Cook County Liberal Association.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume V, Issue 618, 9 June 1891, Page 3

Cook County Liberal Association.

Among the Bills of which copies have been received by the Association is the Factories Bill, which is deserving of close study. The Factories Bill contains eight clauses, and codifies the law of factories and workrooms. For the purpose of carrying out the Act, the colony is devided into districts, and an Inspector and Medical Officer is to be appointed over each district. It is a sine qua non of an Inspector that this name shall be submitted to the Trades and Labor Council, by whom objections (if any) may be raised. Every factory and workroom is to be registered, and plans of new buildings, intended to be used as such, are to be submitted to the local Board of Health. The Inspector has power to enter at all reasonable times to inspect, and also examine persons as to whether the law is being complied with, and can, if he wishes, be accompanied by a constable. Becords are to be kept of all persons employed, and of the ages of those under 20, and also of the kind of work done by each person. Where work is done off the premises, a similar record is to be kept. The Inspector is to make an annual report which is to be laid before Parliament, as to the operation of the Act, but so as not to identify the persons referred to in it. This report will classify the number of persons employed, their sex, age, and earnings, their hours of labor, and the per centage of work done inside and outside factories. Where an accident happens, owing to machinery, or otherwise, notice is at once to be given to the Medical Officer, who is to report to the Inspector. Provision is made for the sanitary well-being of factories, such as keeping the rooms clean, not overcrowding them, and the space to be allowed to each worker. No woman, or person under 18, is to remain longer than five hours without an interval of at least half an hour for a meal, an<| meals are not to be taken in a workroom except under certain conditions. When’ there are more than eix females employed a special meal room must be provided. A number of sections relate solely to bakehouses, which are to be painted periodically, are to be washed with hot water soap once at least every year, and are not to be used for living purposes. In places where dust is in danger of being inhaled owing to any grinding or polishing process, mechanical means must be taken for its prevention.

There are special provisions regarding the employment of women and young people. Where females and males are employed in the same factory they must have separate apartments. A girl or a boy under 16 is not to be employed more than 48 hours in one week in preparing or manufacturing articles for trade or sale, but in extraordinary circumstances this provision may be suspended, No child is to be employed, and no person under 15 years (not a late arrival), who has not passed the fourth standard. Persons under 16 must he medically certified as fit for employment. No bey under 15 or girl under 16 is to work in a factory between 6 p.m. and 6 am. Boys under 14 and girls under 18 are not to be employed in typesetting. The following holidays must be allowed to women and males under 18:— Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Eister Monday, and Qmen's Birthday ; also from two on Saturday afternoon, or such other afternoon as may be appointed, and wages are not to be deducted for such holidays. A number of clauses inflict pen tilties for various offences against the the Act, and presents the procedure for taking proceedings thereunder.