670 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 
was made, containing special provisions as to fruit-preserving, fish- 
curing, and printing offices. It provides that all persons working 
overtime shall receive additional wages for the same, and that no 
female or young person be employed at overtime for more than four 
days in any week. This 1885 Act also says that if in any town or 
district Saturday he not suitable as a half- holiday, another day may 
be appointed by the local authorities and publicly notified as a day 
on which women and children shall have holiday from 2 p.m. 
In 1890 a royal commission consisting of nine men was appointed 
“ to inquire into the mode and terms in and on which persons are 
engaged or employed in any manner in supplying or making goods or 
articles for the owners or occupiers of such shops or wholesale or 
retail trading or manufacturing places of business or otherwise, and 
upon the relations generally of employer and employed, and the 
best machinery tor determining matters and questions arising between 
them and relating to their respective interests.” This seems rather 
a large order for a commission of mortal men ; and if these nine 
gentlemen had succeeded in getting at the roots and remedying the 
evils of a tithe of the varied social problems thus presented to their 
notice for inquiry, the world would be very much nearer industrial 
peace and prosperity than it apparently is in 1895. The commission 
carried on its investigations in Dunedin, Christchurch, ‘Wellington, and 
Auckland during February, March, and April, 1890, and presented a 
report early in May, upon which has been based much of the subse- 
quent factory legislation in New Zealand. 
Following upon the report of this commission we find that in 
the session of 1890 a Factories and Shops Bill was introduced by the 
Colonial Secretary (Atkinson Government) dealing with factories, 
workrooms, and shops. This Bill proposed to establish what would he 
practically a separate department under a Minister. It proposed the 
division of the colony into factory districts under the supervision of 
inspectors. In this Bill the precedent of Victoria was followed by 
the inclusion of shops, and it was provided that shops should be closed 
each day except Saturday at 6 o'clock, and on every Saturday at 
10 p.m., certain businesses being excepted. The workiug hours for 
women and young persons (under eighteen) were to he fifty-two a 
week. However, this Bill lapsed in the House of ^Representatives 
after second reading. 
The next year, 1S91, the Hon. W. P. Beeves, Minister of 
Education in the Ballance Government, successfully carried through 
both Houses a Bill to provide for the supervision and regulation of 
factories and workrooms. This is known as the “Factories Act, 1891,” 
and came into operation on the 1st of January, 1892. An outcome of 
this was the formation of a distinct Government department under 
the charge of the Hon. W. P. Beeves, Minister of Education, who 
now holds the additional portfolio of Minister of Labour. New 
Zealand is thus the first country to give labour direct representation 
in its Executive Council. Mr. Edward Tregear, the head of the 
department, is Secretary for Labour and Chief Inspector of Factories, 
and has under him a total of 163 local inspectors, each with an allotted 
district. Of these inspectors, five are attached to the Department of 
Labour, and are stationed at Dunedin, Christchurch, "Wellington (2), 
