H.—ll

act or default of the claimant in leaving the employment or being absent from the employment after the work was actually done as aforesaid. Until the passing of the Factories Amendment Act, 1936, which provided for the occupier of a factory to allow certain holidays to every person employed in the factory, this privilege was by statute accorded to women and boys alone, though as a matter of custom and pursuant to collective bargaining action many men also benefited. Other sections of the Act provide specially for meal-rooms for women workers, regulate the matter of taking meals in workrooms, restrict employment immediately after childbirth (there is no recorded case where it has been necessary to enforce this section), and prohibit employment in any factory in which wet spinning is carried on unless full and satisfactory provision is made to protect each of them from being wetted, and, where hot water is used, to prevent the escape of steam into any room in which any of them are employed. While, as stated above, there is no statutory differentiation in wage rates, awards of the Court of Arbitration have in many industries made provision for wages for women lower than the wage for men (for examples see table on page 9). Further, under the basic-wage determination in terms of section 3 of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act, 1936 (1936 Book of Awards 715), the rate for adult female workers is £1 16s. a week (£3 16s. a week for adult males). Again, the order of the Court of Arbitration under the Rates of Wages Emergency Regulations 1940 (1942 Book of A wards 258) applied the increase to a"n amount not exceeding £2 10s. a week in the case of adult female workers (£5 a week for adult males). In many industries, however, no separate rate has been prescribed for women workers, and where, duo to the increasingly significant role played by women in the war programme, women have entered these employments the minimum wage legally payable has been that provided for men. On several occasions applications to fix rates for women have been dealt with by the Industrial Emergency Council, which has adhered to the principle of equal pay for equal work. Where it has been shown that a lesser volume of work was inevitable or the whole of a job could not bo allotted to women, lower rates have been fixed. The following table illustrates the respective rates for males and females per week :—

3

ltate fixed. Hate for Males. Agricultural workers eighteen years of age and over— £ a. d. £ s. d. Dairy farms .. .. •• First (5 months .. ..210 .18-19 .. .. 1 10 0 Thereafter .. ..2 8 6 19-20 .. ..2 3 0 20-21 .. ..2 10 6 Adult .. .. 2 17 6 Other farms .. .. • • First (i months .. ..116 0 18-19 .. ..1160 Thereafter .. ..2 3 0 19-20 .. ..2 3 0 20-21 .. .. 2 10 0 Adult .. .. 2 17 0 Bakers .. .. •• .. £4 15s. 6d.* .. .. £4 15s. plus 5 per cent, plus 5 per cent. —i.e., £5 4s. 9d. If engaged wholly in bread packing and checlring, bread wrapping and banding, bread cutting and wrapping, assisting in the distribution of bread in the bread-room to drivers' racks and vans, and keeping the bread-room clean. £ s. d. Butchers (shop) .. .. .. First 3 months . .3 5 01 Plus cost- £5 5s., plus cost-of living Second 3 months 3 15 0 f of-living increases. Thereafter .. 4 0 0 J increases Packing display trays; windowdressing ; pricing and ticketing; weighing, wrapping, and serving customers any joints, chops, steaks, and smallgoods that have been prepared for saie by male assistants ; taking cash ; sewing and tying prepared rolls of fresh meat; linking sausages ; light cleaning, which shall not include scrubbing and/or scraping of butchers' blocks or the cleaning of sausage or similar machinery or brine tubs. Grocers— Up to 20 .. .. .. • • Rates for youths as in award. £ s. d. 20 •• •• •• "a cost-of-living increases £5 5s., plus cost-of-living in- •• •" .. 4 7 OJ creases. £ s. d. When commencing at the trade at age First 0 months .. 3 0 0 1 pj l|3 COf)t twenty or over Second 0 months.. 3 7 0 ' of _ ' Third () mouths .. 4 2 0[ . fc Thereafter ..4 7 0 J lnoreases a. d. s. d. Porcclain workers (employed by the Amal- Under 16 .. 18 0 Under 16 .. 25 0~| eamated Brick and Pipe Co., Ltd., 10-161 .. .. 22 6 16-161 ..30 0 Auckland) 164-17 .. .. 26 0 161-17 .. 35 0 17-17| .. .. 30 6 17-171 ..40 0 171-18.. 34 6 Plus cost- 171-18 ..45 0 p] 18-181.. 38 0 J-of - living 18-18* ..50 0 I ,, f u^n " 184-19 .. .. 42 0 increases 184—19 . ■ 55 0 19-19| .. .. 40 0 19-19* .. 00 0 lncreases 191-20 .. .. 50 0 191-20 .. 05 0 20-201 .. .. 55 0 20-201 ..75 0 201 an( l over • • 60 0 J 20J—21 .. 80 0 Adults (per 2 5_ hour) Sandbag Workers employed by McKen- £2 10s., plus cost-of-living increases, £5, plus cost-of-living increases, drick Bros., Ltd., Auckland ' increased to £3, plus cost-of-living increases, after 2 months' experience (no award for this work) »I.e., forty forty-fourths of the rate for males in view of the limitations of working-hours to forty (males, forty-four).