SHOPS AND OFFICES ACT.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 133, 2 December 1904, Page 5

SHOPS AND OFFICES ACT.

A CHRISTCHURCH PROTEST. THE PREMIER'S EXPLANATION. [BT TELEGRAPH"- PRESS ASSOCIATION ] CHRISTCHURCH, Ist Dec. The Premier received an important deputation to-day from representatives of small shopkeepers Avho object to the operation of the Shops and Offices Act. It was stated that a petition asking for the repeal of clause 3 would soon have ten thousand signatures, and that the small shopkeepers felt that their very existence was threatened. The Premier, replying, stated that it was his duty as head of the Government to see the law passed by the Legislature fairly and impartially administered. In this case, as in the case of other laAvs, however, those who had to administer and those who had to obey should know what the law really was, and when there was a difference of opinion — as there was in regard to the Shops and Offices Act— the Courts of the colony .should be called upon to interpret the law. He might say at once that he thought it would have been better if time had been given, so that men in business, and the public generally, could have been fully prepared when the Act came into operation. He thought that the measure had caused apprehension largely because it came into operation so suddenly. THE OBJECT OF THE GOVERNMENT. The idea of the Government in introducing the Bill had been to settle one or two urgent questions — notably those of the half-holiday and the working hours of shop assistants. It had been desired to put the half-holiday on a better and more definite basis, and there had been not the least doubt that the hours worked by shop assistants, as compared with those of the employees in other trades, were altogether too long. He was pleased to hear that the shopkeepers did not object to 'the limitation of the hours of shop assistants. They said, as he understood them, that the shopkeeper should send his assistants away at a reasonable time, but that if he cared to sit in his shop all night with his wife and family, and get what business was to be had, he should be allowed to do so. He was logically following out the views placed before him by the deputation. The Act clearly provided, in regard to shop assistants, that awards of the Arbitration! Court were to come before its provisions t COMBINED DISTRICTS. »In regard to the section of the Actj providing for combined districts, Mr. Seddon said that it was his duty ad Minister of Labour to ascertain what the_ law was before he instructed hit officers to administer the Act. No man who had respected the high position ip which he had been placed would be doing justice to the position if he did not satisfy himself by means of the law officers what the law really provided. The fint difficulty that faced him was in regard to clause 3. He had had some experience in the making and administering of faws, and he was inclined to think that those who had the clause inserted were thinking of the combined districts, of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, which 1 had been created and were in existence under clause 9 of the Act of 1894. He had been advised that subsection 2 of clause 8 created and constituted separate districts. The Court was asked to interpret subsection 2 and its application to clause 3, and me Magistrate held that subsection 2 Avithin itself did not create separate districts. Then there was the provision' in respect to gazetting the boundaries. The' boundaries of the town districts with boundaries within a mile of each other were known, and next day, on his arrival in Wellington, he would eign the neeesiwry notice in the Gazette announcing the combined districts of the colony under subsection 3 of clause 8 of the Act. He had be^n advised that the law officers were appealing against the decision of the Magistrate. The law officers still held that subsection 2 of clause 8 created combined districts, and if that Avas not so, it might be held that the simple gazetting by the Minister would create the combined districts. ADMINISTERING THE LAW. He maintained that Avhatever the law was the people of New Zealand were lawabiding, and it was his duty to see that the law Avas fairly administeredi A bad law or an indifferent law by reasonable interpretations could sometimes be madp beneficial, and good laws by faulty and drastic administration would prove an evil thing for the people. So far as he was concerned, the Premier declared that he Avas going to take the law as it stood, and as it Avas interpreted by those Avhose duty it Avas to inteipret the laAV whenever a doubt arose, and he would administer it in a fair, impartial, and considerate manner. CLAUSE 3. Mr. Seddon then dealt Avith the history of clause 3, and the action taken by the Legislative Council in having it inserted in the measure. Messrs. Rigg and Jenkinson had thrown light on the subject, and it must be admitted that the people were not taken by surprise, as the Council had previously passed proA'ision for arbitrarily closing shops and regulating the time of opening. After dealing at length with the manner in Avhich the measure had passed through the Legislature, the Premier said that he believed Parliament Avould be prepared to grant relief to one or two trades whose needs had not been considered as iully as might have been. Fruiterers, fishmongers, chemists, and hairdressers, and perhaps confectioners, were, perhaps, justified in asking for a little latitude. At the same time, the clause in regard to the hours of shop assistants would be strictly enforced. The Court Avould be called upon to interpret the laAv, and, in the meanlime, he did not intend to insist on a drastic compliance with the Irav. He would expect a fair compliance only, and if the people tried to keep their shops open and work their assistants until all hours of the night, he would insist upon that fair compliance. In conclusion, the Premier said tliat he had heard the opinions of shopkeepers, in Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, and intended at an early date to giA r e the Auckland people an opportunity tj> express their vieAvs. The could then be laid before Cabinet. Drapers, dothiers, mercers, hatters, etc., Avho are in favour of the early closing hours, are reminded of' tho meeting which is to be held at Godber's Rooms, Cuba-street, at 8 o'clock this evening, when matters of importance to the drapery trade will be discussed.