet is correct which he signs? — The man who is most sure of his ult and the wage that he ought to be getting is, I take it, the man himself. Therefore, if he makes default in claiming any deficiency in his pay, it is surely a fair thing that he should stand, at all events, a part of the responsibility. 13. That would entirely absolve the employer from blame if the employee made a mistake in signing that book?—I think so. Ido not think then would be any chance of its being very long perpetuated. 14. But there is no bringing the employer "up to the scratch " if a mistake is made.' The (rouble has been hitherto that all the responsibility has been thrown on to the employer, and this. \u take it, is a very fair way of sharing the responsibility. 15. Ido not see any sharing in this at all. The clause says that the certificate he signs shall be a clean receipt?— The man who is receiving the money is the man who should see that the amount is correct. We regarded this provision in the Hill as a safeguard which we welcomed, as we had not had it before. 1C). It is undoubtedly a safeguard to the employer, but it seems to me there is no safeguard whatever on the other side. If something could be done to safeguard both sides lam with you .' —We would be quite prepared to consider and give our opinion on any suggestion you might make dealing with a safeguard on 1 ho other side. 17. Mr. J. 801/fir//.] You say that the quarter-hour's grace after closing-time is not suffi cieni on many occasions to serve the customers in the shop and balance the cash. Would you agree to close a quarter .of an hour earlier so as to give you half an hour? —There would lie a little difficulty in that, in that people recognize the complete hour as the time of closing, and 1 do not see that the difficulty would be really got over. I did not say that the half-hour would be needed on many occasions. What we claim is protection for ourselves in case of the half-hour being needed. I suppose that on eighi days out of ten our employees get off within five minutes of the hour having struck. 18. Mr. Feitch.] You say that the drivers always have to attend to the horses that they drive: are you quite sure that is correct? In a big linn when thej have quite a number of vans and horses it is quite possible that they may have a stableman who would do that work, but in a small business where there is only one or, perhaps, two horses the man who drives tincart is looked upon as the caretaker of the horses. 19. Does that not show that it would not be fair even to the employers to fix the wages without making special allowance for the time employed in looking after horses? —This is the award : " The minimum rate of wages which shall be paid to drivers of tin age of twenty-two and upwards shall be £2 10s. per week." 20. lliat is fixed by the Arbitration Court on the understanding that the man has got to do the other work at a special rate, is it not?— No. J do not think so. I think it is meant that the driver shall do his work and attend to his horse for £2 10s. a week. That is the under standing. 21. Mr. Davey.] There is no provision in the award to that effect?— There is no provision m mv other effect.