This Act may be cited as the Factories Act Amendment Act, 1907, and shall form part of and be read together with the Factories Act, 1901 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

2 Section 2 of principal Act amended.

Section two of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after paragraph (3) in the definition of “factory,” the following paragraph:—

“(3a.)

Every building or place in which electrical energy is generated or transformed as an illuminant or a motive power for trade or sale, or in which coal-gas or any other form of gas is produced for the like purposes.”

3 Section 2 of principal Act further amended.

Section two of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the word “baked” in paragraph (2) in the definition of “factory,” the words “or prepared for baking.”

4 Section 2 of principal Act further amended.

Section two of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing the definition of “boy,” and substituting therefor the following words:—

“‘Boy’ means, in cases where no other age is expressly mentioned, a male under the age of sixteen years.”

5 Section 17 of principal Act amended.

(1.)

Section seventeen of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding the words “if any” after the words “medical authority” in paragraph (f) thereof.

(2.)

The said section seventeen is also amended by omitting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (h), and by inserting after that paragraph the following:—

“(hh.)

A statement, in the form prescribed by regulations, of the procedure required to be observed in order to claim compensation under the Workers’ Compensation for Accidents Act, 1900; and.”

6 Special provision as to overtime in fruit-canning factories.

The provisions of the principal Act are hereby modified in the case of fruit-canning factories and jam-factories to the extent that the limitations as to overtime contained in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of subsection one of section twenty-two of that Act need not be observed during the period between the first day of January and the first day of April in any year.

7 Provisions as to meals and meal-times of women and boys in factories.

(1.)

With regard to the meals and meal-times of women and boys the following rules shall be observed in every factory:—

(a.)

No woman or boy shall be permitted to take any meal in any room in which any handicraft or manufacturing process is being or within the previous two hours has been carried on, or in which any person is or during the previous two hours has been engaged in work.

(b.)

No woman or boy who is entitled under the principal Act to an interval for meals shall be permitted to do any work or to remain in any workroom during such interval.

(c.)

Notwithstanding anything in this section contained, where the number of women and boys employed in the factory does not exceed six the Inspector may authorise these women and boys to take their meals in the workroom and to remain therein.

(d.)

Where the number of women and boys employed in a factory exceeds six, the occupier shall provide a fit and proper room in which they may take their meals; provided that the Inspector may authorise a place of shelter within the factory to be used for this purpose if he is satisfied that it is reasonably sufficient for this purpose, and is sufficiently secure from the weather and from public view.

(e.)

The room or shelter referred to in the last preceding paragraph shall be furnished by the occupier of the factory to the Inspector’s satisfaction with seats and tables, so as to permit of meals being taken with reasonable comfort and security, and shall not be used for the storage of materials or goods.

Repeal.

(2.)

Section twenty-four of the principal Act is hereby repealed.

8 Section 25 of principal Act amended.

Section twenty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (6) the words “A woman or boy under eighteen years of age,” and substituting therefor the words “A boy under eighteen years of age or a woman.”

9 Section 33 of principal Act amended.

Section thirty-three of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “every woman and boy under eighteen years of age,” and substituting therefor the words “every boy under eighteen years of age and every woman.”

10 Section 34 of principal Act amended.

Section thirty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the word “boy” in paragraph (c), the words “whether above or below the age of sixteen years.”

11 Section 35 of principal Act amended.

Section thirty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “woman or boy under eighteen years of age” wherever these words occur, and substituting therefor the words “boy under eighteen years of age or woman.”

12 Section 39 of principal Act amended.

Section thirty-nine of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting the words “if any” after the words “medical authority” in paragraph (1), and the words “his age” after the word “injured” in the said paragraph.

13 Section 48 of principal Act amended.

Section forty-eight of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the word “resides” in paragraph (a), the words “or works or is employed”; and by inserting, after the word “resided” in paragraph (b), the words “or worked or been employed.”

14 Minimum wage of factory workers.

(1.)

Every person who is employed in any capacity in a factory shall be entitled to receive from the occupier such payment for his work as is agreed on, being not less than five shillings a week for the first year of employment in the trade, eight shillings a week for the second year, eleven shillings a week for the third year, and so on by additions of three shillings a week for each year of employment in the same trade until a wage of twenty shillings a week is reached, and thereafter not less than a wage of twenty shillings a week.

Repeal.

(2.)

This section is in substitution for section two of the Factories Act Amendment Act, 1905, which section is hereby accordingly repealed.

15 Poll of electors as to half-holiday in factories.

(1.)

In every borough or town district (other than a borough included in any of the combined districts of Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, or Auckland, as existing under the Shops and Offices Act, 1904) a poll of the electors of the borough or town district shall from time to time be taken in accordance with this section on a proposal that the weekly half-holiday provided for by section thirty-three of the principal Act shall be allowed in that borough or town district on the same day as the day appointed as the statutory closing-day for shops in that borough or town district under the Shops and Offices Act, 1904.

(2.)

If on such poll being taken a majority of the votes given thereat is in favour of the said proposal, the result of the poll shall be notified to the Minister under the hand of the Clerk of the Borough Council or Town Board, as the case may be; and the Minister shall thereupon publish in the Gazette a notice that in the said borough or town district the half-holiday under the principal Act shall, on and after a date to be specified in such notice, be allowed on the same day as the day which is for the time being and from time to time appointed as the statutory closing-day for shops in that borough or town district instead of on Saturday; and every such notice shall have the force of law in accordance with the tenor thereof, notwithstanding the provisions of section thirty-three of the principal Act.

(3.)

So long as the said notice remains in force all the provisions of the principal Act with respect to the half-holiday to be allowed on Saturday shall apply to the half-holiday to be allowed in pursuance of such notice.

(4.)

If on such poll being taken a majority of the votes given thereat is against the said proposal, the result of the poll shall be notified to the Minister under the hand of the Clerk of the Borough Council or Town Board, as the case may be; and the Minister shall publish in the Gazette a notice that in the said borough or town district the half-holiday to be allowed under the principal Act shall, as from a date to be specified in such notice, be allowed on Saturday, in accordance with the said Act; and every such notice shall have the force of law in accordance with the tenor thereof, and shall supersede any prior notice published under the authority of this section.

(5.)

The validity of any notice published by the Minister in pursuance or intended pursuance of the provisions of this section shall not be questioned in any Court.

(6.)

Every such notice shall continue in operation until superseded by a subsequent notice published under the authority of this section.

(7.)

Until and unless a poll is so taken in any borough or town district, and a notice has been gazetted in accordance with this section, the provisions of the principal Act shall apply to that borough or town district as if this section were not in force.

(8.)

Every such poll shall be taken in accordance with the Local Elections Act, 1904.

(9.)

No such poll shall be taken except in pursuance of a petition signed by not less than one-tenth of the electors of the borough or town district and presented to the Borough Council or Town Board, and on the presentation of such petition in accordance with this section it shall be the duty of the said Council or Board to take a poll accordingly.

(10.)

No such poll shall be taken in any borough or town district except on the day fixed for a general election of the members of the Council or Board of that borough or town district, and every such poll shall be taken simultaneously with the poll (if any) which is taken in respect of such election:

Provided that the first poll taken under the authority of this section in any borough or town district may, on such petition as aforesaid being presented, be taken at any time after the passing of this Act on a day to be fixed by the said Council or Board.

Factories Act Amendment Act 1907