IS A BARBER A TRADESMAN ?

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 46, 15 November 1900, Page 10

IS A BARBER A TRADESMAN ?

Tins interesting q-ustion was decided the other day in Tasmania The point was r.u-ed in the Police Court, Launceston, when a barber was proceed! d again t-t for being absent from duty without permission, and the decision of the Court was that a barber did not come under the ' Masters and .Servants' Act.' Considerable interest w:i- taken in the case (-.ays the Monitor), and the result was awaited with anxiety by friends of the defendant, and far more so by th> se who are aiquainted with the course of legislation in merry England. It <=eems that in the time of Henry VIII. surgeons were not in very high esteem, and were considered as 'blacklegs' by the then ancient guild of 'barbers. 1 Barbers at that period, and from the time of Edward IV., were considered as belonging to a profession ; they Phavtd and bled people and made wigs and did other things ot an important nature', and when m the reign of Henry VIII. surgeon 9 began to encroach upon their preserves, it was found necessary to provide against such unwarrantable interference with the ancient rights of oarbers. Accordingly an Aot was passed 32 Henry VIII. c 42, which prohibited surgeons from exercising the ' feat or craft of barbery or shaving.'

It is well that the Parliament of King Henry legislated in favor of the barbers, but the result has been in favor of the then despised, and, shall we say, now more esteemed craft or profession of surgeons .' We do not think there is much difference of opinion in the present age as to which calling is the more honorable, but at any rate the Parliament of King Henry VIII. deserves thanks for letting the public know in positive terms that surgeons and barbers are distinct classes and with separate rights although they were then considered as belonging to the same profession. The judgment of the Launceston Police Court was given in favor of the barber. He was adjudged to be outside the common rack of tradesmen and laborers, and accordingly he ranks here aa he does in England as a professional man and a gentleman. The Act of Henry VIII. is law here. One wonders whether the professional man (the barber) not being subject to the Act, the inferior man (the surgeon) may not be liable to £}D and costs or a month hard for absenting himself from duty without permission. When a similar question was argued out some months ago in the English law courts, the Counsel appearing in the case, who by the way had made Very interesting res t arches in British History, rejoiced in the names of William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.