HON. J. BARB.]

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I.—9a.

eight making it fi ft y-two —I do not favour that, as I think it makes the hours too long; but I know in a matter like this we have got to compromise, and really in a lot of oases we would be reverting to what existed prior to the 1910 Bill. In the 1910 Bill you increased the hours in restaurants from sixty to sixty-two, and this would only be a reversal, and fifty-two would only be what females are obtaining at the present moment in private hotels and restaurants. We air asking really what is in existence at the present moment, and what was in existence two or three'years ago relative to the sixty. I submit this as a compromise as against what is our belief —fifty-six for men and fifty for women. If thai was done there would be no decision Tor putting in this eleven, and so increasing the daily hours. There is another little point that I would submit to members of this Committee —that is that in subelause (3) of section 27 you set down that if overtime is worked they shall be paid the sum of 9d. per hour. Now. that seems a terrible sum — an awfully heavy sum oompared with the sum quoted by one member to-day as oharged by hotel employers in Christchurch — 9d. per hour overtime! 2. Mr. Veitch.] "Being not less than ninepence " ?—Oh, we know that means "not more." Take this into consideration : when they arc working overtime they have to hustle for all they are worth for that period. 3. Mr. Mtisset/.] You are not reading that clause correctly?— Please point out my incorrectness. 4. The clause reads, " Every assistant employed during such extended hours shall, at the first regular pay-day thereafter, be paid for such employment half as much again as the ordinary rate of wages, or the sum of ninepence per hour, whichever is the greater"? —Quite correct; but take the large mass of these employees—they get less than £1 10s. a week of sixty-two hours, women fifty-eight and fifty-two in restaurants, which are six-day hours—often not more than £1 ss. Women are considered well paid at £1 ss. a week. A considerable number are paid 15s. per week. You see that figure does not give them any more than the 9d., so that I would suggest a reasonable minimum is Is.; and surely none of us would think of refusing Is. for charity, and here is honest work on a hustling, bustling day. They have to work for it where overtime has to be worked. I want to endorse the statement made relative to the hour for the half-holiday. It would be made by Mr. Long, 1 think, and I believe I read it in Mr. Carey's evidence —should have been 1 o'clock. There was an excuse a long time ago, when this came into existence first, that the meal-times 1 see that Mr. Chairman is thinking it is meal-time now. The Chairman: Yes, the time is up.

Tuesday, 9th Septembeh, 1913. Hon. J. Barr, M.L.C., further examined. (No. 44b.) 1. The Chairman.] When we adjourned last Friday Mr. Barr was just finishing his address? —Yes, I was dealing with clause 27, if I remember rightly, and I had referred to the desirability of substituting 1 o'clock for 2 o'clock here, as this referred principally to barmen —subsection (4) of section 27. At the present moment 2 o'clock is the time, and we know perfectly well, we who are interested in this matter and who are coming in contact with it daily, (hat when the individual stops at 2 o'clock, by the time he gets home and gets squared up it is 3 o'clock, and this curtails his half-holiday very considerably. It is not a half-holiday really—it is a little time in the evening that he gets. We would suggest that it would entail no hardship to order that the half-holiday should commence at 1 o'clock. I may say here that there are a number of employers who treat their barmen in a fair manner and who at present do grant the 1 o'clock provision. Now 1 would like to refer to this whole question of the one holiday. I want to put this on evidence : that there has been for two years a hotel in Christchurch that has given to some of the employees a whole holiday every fortnight. The Clarendon Hotel in Christchurch for a matter of two yea is —it might be more, but we will say two years —agreed with their employees in the dining-room that instead of giving the half-holiday they would give a whole holiday every second week. 1 was perfectly well aware that this was contrary to the Act, but as it suited the employees and suited the employer, so far as I was concerned I took no notice of it. A Itime, however, arrived when one of the employees tell out with both his fellow-employees and the boss, and he reported the matter to the Factory Inspector, and the Inspector could not do otherwise than to stop the practice. I give this illustration to show that the whole holiday can be worked if the employers are willing that it should be worked. Furthermore, as you may Iμ: aware, in the 1910 Act there was a provision put in. which was principally for the Canterbury employers —that provision was to enable the employers six times in the year to dispense with the halfholiday, provided that on the following week they would give a full holiday. This has been taken advantage of universally by the Christchurch employers. 1 favoured that at the time the Bill was before this Committee. I believe I gave evidence in the matter, as it was very awkward during race weeks to get a sufficiency of employees. This was conceded and recognized by the Committee, and the clause put in, and, as I have said, employers take advantage of that provision at the present moment : they dispense with the half-holiday and they give their employees the full holiday on the following week, and there has been no trouble in connection with it. I mention that to show that if the employers desire a little alteration in their organization there is very little difficulty in giving what is asked. Not only am I referring to such hotels as the Clarendon, but to all hotels in Christchurch, because we know that at certain periods the Christohurch hotels are without exception filled to the doors —in fact, so full are they in certain cases and on certain occasions—at show times, for instance—that they have sometimes to get outside lodgings for their employees and give the bedrooms to the guests. Still dealing with