f
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251
material or débris.
This seems to be the most important form
of casual labour from the point of view of the health and devel- opment of children.
22.
The Commission recommended that all employers of children should be compelled to register them, though they were prepared to exclude for the present employers of casual labour. If the Commissioners intended to recommend some form of registration in a central office it would seem that registration would be im- practicable. Employers from all parts of the Colony would have to send to the Protector's office whenever a child was en- gaged, and it is probable that there is a good deal of movement and change in the employment of children. In the case of casual labour in particular it ie difficult to see how registra- tion could be required because a child may be employed for a single day. It can hardly have been intended to create a class of licensed child workers and to make it an offence for
The question of
any one to employ a child without a licence.
registration has therefore been confined for the present to the keeping of a running record of children employed in factories. Of course in this point as in others it may be found possible
and desirable later on to extend the law.
23.
The Dis-
The Commissioners recommended a 54 hour week.
trict Watchmen Committee recommended instead a 9 hours day and
this proposal has been adopted. The provision of one day's
rest in every 7 has of course been retained. The Commissioners
recommended that children should not be employed between
and 6 a.m.
p.m.
On the recommendation of the District watchmen Com-
mittee this has been extended to 7 a.m.
24.