The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1908. TO-DAY’S POLL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2095, 22 January 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1908. TO-DAY’S POLL.

Under the latest Factory Amendment Act, provision is made whereby, every burgess in such a town -as Gisborne can vote directly upon tlie half-holiday question in its relation to factories, and 1 a poll is thereforebeing taken to-day. The voting, it must be remembered, will in no wise affect the closing of factories. The present position, so far as the men employees is concerned, is that work must cease on Saturday -at r o’clock. The men- may keep oil until four, but if so they must be paid overtime. The effect of to-day’s poll is to sav whether the boys and women employed in factories shall have their holiday on Thursdays or Saturdays. In the case of drapers’ shops, it would certainly be -a convenience if the young women engaged in dressmaking or millinery could take their holiday on the same day that their fellow-workers behind, the counter have theirs, and if the Act only applied to such businesses, it would probably prove a. very useful measure. Unfortunately, it lias been made so far-reaching in its effects that there seems a grave danger that any advantages bestowed in such cases as we have mentioned will be more than counterbalanced; by the inconveniences caused in others. Thus, if the proposal for -a Thursday half-lioliday is carried today, a coachbuilder will be compelled to -let his boys go off on Thursday, but cannot apparently- compel his men employees to take their holiday on. that day. As a matter of fact, thoso who have been accustomed to the Saturday Half-holiday will probably object to the change to Thursday. The men could not compel their employers to give them work on the Thursday, but they could refuse to work on Saturday unless they were paid overtime for so doiug. It does not require a vivid imagination to sco tho hardship imposed upon a manufacturer who was so hampered in his- business. On Thursday his men would work without the assistance' of hoys, and on the .Saturday he would have to do the best he could to find work that- would keep the apprentices employed. A similar state of affairs would occur in carpentering, brickmaking, plumbing, soapinaking, freezing, and, in fact, all industries that come within tlie scope of -the Factories Act, and when it is remembered that the Council’s stone-crusher has been registered as a factory, it will bo recognised that there is not- much that escapes the operations of the measure.

Another weak feature- of the Act is, that although the signatures of one-tenth of the. burgesses on the roll havo to be obtained before a poll can be taken, there is no restriction in regard to tho number of votes necessary to make the poll effective. Thus if only a dozen vote, and seven of these are in favor of the proposal, it will be carried. There are many indications that the Factories Act Amendment Bill, which was passed in tho dying hours of last session, was given scant consideration by our legislators, with the result that it provides all tho elements for untold trouble to the people. On the face of things, it would appear to be a wise move on the part of Gisborneites to act with extreme caution in this matter, and watch the course of events in some of the other towns before sanctioning the proposed change. As already pointed out, a general Thursday hall'-lioliday would probably bo

appreciated by the employees in drapers’ shops, but as factories generally would still have to close on Saturdays tlio present confusion would probably he greatly intensified.