Act, enabling that society to pass rules for the protection of lawyers. Sir George Grey’s Government took that as an affirmation of the principle of Trades Unionism. There was obviously no reason why a law that had acted upon a branch of business should not apply to men who were forming unions in the factories, workrooms, and other centres of industrial life. Several unions had been established in the colony; they were weak bodies, and their influence was small, but Sir Robert Stout and other members of the Government said that if they desired to be recognised as unions, the colony had no right to refuse legal recognition. In Auckland, Christchurch, and other centres, joiners, cord-wainers, engineers, and other tradesmen had united in self-protection, but they found that they had little chance of making anything like good progress unless they were able to pass such a measure as the one introduced by Sir Robert Stout. The Bill did not attract much attention, and was not opposed in any way. All members agreed that the request of the workers for protection was entirely reasonable, and several said that the Bill was desired by the colony as a whole, as it would enable associations of workers to approach employers of labour in a proper manner, and to satisfy their just demands.
This brief summary fairly represents the extent of labour legislation up to the advent of the last phase of the Continuous Ministry, from 1887 to 1890. During that time, quite a batch of labour measures was introduced by members of that Ministry, but Sir Harry Atkinson’s Governments always took up a weak and hesitating attitude towards labour legislation, and none of those measures, which included an Eight Hours’ Bill, a Shop Hours Bill, and an Employment of Females Bill, became law.
Several attempts have been made by private members to pass Eight Hours Bills. From the first foundation of the colony eight hours were generally regarded as a fair day’s work, and there were few employers in the early days who asked for more. For some reason that is not clear, the principle always found enthusiastic supporters in Dunedin, Scotch immigrants to that part of the colony having stoutly maintained from the
