Page:Life·of·Seddon•James·Drummond•1907.pdf/256

 with care, it would have quietly passed into law. When he had drawn attention to it, he was supported by Mr. W. Montgomery and Mr. Moss. Sir Robert Stout explained that he had not realised the scope of the measure, and it was withdrawn and discharged.

In accordance with its promises, the Liberal Government brought in several labour Bills in the session of 1891. It had hardly had time to prepare a large labour programme, however, and some of the schemes it proposed then were not sufficiently thought out, and had to be withdrawn until later sessions.

The first labour Act passed by the new Liberal Government was the Truck Act, which prohibits the payment of wages in goods or in any way except in money. No contractor is allowed to make reductions from wages on account of interest, no employer is to stipulate the mode of spending wages, which must be paid at intervals of not more than one month, if demanded; and no set-off must be allowed for goods supplied to the workman by the employer. It was stated that this Bill would bring hardships upon many workers, but the same statement had been made against nearly all labour legislation, and the framers of the Bill did not place much weight upon the objection. The Act, of course, was levelled at a serious abuse which had arisen in the colony, especially in large contracts, and which had grown to a large extent, workmen in some cases having to pay back nearly all their wages to their employer or his agents, or some storekeeper or other tradesman in whose business he had a personal or financial interest. The abuse was stopped as soon as the measure became law, on November 1st, 1891, and it is now agreed that the Truck Act stands out as one of the best labour Acts the colony possesses. It has a fitting position at the top of a long list of labour Acts passed by the Liberal Government.

In the same year the Employers’ Liability Act was amended in several directions. The definition of the word “workman” in the old Act of 1882 was extended, and was made very comprehensive. It now means “any person, male or female, under or over the age of twenty-one, who, under contract with an employer, contracts personally to do any work or manual labour of any kind, whether technical, skilled, or unskilled, and whether