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(5) Overtime notified in restaurants and hotels totalled 24,581 hours, worked by 277 males and 348 females. Overtime in shops was divided as follows: — Honrs. Men. Women. Departmental stores .. .. .. 14,747 362 1,175 Drapers and mercers .. .. .. 16,620 371 649 Grocers .. .. .. ..10,161 747 112 Stationery and allied .. .. .. 2,066 37 101 Miscellaneous .. .. .. 10,172 240 201 (6) Schools for Learners. —-Under section 9 of the Shops and Offices Amendment Act, 936, no premium may be received by the occupier of any shop in respect of the employment of a shop-assistant or in respect of the teaching or training of any person in any trade or business carried on in the shop unless the shop is approved by the Chief Inspector of Factories as a school for learners in a trade or business, and the payment is made pursuant to a written agreement that is approved by the Chief Inspector. In granting approval the Chief Inspector must be satisfied that the terms of the agreement are reasonable and that adequate facilities for learning the trade or business are provided. The only schools for learners which have been approved under this section are for the teaching of hairdressing. Thirteen schools were registered at 31st December, 1948, and 111 new agreements were approved during the year. Facilities for training appear to be quite satisfactory in all of the schools, both theoretical and practical training are given and no abuses of the system have been reported. Only six girls failed to complete their training period during the year, and of these two were temporary interruptions only while four relinquished their agreements voluntarily. Inquiries reveal that there are more openings for learners than there are girls offering to learn. (7) Employment of Workers on a Saturday.—ln last year's annual report reference was made to a pending legal action concerned with workers employed on a Saturday where the occupier had obtained exemption from Saturday closing. The case was Inspector of Awards v. Paraparaumu Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., and Maurice Beckett, Ltd. Defendants had obtained exemption from the closing-hours set out in the respective awards and were permitted to open their shops for business on a Saturday. The Inspector contended that this exemption did not over-ride other clauses of the awards concerning non-employment of shop-assistants on a Saturday and payment of overtime for work on days other than Monday to Friday. The Court was asked to decide whether the employment by defendants of shop-assistants outside the normal days of work specified in the awards and employment on Saturday without payment of penal rates constituted breaches of the awards. The Magistrate held that, ancillary to the exemption enabling defendants to open on a Saturday, goes the right to employ assistants within the forty-hour week at ordinary rates of pay on that day, the assistants merely exchanging working days —a Saturday for a week-day —and that no breach of the awards had occurred. When an appeal was taken to the Court of Arbitration the Magistrate's decision was upheld, the Court taking the view that the legislation could only function in a reasonable manner if freedom from prosecution for breaches of the hours of work and overtime clauses of the award was a necessary concomitant, for the orders for exemption from closing-hour clauses. (8) Exemptions from Closing-hour Provisions of Awards.- —Section 44 of the Statutes Amendment Act, 1948, amended the provisions of section 19 of the Shops and Offices Amendment Act, 1927, relating to exemptions from closing-hour provisions. The applicant for exemption is now required to give notice of his application to the union of employers and the union of workers in the particular trade in the district, and these unions are entitled to be heard on the application. A Magistrate may now grant an order if it will not unfairly affect the business of any other shop ; the word " unfairly " replaces the word " substantially," which had been found difficult to interpret. The right to apply for cancellation or variation of an order for exemption is now given not only to 2—H 11

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