105

I.—9a.

T. LONG

22. But I suppose housemaids often act as barmaids? —They have until the Barmaids Registration Act came into operation. 23. Mr. Hindmarsh.] Does that state of things exist now in " Glenalvon "1 —There has been no alteration. 24. Mr. Veitchi\ As to taking signatures : subsection (2) of section 4 reads, " The entry of the particulars hereinbefore referred to shall be signed by the assistant at the time of the payment of his wages." You want everything after that cut out —" and such signature shall operate not only as a receipt for such payment but also as a certificate of the correctness of the particulars entered with respect to that assistant." Now, what you really want is this : that the signature shall be a receipt for the amount of money actually paid, and that the worker will have a claim (if a mistake is discovered subsequently) for the balance due him, just in the same way as an employe] , would claim a refund if too much had been paid. Now, such a provision as you are asking for would not operate against an honest employer; it could only operate against a dishonest employer? —That is so. 25. With regard to the number of hours, I may say I have been rather startled with some of the figures mentioned by you. You are asking for a limitation to the number of attendances? —No. 26. You are asking that it be made ten for males and nine for females. Are you asking for that—tlif limitation in number of attendances for intermittent services? —Well, if it could be done, yes, but it might be very difficult in application. We are anxious to see the Committee fix a reasonable limitation during which the daily hours of labour should be worked. 27. Is the union asking for any limitation of the»total number of hours over which intermittent services would extend from first going on duty in the morning until last going off at night? I am asking the union if they are asking for any limitation over which the whole of the intermittent time would extend : for example, they might ask that no employee shall be off duty less than eight hours Ik , fore coming on duty next day? —We do not offer the suggestion in that form, but we have asked for it in another form. I asked in my evidence that the daily hours of employment shall be within a limit of twelve or thirteen hours. 28. Mr. Wilkinson.] 1 understood Mr. Long to say that he did not object to clause 2, in which it provides that the Act does not apply to an owner who does not employ more than three persons in a boardinghouse. That has been objected to by some other witnesses. Would it be a fair thing to exclude sueli boardinghouses if the owner's family comprised a number of workers, say, four or five girls?— Mr. Carey in his evidence the other day was cross-examined on this point. I want to make this position clear :so far as we are concerned, we are not going to labour that point; we recognize that it has a certain amount of justice and also a certain amount of injustice. We are not going to prejudice the passage of our Bill by bringing up that. 29. It is hardly fair competition?— Yes, certainly, there may be instances where it is most unfair and sometimes not so unfair. The position is this, Mr. Wilkinson : a man and his wife and family may run a boardinghouse; that man may work at another occupation, and that would be most unfair. In the case of a widow, perhaps, with a family, the case is not so unfair. 30. You have not expressed an opinion about closing a hotel on the usual half-holiday ?—The agitation for that had not commenced when the Committee started to take evidence on this Bill. 31. Would you care to express an opinion?—No, I would rather not. 32. In regard to clause 4, do not you think that the receipt given by the employee should be of some value? —It should be a receipt for money actually received. 33. I think that a substantial penalty might meet the case and prevent any undue tampering with the books?— There have been numbers of cases where the books have never been entered. A lawyer defended a hotelkeeper in Auckland, and this was his defence—the book was kept. It transpired it was kept in the safe, and there had never been an entry in it. 34. I did not catch what you said about the hours worked in "Glenalvon"? —Waiters, waitresses, and porters worked from eighty-six to over a hundred hours per week—l cannot remember exactly—it is in the matter I have read. 35. Have you any idea of the tariff charged by that establishment? —Ten shillings a day. Mr. Wilkinson : I stayed there myself, and that is why I want to bring that out. They work their employees long hours and on low pay. I just want to tell the Committee the charges "during Fleet week : Four of us stayed at this house for four days, and the bill was twenty-eight guineas. 36. Mr. Oket/.] Do you not think we should encourage these employees to keep a book so that they could enter up their overtime? —Well, some employees have a system in operation where they have a pass-book, and each night the pass-books are handed in to the clerk and are entered up in the wages-book. 37. Under such a system as that there would be no fear of these things happening, such as alteration of figures?— Not if it was universal; not if the employer kept his book up to date and made his entries similarly to that of the pass-book of the worker. At the present time it is competent for an employer to show that a worker is only working ten hours when he may have worked seventy hours a week, and the employee hap no opportunity of ascertaining what hours are put down in the wages-book. 38. Mr. McLean, who was giving evidence here the other day, said that he had a system in operation for several years?—He has got method in carrying on his business; he is one of the most methodical employers that I have ever come in contact with. 39. The evidence that you gave about long hours —is that going on at the present time? —Yes. 40. Do you not think that the Arbitration Court could do a good deal about this, Mr. Long? —Yes, they could. The Arbitration Court have got unlimited powers to deal with it, but decline to deal with it, and the Legislature cannot compel them to deal with it.

14—1. 9a.