This Act is a consolidation of the enactments mentioned in the Schedule hereto, and with respect to those enactments the following provisions shall apply:—

Savings.

(a.)

All districts, appointments, regulations, notices, records, instruments, and generally all acts of authority which originated under any of the said enactments, and are subsisting or in force on the coming into operation of this Act, shall enure for the purposes of this Act as fully and effectually as if they had originated under the corresponding provisions of this Act, and accordingly shall, where necessary, be deemed to have so originated.

(b.)

All matters and proceedings commenced under any such enactment, and pending or in progress on the coming into operation of this Act, may be continued, completed, and enforced under this Act.

2 Interpretation.

1898, No. 15, sec. 2 1907, No. 31, sec. 2

In this Act, if not inconsistent with the contest,—

“Agricultural labourer” includes every person employed for any period exceeding twenty-four hours by an employer in agricultural or pastoral or flax-milling work of any kind, but does not include a shearer:

“Employer” includes every master, manager, foreman, overseer, or other person having the control or superintendence of any agricultural labourer, or the control of any shearing-shed, or engaged in the superintendence of any shearer:

“Inspector” means an Inspector appointed under “The Factories Act, 1908” (hereinafter referred to as “the Factories Act”), or under this Act:

“Shearer” includes all employees in or about shearing-sheds:

“Shearing-shed” means any building used for the purpose of shearing sheep, or for any operation connected with shearing; and includes all buildings and premises connected therewith or adjacent thereto wherein shearers sleep or take their meals.

3 Appointment of Inspectors.

1898, No. 15, sec. 3 1907, No. 31, sec. 3

The Governor may from time to time appoint Inspectors under this Act, and define the districts over which they shall respectively exercise supervision, or may assign the duty of such supervision within such area of New Zealand as he directs to any Inspector appointed under the Factories Act.

4 Inspector’s right of ingress and egress.

1898, No. 15, sec. 5 1907, No. 31, sec. 4

(1.)

For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act every Inspector shall have the free right of ingress and egress to and from any land or place on or in which any agricultural labourer is employed or accommodated, and to and from every shearing-shed.

Obstructing an Inspector.

(2.)

Every person who obstructs any Inspector in the exercise of his duty, or refuses him ingress or egress, is liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

Shearers

5 Inspection of shearing-sheds.

1898, No. 15, sec. 4

It shall be the duty of every Inspector to visit and inspect at least once a year all shearing-sheds within the district assigned to him, and not later than the thirty-first day of March in every year he shall make a full and detailed report of such inspection to the Minister of Labour.

6 Proper accommodation to be provided.

Ibid, sec. 6

(1.)

It shall be the duty of the Inspector to see that proper and sufficient accommodation is provided at every shearing-shed for the comfort and health of the shearers; and in any case where no provision is made, or where the provision made is deemed by him to be inadequate, he shall require the employer to provide, amend, or enlarge the same, in accordance with the requirements of this Act, within a time to be specified in a notice in writing in that behalf.

(2.)

Such notice shall be served not later than the first day of June in each year, either on the employer personally or by leaving the same at his usual or last known place of residence.

(3.)

If any employer neglects to comply with the terms of such notice, the Inspector may lay an information or make complaint of a breach of this Act, and may apply for an order as hereinafter mentioned.

7 Separate sleeping-accommodation for Chinese.

Ibid, sec. 8

Where any persons of the Chinese race are employed in or about any shearing-shed, it shall be incumbent upon the employer to provide for such persons separate and distinct sleeping-accommodation from that provided for other shearers, if any; and every employer who fails so to do is liable to the fines set forth in section fourteen hereof.

8 Accommodation

Ibid, sec. 9

“Proper and sufficient accommodation” as regards sleeping-room means, in the case of shearers, not less than two hundred and forty cubic feet of air-space for each shearer sleeping in any room or apartment (which room or apartment shall not in any case be the same as that in which meals are provided), but shall not be deemed to require any employer to provide blankets or bedding.

9 Act not to apply in certain cases.

1898, No 15, sec. 12

This Act does not apply to shearing-sheds in which the total number of shearers employed is less than six, nor to shearers whose ordinary residences are in the immediate neighbourhood of the shearing-shed in which they are employed, and who sleep at their own homes.

Agricultural Labourers

10 Proper accommodation to be provided.

1907, No. 31, sec. 5

(1.)

In any case where no provision is made for the accommodation of the agricultural labourers employed, or where the provision made is deemed by the Inspector to be inadequate, he shall require the employer to provide, amend, or enlarge the same, in accordance with the requirements of this Act, within a reasonable time to be specified in a notice in writing in that behalf.

(2.)

Such notice may be served on the employer personally, or by leaving the same at his usual or last known place of residence.

(3.)

If any employer fails to comply with the terms of such notice, the Inspector may lay an information or make complaint of a breach of this Act, and may apply for an order as hereinafter mentioned.

11 Separate sleeping-accommodation for Asiatics.

Ibid, sec. 7

Where agricultural labourers are of any Asiatic race, the employer shall provide for such Asiatic labourers separate and distinct sleeping-accommodation from that provided for other agricultural labourers, and any employer who fails so to do is liable to the fines set forth in section fourteen hereof.

12 Act not to apply in certain cases.

Ibid, sec. 10

(1.)

This Act does not apply in the case of agricultural labourers whose ordinary residences are in the immediate neighbourhood of the land on which they are employed, and who sleep at their own homes or otherwise provide their own sleeping-accommodation.

(2.)

Nothing in this Act shall require any person who employs a contractor to do any agricultural work to provide accommodation for any agricultural labourer employed by such contractor or on such work unless such labourer is regularly employed by such first-mentioned person.

(3.)

In any case where agricultural labourers are employed by a contractor as aforesaid such accommodation as may be prescribed by regulations shall be provided by the contractor for such labourers.

13 Governor may make regulations.

Ibid, sec. 11

(1.)

The Governor may from time to time, by Order in Council gazetted, make regulations prescribing the nature and extent of the accommodation that shall be deemed to be adequate for the purpose of this Act in the case of agricultural labourers, and for the maintenance of the same in a cleanly and sanitary condition:

Provided that no accommodation at a homestead shall be deemed to be adequate unless every room in which agricultural labourers are to be accommodated contains at least two hundred and forty cubic feet of air-space for every person to be so accommodated, nor unless, in cases where two or more persons are to be accommodated, separate rooms are provided for sleeping and for meals, and each room provided for meals contains a fireplace or other sufficient means of warming the room.

(2.)

Such regulations may vary for different parts of New Zealand and for different times of the year.

Regulations to be presented to Parliament.

(3.)

All such regulations shall he laid before Parliament within ten days after the gazetting thereof if Parliament is then sitting, or if not, then within ten days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

General

14 Magistrate may make order.

1898, No. 15, see. 7 1907. No. 31, see. 6

(1.)

On application of an Inspector for an order under this Act against any employer, a Magistrate shall hear and determine the same; and if after inquiry into the case the Magistrate finds that no accommodation is provided, or is of opinion that the accommodation provided by the defendant employer is improper or insufficient, he may determine as to what accommodation or what further accommodation, as the case may be, shall be provided by such employer; or, if he is of opinion that the accommodation is proper and sufficient, he may dismiss the application, or may make such order as the justice of the case may require; and may, in his discretion, allow costs either to the Inspector or to the defendant employer.

(2.)

Every employer who fails to comply with any such order within such time as is thereby appointed is liable to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds, and to a further fine not exceeding two pounds per day for every day during which such default continues.

15 Information for fine, &c., to be laid in nearest Magistrate’s Court

1898, No. 15, sec. 10 1907, No. 31, sec. 8

Every information or complaint under this Act shall be laid or made and heard, and all proceedings consequent thereon or incidental thereto shall be had and taken, in the manner provided by “The Justices of the Peace Act, 1908,” before the Magistrate holding a Court nearest to the residence of the defendant employer.

16 No appeal from Magistrate.

1898, No. 15, sec. 11 1907, No. 31, sec. 9

Notwithstanding anything in any Act, there shall be no right of appeal to the Supreme or any other Court from the order or determination of any Magistrate made under this Act.

Schedule Enactments consolidated

1898, No. 15.—“The Shearers’ Accommodation Act, 1898.”

1907, No. 31.—“The Agricultural Labourers’ Accommodation Act, 1907.”