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 It may also account for a great deal of the success achieved, as the people have shown that they are quite willing to give their hearty co-operation in trying anything that is likely to improve social conditions.

Although there was some labour legislation before 1891, it was of a crude character, and could not be made operative because its machinery was faulty. The idea was good, but the framers of the Acts lacked the practical knowledge required to make the measures effective, and, apparently, they did not take the trouble to seek expert advice.

The year 1873 saw the first enactment regarding factories. It is the Employment of Females Act, and it was introduced by Mr. J. B. Bradshaw, who was the author of several measures to improve the conditions of the workers. Very little interest was taken in it by members of the House. The Bill was copied from a Victorian Act. It was of a precautionary character, and was designed to prevent abuses that had sprung up in Melbourne and Sydney. It affirmed the principle of the eight-hours day as far as women and girls were concerned, allowed no one to employ women or girls at night, gave them a half-holiday on Saturday afternoon in each week, and a whole holiday on Sunday, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, “and any other day set apart as a public holiday,” without loss of wages; it authorised Resident Magistrates to appoint factory inspectors, and it provided for the proper ventilation of workrooms.

Parliament passed the Bill in a perfectly uninterested mood. There was practically no discussion on it, and it just slipped through and went on to the Statute Book to lay the foundation of the mass of factory regulations that have been brought into force since.

There were very few factories in New Zealand at that time, only 195 women and girls being employed in workrooms, and that fact accounts for the little interest it created. A few women and girls were employed in Auckland, Dunedin, Wellington, and Christchurch, mainly in making up clothing. What was most required at the time was a drastic measure to regulate the employment of children in the flax-mills. Boys and girls were