to the payment of workmen's wages, providing that if a workman shall demand payment of wages twenty-four hours or more after they are due, and the contractor does not pay such wages, the workman may legally attach all moneys due to the contractor from the employer until he is paid, "The Servants' Registry Office Act" regulates registry offices for domestic or farm servants, preventing friendless or uneducated people from becoming the prey of unscrupulous persons who formerly made a living out of fees by duping applicants for situations. The registry office keepers pay a licensing fee to the Government; must produce a certificate of good character when applying for a license; must keep books open to inspection; and are not allowed to keep lodging-houses for servants.
Combinations or associations of persons for regulating the relations between masters and masters, or masters and workmen, or workmen and workmen, are directed by the "Trade Union Act." The "Conspiracy Law Amendment Act" permits any combination of persons in furtherance of a trade dispute, provided that any act performed by such combination or society would not be unlawful if done by one person. "Such action," naively adds the Secretary to the Department of Labour, "must not include riot, sedition, or crime against the State"; a remark which somehow suggests that it may include riots or crimes against the employer. "The Wages Attachment Act" prevents wages below £2 a week being attached for debt; though it does not prevent any workman being sued for debt in the ordinary course.
The New Zealand democracy really, though no Australian would admit it, leads Australia; as will be acknowledged by any one who, after acquainting himself with the above body of law, will examine recent legisla-
