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which now_ provides that assistants in restaurants and tea-rooms should work fifty-two hours a week. It it were not for an anomaly in the Act the fifty-two-hours week would be of general application to men and women workers in restaurants and tea-rooms, but the Crown Law Department has so construed the Act that the " assistant ' is only the worker engaged in serving the meals. It thus happens that only the waiter or waitress, as the case may be, is an " assistant " within the Act and gets a half -holiday , all other girls, working in the kitchen and pantry are in many cases deprived of their half-holiday if the employer thinks fit to do so. I am glad to say that a lot of the employers recognize the unfairness of the position, and give the holiday and Act hours all round. When Parliament sees that the workers are not getting the benefit of the legislation which is intended for them because of a technical loophole I think it should alter the Act so as to remove any such loophole. By agreeing to the fifty-six hours we are agreeing to four hours in excess of what is provided for in the Act and for the workers in restaurants covered by the Court s awards I anticipate that the employers will come along—and this is mainly the reason why 1 came here this morning—and say that the Arbitration Court has recently awarded sixty-five hours a week for male and female workers in hotels, and therefore this Shops and Offices Amendment Bill is overriding the award of the Court. Already the employers in nearly all the centres haye passed a stereotyped resolution protesting against the introduction of the Bill The eeimg, which is evidenced in all instances in connection with our awards, on the part of the President of the Court seems to show that he resents any interference by Parliament with any of the conditions which he has fixed in our trade. In our old award, which was made in December 1907, there was this provision : If at any time while this award shall remain in operation any change shall be made by legislation in any of the conditions regulated by this award the Court reserves power to itself, upon the application of any party bound by this award, to 'vary all or any of the provisions of this award, and to make such variation operate retrospectively from the date on which such change as aforesaid shall have been made." We never objected to that provision at all We recognized that if the Court's awards stated sixty-five hours, and if Parliament later on stated sixty hours, then perhaps some adjustment of the wages might have been necessary But we took the stand that if our girls cannot earn a living in fifty-six hours and our men in sixty hours then the conditions in New Zealand are not as bright and prosperous as people would lead us to believe they are. The recent Wellington award now contains another clause aimed at blocking legislative interference _ I his clause was never asked for by either party in the first place When the Auckland Hotel Union went to Rotorua to get an award for the private hotels and four licensed hotels that are in existence in Rotorua, this Bill was on the point of being introduced— it is some time back now—and Mr Justice Sim, the President of the Court, to prevent what he thought might be an interference with the functions of the Court, put in the following section of that award on his own initiative. Neither the union on its side nor the employers on their side f * fJ°j it -- 1 ! he T ti ,° n 1S re P eated in Wellington award. It is headed "Alteration of Award by Legislation. 14. The provisions of this award shall continue in force until any change is made by legislation in any of the conditions fixed by this award. On any such change being made all the foregoing provisions of this award shall cease to operate, and thereafter during the term of this award, the following provisions shall be in force Subject to any legislative provisions on the subjects, the hours of work, wages, and other conditions of work of all workers coming within the scope of this award shall be fixed by agreement between each employer and the individual workers employed by him." Now, we would not have objected to the section so much if it had been asked for by the employers to protect themselves, but this section has as 1 say, been put into the recent award secured by the Wellington Cooks and Waiters' Union What it means is this that if Parliament saw fit to say that workers in hotels shall not work for more than five hours without half an hour for a meal-that only, and nothing else—then the whole of the provisions of the award which have been secured would be null and void, and there would be freedom of contract between the workers and employers, and, moreover—and this is the damnable part of it—until the time had expired for which the award was made we should be debarred from participating in the provisions of the Arbitration Act—until our award expired in August 1912 • because the award says, "On any such change being made, all the foregoing provisions'of this award shall cease to operate, and thereafter, during the term, of this award," &o That is the sense of it. We resent that. We say it is a challenge to Parliament-that Mr Justice Sim has said m elfect that he is there to make the conditions which shall govern the work of employees in restaurants and hotels, and that the award made and the provisions of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act shall be taken away from the men engaged in the industry if Parliament shall see fat to alter any of the award-conditions by legislation. Our organizations, "and our Trades Councils oo have backed up the Arbitration Act against a good deal of hostile criticism which has been levelled at it of late. We say the Act affords the best method at present for settling industrial disputes, and because we are loyal to it we are to be penalized. We say that Parliament should have the right to say at all times that the conditions which its eighty legislators fix shall be the conditions as against the mind of one man That is the stand we take up, and because Mr Justice Sim anticipated perhaps the introduction of this Bill, he has put in that provision which says that m the event of legislation our award shall cease to operate, and we shall not be able to go for another award and have no governing conditions at all until the time for which the award was made has expired—two years hence. I called a special meeting of my own union to deal with this Bill in view of this drastic clause 14 in our award. So keen are we to have this Bill put on the statute-book—not so much so far as the four centres are concerned, but because we know that in the country it will be a blessing, and it will put the country workers in hotels on very much the same footing as they are on in Australia, and on the same footing as they should have been on m New Zealand long ago—that we are agreed to advocate this measure introduced by the Government as against the award of the Court. What I mean to say is this: that even if we

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