Australasian Democracy

The question was considered in 1894 by a Victorian Royal Commission, which recommended that:—

"(1) If the Legislative Assembly shall in two consecutive sessions pass any Bill which shall not be passed by the Legislative Council, then, notwithstanding such Bill when passed in the second session by the Legislative Assembly shall be in an amended form, if the same shall not in such second session be passed by the Legislative Council, such Bill, if the Assembly so determine by resolution, shall, in manner to be duly provided, be submitted for acceptance or rejection to the voters on the roll for the Legislative Assembly.

"(2) In the event of the said Bill being duly accepted or approved of by the majority of the voters on the said roll who shall vote when a poll is taken, and upon a certificate to that effect to be duly given by the Speaker, the said Bill shall be transmitted to the Governor for his assent. Should, however, such Bill be rejected or disapproved of, then, upon the certificate of the Speaker to that effect, the said Bill shall lapse for the session.

"(3) At least six weeks must intervene between the first and the second passing of the said Bill by the Legislative Assembly."

Measures based upon these lines were introduced during 1896 in the Assemblies of Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales, but, in the latter case alone, reached the Legislative Council. It was thought that that body might receive the Bill favourably, as it would be brought thereby into direct contact with the people, and might overcome the jealousy which is at present felt against it. In fact, it might attain to actual popularity by enabling the electorate to pronounce directly upon a distinct issue. But this view did not prevail with the Council, which rejected the measure in the most summary manner.

A supplementary proposal put forward in Victoria is that, upon subjects which cannot be referred in a clear and simple manner to the electors, differences should be followed by a dissolution of both Houses, and, if an agreement is still impossible, by their joint meeting as one Chamber. In New Zealand, a Bill recently introduced by the Premier, but not passed through the House of Representatives, provided that, if a measure had been twice within fourteen months passed by one House and rejected by the other, the House which had passed it might call upon the Governor to convene a joint meeting of the two Houses, which should finally dispose of it by approval, rejection, or amendment. It will be noticed that the Council might thus secure the enactment of a measure which was opposed by the majority of the popular representatives.

The antagonism of the two Houses in Victoria would seem to be to a great extent a reflex of an antagonism between town and country. The population of the Province is estimated to have been 1,180,000 in 1895, that of Melbourne and its suburbs 439,000, or 37 per cent. of the whole. Under these conditions, and owing to the greater cohesion of compact electorates, a strong feeling has arisen in the rural districts that Melbourne has a disproportionate voice in the affairs of the Province, and that the balance should be redressed by the action of the Council. It is also believed that the abolition of the plural vote would lead to equal electoral districts which would increase the supremacy of the capital and the power of the Labour Party. At the present time they hold fifteen seats, all of which are urban or suburban, and, though discredited by the collapse of the Trades Unions, are not without influence upon the Government.

The percentage of the total population contained in Melbourne and its suburbs rose from 26 in 1861 to 43 in 1891, mainly as the result of the high protective tariff which aimed at making Victoria the principal manufacturing centre of Australia. Upon the consequent establishment of a large number of factories, the Government were soon compelled to intervene in the interests of the workers, and passed in 1873 the first Act dealing with the supervision of factories and workrooms. It defined a factory as any place in which not less than ten persons were employed in manufacturing goods for sale, and provided that such places should be subject, as to building, sanitation, &c., to regulations made by the central Board of Health, and that no female should be employed therein without the permission of the Chief Secretary for more than eight hours in any one day. The measure failed in its purpose through the indifference of the Municipalities, which were charged with its entire administration. They appear to have been negligent in exercising the powers entrusted to them, and to have allowed themselves to be served by officers who were unacquainted with their duties. In the following years several measures were passed which were consolidated by the Factories and Shops Act of 1890. Some new points of great importance had been introduced, which applied, however, only to cities, towns, and boroughs, unless they were extended to any shire at the request of its Council: the definition of a factory was amended so as to include all places in which four white men or two Chinamen were employed in manufacturing goods for sale; such places had to be registered, subject to the approval of the premises by the Local Council, and the employers were bound to keep a record showing the names of the persons employed in the factory, the sort of work done by them, and the names and addresses of outside workers; the employment of children under thirteen years of age was prohibited; machinery had to be fenced in in order to prevent accidents, and persons in charge of steam-engines and boilers, with a few exceptions, had to obtain certificates of competency. As regards the enforcement of these and other provisions, inspectors were authorised to enter a factory at any reasonable time, to make any pertinent inquiry and examination, to demand the production of any certificate or documents kept in pursuance of the Act, and, generally, to exercise such other powers as might be necessary for carrying it into effect. Proceedings for offences against the Act were to be taken before two or more justices, who, upon a conviction, would be guided by a prescribed scale of fines and penalties. Finally, retail shops were dealt with by a provision which limited the hours during which they might be kept open; but certain categories of shops were explicitly excluded, and Municipal Councils were given the power of altering the hours upon a petition of a majority of the shopkeepers.

The absence of finality in such legislation was soon shown by the demand for further restrictions, which was met by the Government by the customary expedient of the appointment of a Royal Commission. The census of 1891 had given the number of persons employed in connection with the manufacturing industries as 96,000, of whom less than a half were in registered factories. The remainder were working in shires, in laundries and dye works, in workrooms other than Chinese in which less than four persons were employed, or in their own homes. The Commission consequently, in the pursuance of their instructions to "inquire and report as to the working of the Factories and Shops Act, 1890, with regard to the alleged existence of the practice known as sweating and the alleged insanitary condition of factories and workrooms," had a wide field of investigation, but turned their attention principally to the industries in which the circumstances of the workers were believed to be most unfavourable. In the clothing industry they found that, beyond the common grievance of slackness of trade, those employed in factories had little to complain of in the matter of wages, but that among the outworkers, owing to the depression, competition had reduced the rate of pay to the lowest level compatible with continued existence. They were informed of many cases, which have been corroborated by factory inspectors and others, of women who, working from twelve to fourteen hours a day, were unable to earn more than ten or twelve shillings in a week. It was contended that, as in other countries, the competition was rendered more acute by those who were not dependent upon the work for a livelihood. Another result of this competition was seen in the policy pursued by several large firms which had closed factories built at a heavy cost and were relying upon their operations being carried on by contractors, because they had been unable to produce goods at the factory at the rate at which they could be turned out by those who employed the services of outworkers. An attempt had been made by the women to protect their interests by the formation of a Tailoresses' Union, which, after a fitful existence, collapsed in 1893. Since that time, in the absence of any form of combination, contractors had been able to play off the outworkers against the inworkers and against each other. It may here be noted that, according to a recent report of the Chief Inspector of Factories, the inquiry caused the rate of payment to be lowered in consequence of the publicity given to the very small wages paid by some firms engaged in the clothing trade.

In the course of their inquiries into the furniture trade, the Commissioners found that the Chinese, by evasions of the Factory Act, their poor way of living, long hours of labour and acceptance of low wages, had practically ruined the European cabinet-makers. Their competition was confined to that branch of the industry, but had indirectly affected it as a whole. Statistics showed that in 1886 there were 64 registered European furniture factories employing 1,022 male hands, while in 1894 the number of factories had decreased to 46 and of employés to 320. On the other side, the number of Chinese employed as carpenters and cabinetmakers had increased from 66 in 1880 to 320 in 1886, and decreased to 246 in 1894. It appeared that the Chinese, having ousted the European workmen from the industry, had engaged in a keen competition among themselves, which had reduced prices to such a low level that many manufacturers had been compelled to close their factories and dismiss their workmen. These latter had commenced to make articles of furniture on their own account, and were reputed to be in a pitiable state of destitution. The Commissioners came to the conclusion that, while the unsatisfactory condition of trade had contributed to the distress of the European cabinetmakers, the competition of the Chinese had been the greatest factor in bringing about the existing state of affairs.

Their recommendations were embodied in a measure introduced in 1895 and passed in the following session, but limited in its operation, by the action of the Council, to a period of four years. Its most important provisions aim at the protection of the workers in those industries in which they are least able to protect themselves. The desire of the Government was to get persons as far as possible to work in factories and to deal with the difficulty of outworkers by a system of permits. Clause 13 of the Bill prohibited the making up of apparel outside a factory except by those who had received a permit from the chief inspector, which was not to be given unless he were satisfied that the person applying for it was prevented by domestic duties or bodily affliction from working inside a factory or workroom. Employers were to keep a record showing the work done by holders of permits, their names and addresses, and the amount of remuneration, which was to be forwarded periodically to the chief inspector, and might be published in the Government Gazette at the discretion of the Governor in Council. The number of outworkers would be reduced to a minimum, and the fear of publicity would act as a check upon their employers. A further protection was afforded to makers of furniture and of clothing or wearing apparel, including boots and shoes, by clauses under which the Governor in Council was authorised to appoint special Boards, consisting of a chairman and four members, of whom two were to be representatives of occupiers of factories and workrooms in which such articles were prepared or manufactured, and two of the persons employed in wholly or partly preparing such articles. The Board was to determine the lowest rate which should be paid to the employés, whether working inside or outside a factory. The Assembly added another clause which authorised the appointment of similar Boards for the determination of the hours of labour in any manufacturing industry, but the Council refused to accept it, and also rejected the clause which prohibited outside work by others than holders of permits. They introduced amendments which provided that the discretionary publication of particulars in the Gazette should be limited to cases in which an employer had been convicted for some contravention of the Factories and Shops Acts, and that the special Wage Boards should be elective, in the belief that it would be dangerous to vest the power of appointment in the Governor in Council, since it would actually be exercised by the Chief Secretary. The Government agreed to the former of these amendments, as the value of the right of publication was lessened by the Council's acceptance of the principle of the Wage Boards; but upon the other points of difference a conflict ensued between the two Houses, which resulted in the final decision that the Boards are to be elective, and that outworkers will not be required to obtain a permit, but, if engaged in the manufacture of clothing or wearing apparel, must register their names and addresses with the chief inspector, for the confidential use of the Department, and must answer all questions put to them by inspectors as to the names of their employers and the rate of remuneration. The Chief Secretary had explained in the Assembly that the Government desired to obtain the registration of outworkers in order that they might know from the individuals themselves the addresses at which they were working, and whether they were being paid in accordance with the prices fixed by the Boards. It is also provided that a sub-contractor, equally with the occupier of a factory, must keep the prescribed record of all work given out by him.

The furniture trade, as has been seen, is one of those for which the Governor in Council may cause special Boards to be elected; but it has been realised that, in the cabinet-making branch, owing to their superior numbers, the Chinese would obtain a controlling voice. This difficulty was met by an amending Bill which authorised the nomination of these Boards. Other sections of the Act also aim at the protection of the white workman: one Chinaman is to be deemed to constitute a factory, and no person employed in a factory or workroom in the manufacture of any article of furniture is to work on a Sunday, after two o'clock on a Saturday, or between five o'clock in the evening and half-past seven in the morning on any other day of the week. Furniture made in Victoria is to be stamped legibly and indelibly in such a manner as to show whether it was manufactured by white or Chinese labour. It is noteworthy that, through the Boards which will fix the minimum rate of pay in the baking and furniture trades, the Victorian Government are making their first attempt to regulate the labour of men; in the other trades affected by these Boards women form the vast majority of the workers.

The general provisions of this Act as they affect factories include greater stringency in the sanitary requirements, in the limitation of the hours of labour of women and boys, and in the precautions against accidents. Laundries and dye-works are constituted factories, and the powers of inspectors are in several respects strengthened.

The sections dealing with shops also deserve a word of notice. The necessity for further legislation was based by the Chief Secretary on the ground that under the existing law Municipal Councils were not bound to give effect to petitions received from a majority of shopkeepers, and could only bind their own districts. Besides, the penalties imposed for contravention of any law or bye-law had, in many cases, been so small that shopkeepers had been able to ignore it with practical impunity. He therefore proposed that petitions should in future be addressed either to the Governor or to the local authorities, that a metropolitan district should be constituted so as to render possible uniformity in the hours of closing shops, and that the penalties should be on a fixed scale. These proposals were embodied in the Act, as were others which provided that assistants in shops should have a weekly half-holiday, and that women and boys should not be employed for more than a fixed number of hours in a week or day, nor for more than five hours without an interval for meals, and should have the use of adequate sitting accommodation. These provisions, however, were not to apply to the categories of shops excluded from the operation of previous Acts unless extended to them under regulations made by the Governor in Council. Soon after the passage of the Act a strong feeling arose among the shopkeepers of Melbourne and its suburbs that, as assistants had to receive a weekly half-holiday, shops should be closed upon one afternoon in the week; but opinions differed as to whether the day should be Saturday or Wednesday. The shopkeepers in the city were disposed to favour the former, those in the suburbs were divided in their views.

The Act should be regarded as a humane attempt to minimise the sufferings of the outworkers and to improve the conditions of labour of the toiling masses of the population. The appointment of the special Boards is regarded with sympathy even by those who doubt the possibility of enforcing a minimum wage in the case of persons whose competition is intensified by the fear of starvation. Two general considerations suggest themselves: that a vast discretionary power is vested in the Executive, and that the inspectors will be confronted with a task of hopeless magnitude. On the first point it is to be noted that the Governor in Council, acting naturally upon the advice of the Chief Secretary, may not only exercise the powers already mentioned, but may extend the provisions of the Act or any of them to any shire or part of a shire, and make regulations upon a large number of subjects connected with the efficient administration of all the Factories, and Shop Acts. As regards the inspectors, who are eleven in number, it is to be feared that, though they may invite the co-operation of the police, they will be unable adequately to supervise factories, watch the labour of the single Chinaman, protect the home-worker from the tyranny of the contractor, and assure to assistants in shops the conditions to which they are legally entitled. They will undoubtedly be fettered by the unwillingness of the workers to supply information which may lead to the loss of their employment.

The correlative of protection, which principally benefits the manufacturer, is the direct encouragement of the enterprise of the producer. In this respect successive Governments have displayed an eagerness which has not always been confined within the limits of prudence. The borrowed capital sunk in the construction and equipment of the Victorian Railways is about £36,730,000, which returned in the year 1895-6 a net profit on working of £855,000, being a deficit of £584,000 upon £1,439,000, the annual charge for interest upon the loans; but a large proportion of this deficiency was due to the failure of the wheat crop and the consequent decrease in the amount of goods carried along the lines. Recent returns show that several lines not only do not pay any interest on the capital expenditure, but do not earn even as much as is disbursed in working expenses. The report of the Railway Inquiry Board shows that the Assembly was actually disposed at one time to sanction the expenditure of a further sum of £41,000,000 upon the construction of new lines; but the Age newspaper published a series of articles which showed clearly that national insolvency would follow the approval of expenditure on such a gigantic scale. The exposure attained its object, but involved the proprietor, Mr. David Syme, in actions for libel, brought by the Railway Commissioners, which extended, with intervals, over a period of four years. Finally, he was proved to have been entirely justified in his language, but was saddled with an enormous bill of costs as the reward of his patriotic efforts on behalf of the community. The danger that similar proposals might be carried in the future was lessened in 1890, when the Standing Committee was appointed as a check upon the extravagant tendencies and culpable pliability of individual members.

Again, in connection with water supply and irrigation, the expenditure has been on an extravagant scale. The Melbourne Waterworks are justified by the requirements of the metropolis, but those of Geelong and of Bendigo and adjacent areas commenced in 1865, and constructed at a capital cost of £1,427,000, show an annual deficit of £35,000; and other national works which cost £830,000 are dependent for a return upon irrigation trusts, most of which are unable to meet their own liabilities. Apart from this direct expenditure, the State has advanced £2,438,000 to local bodies, urban and rural waterworks trusts and irrigation trusts. Adding together these different amounts, we find the total direct and indirect expenditure of the State to have been £4,695,000, and we learn from the report of a recent Royal Commission that the annual revenue is about £68,000, or less than 1-½ per cent. upon the capital. As the money bears an average interest of 4 per cent., the loss to the consolidated revenue is at the rate of £120,000 a year. The expenditure was based upon the principle that the national credit should be pledged in order that farmers and land and property owners might be assisted to provide works of water supply which would accelerate the permanent settlement of many parts of the Province. Loans had been granted to municipalities before 1881, but in that year the question was treated comprehensively by the Water Conservation Act, which authorised the constitution of trusts for the construction of works of water supply for domestic purposes and the use of stock. In 1883 the Act was amended so as to include trusts formed for the promotion of works of irrigation. The Urban Trusts and local bodies generally have met their obligations satisfactorily, with the exception of some of the latter, which, instead of striking higher rates or increasing the charge for the water, appear to have hoped that the State would step in and relieve them of their liabilities. The Rural and Irrigation Trusts also have attempted to throw the duty of paying interest on the cost of the works upon the taxpayers of the whole province. In the latter case the Public Works Department cannot be absolved from blame. It is clear from the report of the Commission that money was advanced to Irrigation Trusts without an adequate preliminary investigation of the amount of water available or of the number of settlers who would make use of it. "The public mind was excited at the time, and the gospel of irrigation was preached from one end of the Colony to the other. The farmers had been suffering from a cycle of dry seasons, the price of produce was high, and the prospect of insuring their crops against the exigencies of climate by means of irrigation appears to have overruled all prudential considerations. Schemes were hastily conceived and as hastily carried out. The question as to whether the cost of the undertaking would be commensurate with the benefits to be derived therefrom, or whether the land could bear the burden that would be placed upon it, was apparently lightly considered, if considered at all." But, according to an official who had been concerned in the matter, the Department, far from readily concurring in or urging on schemes, had done its utmost to restrain the popular enthusiasm. Continued pressure had been exercised by deputations, generally supported by the Member for the district, which tried to induce Ministers to set aside formalities in view of the great necessity for water and of the great benefit that would ensue. The lavishness of the Department, whatever may have been its cause, was equalled by that of the Trusts, which in most cases expended the loan money as expeditiously as possible without regard to the requirements of the district or the supervision of the undertakings; they did not realise that they would ever be called upon to provide for meeting the interest on the moneys advanced to them. There can be no doubt that the Government overrated the knowledge and ability of the Trusts, and their recognition of the responsibility involved in the control of large sums of public money. The Royal Commissioners recommended that, after Parliament had decided what concessions should be made, the enforcement of the monetary obligations should be transferred from the Department to the Audit Commissioners, who should be vested with powers enabling them to take action to recover arrears due to the State. They believed that, in the absence of such a change, the Department, being subject to political pressure, might make further concessions, and again allow matters to drift into an unsatisfactory condition.