any Bill which shall not be passed by the Legislative Council, then,
notwithstanding such Bill when passed in the second session by the
Legislative Assembly shall be in an amended form, if the same shall not
in such second session be passed by the Legislative {130} Council, such
Bill, if the Assembly so determine by resolution, shall, in manner to
be duly provided, be submitted for acceptance or rejection to the
voters on the roll for the Legislative Assembly.
"(2) In the event of the said Bill being duly accepted or approved of
by the majority of the voters on the said roll who shall vote when a
poll is taken, and upon a certificate to that effect to be duly given
by the Speaker, the said Bill shall be transmitted to the Governor for
his assent. Should, however, such Bill be rejected or disapproved of,
then, upon the certificate of the Speaker to that effect, the said Bill
shall lapse for the session.
"(3) At least six weeks must intervene between the first and the second
passing of the said Bill by the Legislative Assembly."
Measures based upon these lines were introduced during 1896 in the
Assemblies of Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales, but, in the
latter case alone, reached the Legislative Council. It was thought
that that body might receive the Bill favourably, as it would be
brought thereby into direct contact with the people, and might overcome
the jealousy which is at present felt against it. In fact, it might
attain to actual popularity by enabling the electorate to pronounce
directly upon a distinct issue. But this view did not prevail with the
Council, which rejected the measure in the most summary manner.
A supplementary proposal put forward in Victoria {131} is that, upon
subjects which cannot be referred in a clear and simple manner to the
electors, differences should be followed by a dissolution of both
Houses, and, if an agreement is still impossible, by their joint
meeting as one Chamber. In New Zealand, a Bill recently introduced by
the Premier, but not passed through the House of Representatives,
provided that, if a measure had been twice within fourteen months
passed by one House and rejected by the other, the House which had
passed it might call upon the Governor to convene a joint meeting of
the two Houses, which should finally dispose of it by approval,
rejection, or amendment. It will be noticed that the Council might
thus secure the enactment of a measure which was opposed by the
majority of the popular representatives.
The antagonism of the two Houses in Victoria would seem to be to a
great extent a reflex of an antagonism between town and country. The
population of the Province is estimated to have been 1,180,000 in 1895,
that of Melbourne and its suburbs 439,000, or 37 per cent. of the
whole. Under these conditions, and owing to the greater cohesion of
compact electorates, a strong feeling has arisen in the rural districts
that Melbourne has a disproportionate voice in the affairs of the
Province, and that the balance should be redressed by the action of the
Council. It is also believed that the abolition of the plural vote
would lead to equal electoral districts which would increase the
supremacy of the capital {132} and the power of the Labour Party. At
the present time they hold fifteen seats, all of which are urban or
suburban, and, though discredited by the collapse of the Trades Unions,
are not without influence upon the Government.
The percentage of the total population contained in Melbourne and its
suburbs rose from 26 in 1861 to 43 in 1891, mainly as the result of the
high protective tariff which aimed at making Victoria the principal
manufacturing centre of Australia. Upon the consequent establishment
of a large number of factories, the Government were soon compelled to
intervene in the interests of the workers, and passed in 1873 the first
Act dealing with the supervision of factories and workrooms. It
defined a factory as any place in which not less than ten persons were
employed in manufacturing goods for sale, and provided that such places
should be subject, as to building, sanitation, &c., to regulations made
by the central Board of Health, and that no female should be employed
therein without the permission of the Chief Secretary for more than
eight hours in any one day. The measure failed in its purpose through
the indifference of the Municipalities, which were charged with its
entire administration. They appear to have been negligent in
exercising the powers entrusted to them, and to have allowed themselves
to be served by officers who were unacquainted with their duties. In
the following years several measures were passed which {133} were
consolidated by the Factories and Shops Act of 1890. Some new points
of great importance had been introduced, which applied, however, only
to cities, towns, and boroughs, unless they were extended to any shire
at the request of its Council: the definition of a factory was amended
so as to include all places in which four white men or two Chinamen
were employed in manufacturing goods for sale; such places had to be
registered, subject to the approval of the premises by the Local
Council, and the employers were bound to keep a record showing the
names of the persons employed in the factory, the sort of work done by
them, and the names and addresses of outside workers; the employment of
children under thirteen years of age was prohibited; machinery had to
be fenced in in order to prevent accidents, and persons in charge of
steam-engines and boilers, with a few exceptions, had to obtain
certificates of competency. As regards the enforcement of these and
other provisions, inspectors were authorised to enter a factory at any
reasonable time, to make any pertinent inquiry and examination, to
demand the production of any certificate or documents kept in pursuance
of the Act, and, generally, to exercise such other powers as might be
necessary for carrying it into effect. Proceedings for offences
against the Act were to be taken before two or more justices, who, upon
a conviction, would be guided by a prescribed scale of fines and
penalties. Finally, retail shops were {134} dealt with by a provision
which limited the hours during which they might be kept open; but
certain categories of shops were explicitly excluded, and Municipal
Councils were given the power of altering the hours upon a petition of
a majority of the shopkeepers.
The absence of finality in such legislation was soon shown by the
demand for further restrictions, which was met by the Government by the
customary expedient of the appointment of a Royal Commission. The
census of 1891 had given the number of persons employed in connection
with the manufacturing industries as 96,000, of whom less than a half
were in registered factories. The remainder were working in shires, in
laundries and dye works, in workrooms other than Chinese in which less
than four persons were employed, or in their own homes. The Commission
consequently, in the pursuance of their instructions to "inquire and
report as to the working of the Factories and Shops Act, 1890, with
regard to the alleged existence of the practice known as sweating and
the alleged insanitary condition of factories and workrooms," had a
wide field of investigation, but turned their attention principally to
the industries in which the circumstances of the workers were believed
to be most unfavourable. In the clothing industry they found that,
beyond the common grievance of slackness of trade, those employed in
factories had little to complain of in the matter of {135} wages, but
that among the outworkers, owing to the depression, competition had
reduced the rate of pay to the lowest level compatible with continued
existence. They were informed of many cases, which have been
corroborated by factory inspectors and others, of women who, working
from twelve to fourteen hours a day, were unable to earn more than ten
or twelve shillings in a week. It was contended that, as in other
countries, the competition was rendered more acute by those who were
not dependent upon the work for a livelihood. Another result of this
competition was seen in the policy pursued by several large firms which
had closed factories built at a heavy cost and were relying upon their
operations being carried on by contractors, because they had been
unable to produce goods at the factory at the rate at which they could
be turned out by those who employed the services of outworkers. An
attempt had been made by the women to protect their interests by the
formation of a Tailoresses' Union, which, after a fitful existence,
collapsed in 1893. Since that time, in the absence of any form of
combination, contractors had been able to play off the outworkers
against the inworkers and against each other. It may here be noted
that, according to a recent report of the Chief Inspector of Factories,
the inquiry caused the rate of payment to be lowered in consequence of
the publicity given to the very small wages paid by some firms engaged
in the clothing trade.
{136}
In the course of their inquiries into the furniture trade, the
Commissioners found that the Chinese, by evasions of the Factory Act,
their poor way of living, long hours of labour and acceptance of low
wages, had practically ruined the European cabinet-makers. Their
competition was confined to that branch of the industry, but had
indirectly affected it as a whole. Statistics showed that in 1886
there were 64 registered European furniture factories employing 1,022
male hands, while in 1894 the number of factories had decreased to 46
and of employes to 320. On the other side, the number of Chinese
employed as carpenters and cabinetmakers had increased from 66 in 1880
to 320 in 1886, and decreased to 246 in 1894. It appeared that the
Chinese, having ousted the European workmen from the industry, had
engaged in a keen competition among themselves, which had reduced
prices to such a low level that many manufacturers had been compelled
to close their factories and dismiss their workmen. These latter had
commenced to make articles of furniture on their own account, and were
reputed to be in a pitiable state of destitution. The Commissioners
came to the conclusion that, while the unsatisfactory condition of
trade had contributed to the distress of the European cabinetmakers,
the competition of the Chinese had been the greatest factor in bringing
about the existing state of affairs.
Their recommendations were embodied in a {137} measure introduced in
1895 and passed in the following session, but limited in its operation,
by the action of the Council, to a period of four years. Its most
important provisions aim at the protection of the workers in those
industries in which they are least able to protect themselves. The
desire of the Government was to get persons as far as possible to work
in factories and to deal with the difficulty of outworkers by a system
of permits. Clause 13 of the Bill prohibited the making up of apparel
outside a factory except by those who had received a permit from the
chief inspector, which was not to be given unless he were satisfied
that the person applying for it was prevented by domestic duties or
bodily affliction from working inside a factory or workroom. Employers
were to keep a record showing the work done by holders of permits,
their names and addresses, and the amount of remuneration, which was to
be forwarded periodically to the chief inspector, and might be
published in the Government Gazette at the discretion of the Governor
in Council. The number of outworkers would be reduced to a minimum,
and the fear of publicity would act as a check upon their employers. A
further protection was afforded to makers of furniture and of clothing
or wearing apparel, including boots and shoes, by clauses under which
the Governor in Council was authorised to appoint special Boards,
consisting of a chairman and four members, of whom two were to be
representatives {138} of occupiers of factories and workrooms in which
such articles were prepared or manufactured, and two of the persons
employed in wholly or partly preparing such articles. The Board was to
determine the lowest rate which should be paid to the employes, whether
working inside or outside a factory. The Assembly added another clause
which authorised the appointment of similar Boards for the
determination of the hours of labour in any manufacturing industry, but
the Council refused to accept it, and also rejected the clause which
prohibited outside work by others than holders of permits. They
introduced amendments which provided that the discretionary publication
of particulars in the Gazette should be limited to cases in which an
employer had been convicted for some contravention of the Factories and
Shops Acts, and that the special Wage Boards should be elective, in the
belief that it would be dangerous to vest the power of appointment in
the Governor in Council, since it would actually be exercised by the
Chief Secretary. The Government agreed to the former of these
amendments, as the value of the right of publication was lessened by
the Council's acceptance of the principle of the Wage Boards; but upon
the other points of difference a conflict ensued between the two
Houses, which resulted in the final decision that the Boards are to be
elective, and that outworkers will not be required to obtain a permit,
but, if engaged in the manufacture of clothing or {139} wearing
apparel, must register their names and addresses with the chief
inspector, for the confidential use of the Department, and must answer
all questions put to them by inspectors as to the names of their
employers and the rate of remuneration. The Chief Secretary had
explained in the Assembly that the Government desired to obtain the
registration of outworkers in order that they might know from the
individuals themselves the addresses at which they were working, and
whether they were being paid in accordance with the prices fixed by the
Boards. It is also provided that a sub-contractor, equally with the
occupier of a factory, must keep the prescribed record of all work
given out by him.
The furniture trade, as has been seen, is one of those for which the
Governor in Council may cause special Boards to be elected; but it has
been realised that, in the cabinet-making branch, owing to their
superior numbers, the Chinese would obtain a controlling voice. This
difficulty was met by an amending Bill which authorised the nomination
of these Boards. Other sections of the Act also aim at the protection
of the white workman: one Chinaman is to be deemed to constitute a
factory, and no person employed in a factory or workroom in the
manufacture of any article of furniture is to work on a Sunday, after
two o'clock on a Saturday, or between five o'clock in the evening and
half-past seven in the morning on any other day of the week. Furniture
made in Victoria is to be stamped legibly {140} and indelibly in such a
manner as to show whether it was manufactured by white or Chinese
labour. It is noteworthy that, through the Boards which will fix the
minimum rate of pay in the baking and furniture trades, the Victorian
Government are making their first attempt to regulate the labour of
men; in the other trades affected by these Boards women form the vast
majority of the workers.
The general provisions of this Act as they affect factories include
greater stringency in the sanitary requirements, in the limitation of
the hours of labour of women and boys, and in the precautions against
accidents. Laundries and dye-works are constituted factories, and the
powers of inspectors are in several respects strengthened.
The sections dealing with shops also deserve a word of notice. The
necessity for further legislation was based by the Chief Secretary on
the ground that under the existing law Municipal Councils were not
bound to give effect to petitions received from a majority of
shopkeepers, and could only bind their own districts. Besides, the
penalties imposed for contravention of any law or bye-law had, in many
cases, been so small that shopkeepers had been able to ignore it with
practical impunity. He therefore proposed that petitions should in
future be addressed either to the Governor or to the local authorities,
that a metropolitan district should be constituted so as to render
possible uniformity in the hours of closing shops, and that the
penalties should be on a {141} fixed scale. These proposals were
embodied in the Act, as were others which provided that assistants in
shops should have a weekly half-holiday, and that women and boys should
not be employed for more than a fixed number of hours in a week or day,
nor for more than five hours without an interval for meals, and should
have the use of adequate sitting accommodation. These provisions,
however, were not to apply to the categories of shops excluded from the
operation of previous Acts unless extended to them under regulations
made by the Governor in Council. Soon after the passage of the Act a
strong feeling arose among the shopkeepers of Melbourne and its suburbs
that, as assistants had to receive a weekly half-holiday, shops should
be closed upon one afternoon in the week; but opinions differed as to
whether the day should be Saturday or Wednesday. The shopkeepers in
the city were disposed to favour the former, those in the suburbs were
divided in their views.
The Act should be regarded as a humane attempt to minimise the
sufferings of the outworkers and to improve the conditions of labour of
the toiling masses of the population. The appointment of the special
Boards is regarded with sympathy even by those who doubt the
possibility of enforcing a minimum wage in the case of persons whose
competition is intensified by the fear of starvation. Two general
considerations suggest themselves: that a vast discretionary power is
vested in the Executive, {142} and that the inspectors will be
confronted with a task of hopeless magnitude. On the first point it is
to be noted that the Governor in Council, acting naturally upon the
advice of the Chief Secretary, may not only exercise the powers already
mentioned, but may extend the provisions of the Act or any of them to
any shire or part of a shire, and make regulations upon a large number
of subjects connected with the efficient administration of all the
Factories, and Shop Acts. As regards the inspectors, who are eleven in
number, it is to be feared that, though they may invite the
co-operation of the police, they will be unable adequately to supervise
factories, watch the labour of the single Chinaman, protect the
home-worker from the tyranny of the contractor, and assure to
assistants in shops the conditions to which they are legally entitled.
They will undoubtedly be fettered by the unwillingness of the workers
to supply information which may lead to the loss of their employment.
The correlative of protection, which principally benefits the
manufacturer, is the direct encouragement of the enterprise of the
producer. In this respect successive Governments have displayed an
eagerness which has not always been confined within the limits of
prudence. The borrowed capital sunk in the construction and equipment
of the Victorian Railways is about L36,730,000, which returned in the
year 1895-6 a net profit on working of L855,000, being a deficit of
L584,000 upon L1,439,000, the {143} annual charge for interest upon the
loans; but a large proportion of this deficiency was due to the failure
of the wheat crop and the consequent decrease in the amount of goods
carried along the lines. Recent returns show that several lines not
only do not pay any interest on the capital expenditure, but do not
earn even as much as is disbursed in working expenses. The report of
the Railway Inquiry Board shows that the Assembly was actually disposed
at one time to sanction the expenditure of a further sum of L41,000,000
upon the construction of new lines; but the _Age_ newspaper published a
series of articles which showed clearly that national insolvency would
follow the approval of expenditure on such a gigantic scale. The
exposure attained its object, but involved the proprietor, Mr. David
Syme, in actions for libel, brought by the Railway Commissioners, which
extended, with intervals, over a period of four years. Finally, he was
proved to have been entirely justified in his language, but was saddled
with an enormous bill of costs as the reward of his patriotic efforts
on behalf of the community. The danger that similar proposals might be
carried in the future was lessened in 1890, when the Standing Committee
was appointed as a check upon the extravagant tendencies and culpable
pliability of individual members.