BRITISH COLUMBIA. CASHING OF PAY CHEQUES IN BAR ROOMS PROHIBITED. [The practice of cashing pay cheques in bar rooms is prohibited by the "Liquor License Act Amendment Act, 1916," chapter 37, section 4:] No time check, bank cheque, negotiable paper, or other evidence Cashing of indebtedness shall be cashed or discounted in the bar room of any cheques. licensed premises, and any licensee or his servant, agent, employee who violates the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty of not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars. 31st of May, 1916. EXAMINATION AND LICENSING OF COAL MINERS. Chapter 42, Section 1. This Act may be cited as the "Coal Miners' Short title. Certificates Act," and shall be read with and form part of the “Coal Mines Regulation Act." 2. Whenever a complaint is made to the Minister of Mines or he Board of has reason to believe that in any colliery in the province unqualified investigation. persons are improperly holding or using certificates of competency as coal miners under the Coal Mines Regulation Act," he may authorize a Board of Investigation to inquire into the matter of the complaint and determine whether such certificates are wrongfully held or used by persons not duly qualified. 3. The Board of Investigation shall consist of a judge of the Members Supreme Court, who shall be the chairman of the board, and two of Board. other persons, one of whom shall be appointed by the Minister of Mines and the other shall be appointed by the employees of the colliery within two weeks after request for such appointment shall have been made by the minister or within such further time as he may allow. 4. If the employees fail to appoint a person to act as a member of the board within the time above limited or such further time as the minister may allow, the minister may appoint a suitable person to be such member of the board, and the person so appointed by the minister shall have the like power to act in the investigation as if he had been duly appointed by the employees. Substitute. 5. The board, when duly constituted, shall hold its first meeting First meeting. on a day and at a place to be fixed by the minister, and notice of the time and place of meeting shall be published in the " Gazette" and in a newspaper circulating in the district in which the colliery under investigation is situate. 6. The board may from time to time hold such meetings as may be necessary for the completion of the inquiry, and is shall be the duty of the board to examine and inquire into the certificates of competency held by persons employed as coal miners in the colliery which is the subject of investigation, and for the purpose of the inquiry the members of the board shall have all the powers of commissioners under the "Public Inquiries Act." Duties of 7. At the conclusion of the investigation the board shall report Report. to the minister its findings with reference to the matters inquired into, and, if it finds that any person employed in such colliery wrongfully holds or uses a certificate of competency as a coal miner, it shall transmit such certificate to the Department of Mines for cancellation, and the person wrongfully holding or using such certificate shall thereafter be disqualified from employment as a coal miner in any colliery in the province. 8. The expenses of the board shall be paid as provided in section Expenses. 118 of the "Coal Mines Regulation Act." 31st of May, 1916. REST DAYS FOR STREET RAILWAY EMPLOYEES. Chapter 52, Section 5. Said chapter 194 is hereby further amended by adding thereto immediately after section 186 thereof the following new section: "186a. (1) The Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council may make regulations limiting the number of days in a week during which employees or any class of employees of a street railway company may be required or permitted to work (2) The power conferred by the next preceding subsection may be exercised notwithstanding the provisions of any agreement respecting hours of labour between a municipal corporation and a street railway company or a street railway company and its employees. (3) Every street railway company contravening or committing a breach of any provision of the regulations made under the authority of subsection (1) shall be liable, upon summary conviction, to the penalty provided in section 287." 31st of May, 1916. FAIR WAGES IN SHIP BUILDING INDUSTRY. [Chapter 57.-The British Columbia Shipping Act, which mak.s provision for aid to the shipbuilding industry in the province, constitutes a "Shipping Credit Commission" for the administration of the Act. The law requires that certain provisions shall apply to every loan made and every subsidy paid by the Commission. The fair wage provision is as follows:-) Such rate of wages as the Commission may decide to be a fair wage rate shall obtain in respect of all work done in and about the construction of the ship and in and about the manning and operation of the ship. 31st of May, 1916. HOURS OF SHOP EMPLOYEES. Chapter 58, Section 1. This Act may be cited as the "Shops Regulation Act Amendment Act, 1916." 66 2. Chapter 57 of the Statutes of 1915 is hereby repealed, and section 3 of the Shops Regulation Act,' being chapter 211 of the "Revised Statutes of British Columbia, 1911," is re-enacted as follows: "3. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following words and expressions in this part of this Act, and in any by-law passed thereunder, shall have the meaning hereby assigned to them respectively, that is to say: 666 'Shop' means any building or portion of a building, booth, stall, or place where goods are exposed or offered for sale by retail, or where the business of a barber or hairdresser is carried on, but not where the only trade or business carried on is that of a tobacconist, newsagent, hotel, inn, tavern, victualling house, or refreshment house, nor any premises wherein, under licence, liquor as defined by section 2 of the Municipal Act' is sold by retail for consumption on the premises, nor auction rooms, pawnbrokers' shops, nor shops in which second-hand goods or wares only are bought, sold, or offered for sale, nor premises where a barber or hairdresser is attending a customer in the customer's residence: "Closed' means not open for the serving of any customer; "Municipality' means the city, township, or district municipality, the Municipal Council whereof, either upon application made in that behalf or otherwise, passes any by-law under the provisions of this Act." 3. Section 12 of said chapter 211 is hereby repealed, and the following is substituted therefor: "12. (1) Subject to the provisions of sections 13 and 14 of this Act and of subsection (2) of this section, no person shall within any municipality keep open any shop, nor sell or offer for sale therein or thereat any goods, wares, or merchandise usually sold or kept for sale therein, nor carry on therein any business as a barber or hairdresser, at, within, or during any hour, time, or period during which such shop is required to be or remain closed by any by-law of the Council of such municipality passed pursuant to this Act. are carried on. "(2.) In a municipality the Council of which has, by by-law passed Closing of pursuant to this Act, required all or any class or classes of shops to shop in which be or remain closed during any specified hours or time, no person shall several trades sell or offer for sale during such hours or time, in or at any shop, store, or place of business where trades of two or more classes are carried on, any goods, wares, or merchandise which he could not under such by-law have then lawfully sold if such goods, wares, or merchandise had been the only goods, wares, or merchandise kept for sale in such shop, store, or place of business." 4. Section 15 of said chapter 211 is hereby repealed, and the follow- Re-enacts ing is substituted therefor: section 15. 15. The Municipal Council of any municipality may, in or by a Penalties. by-law passed pursuant to this Act, impose a fine or penalty, not exceeding one hundred dollars and costs, upon any person who commits a breach of any provision of this Act or of any by-law passed hereunder, which fine or penalty and costs shall be recoverable and enforceable upon summary conviction in the manner provided by the Summary Convictions Act.'" 31st of May, 1916. WEEKLY HALF-HOLIDAY FOR SHOP EMPLOYEES. Chapter 75, Section 1. This Act may be cited as the Half-holiday Act." 2. In this Act The expression shop" includes any premises where any whole- Shop." sale or retail trade or business is carried on. The expression "week means the period between midnight on "Week." Saturday night and midnight on the succeeding Saturday night. 3. (1) On and after the first day of July, 1916, every shop shall, Closing hours. save as otherwise provided by this Act, be closed for the serving of customers not later than one o'clock in the afternoon on one weekday in every week, and no employer shall require or permit any of his employees to remain in the shop for a longer time than thirty minutes after the said closing hour. (2) This section shall not apply to any shop in which the only or principal trade or business carried on is trade or business of any of the classes mentioned in schedule A to this Act. Exemptions. (3) Any employer who permits any of his employees to remain in Penalty. the shop in contravention of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and be liable on summary conviction to the penalty prescribed in section 8 of this Act. Section 4 requires the municipal councils of the cities of Victoria, Victoria, VancouVancouver and New Westminster to submit to the vote of the muni- ver, New Westcipal electors qualified to vote for mayor on June 14, 1916 the ques- minster, tion as to whether they favour a weekly Wednesday half-holiday or a weekly Saturday half-holiday. In all three cities the vote favoured the Saturday half-holiday. 5. (1) In all other municipalities the weekly half-holiday as Other munirespects any shop shall, subject to the provision in subsection (2) of cipalities. this section, be observed on the day appointed in that behalf in any by-law heretofore passed under the provisions of the Shops Regulation Act," and in force in the municipality; and if there is no such by-law or if there is no agreement for a weekly half-holiday in any such municipality, then the weekly half-holiday shall be observed on such day as may be agreed upon by the employer and the employees, and, in the event of disagreement, such day as the employer may specify in a notice affixed in the shop, but it shall not be lawful for the employer to change the day oftener than once in any period of three months without the consent of a majority of his employees. (2) At the municipal elections to be held in January, 1917, a vote Referendum. of the municipal electors entitled to vote for Mayor or Reeve shall be taken to determine whether the weekly half-holiday shall be on Saturday or some other day in the week, and the day approved by a majority of the municipal electors in any such municipality shall, on and after the first day of February, 1917, be the day fixed for such half-holiday in such municipality. 6. The day fixed for a weekly half-holiday on a referendum to the Change of electors in any municipality may be altered on a referendum at any day. Unorganized districts. Penalty. Shops open until Agent or servant to be liable to penalty. Punishment of actual offenders. Corporation. Application of Act. subsequent election upon a petition therefor addressed to the municipal Council and signed by not less than ten per cent of the electors qualified to vote for Mayor or Reeve, as the case may be. 7. This Act shall not apply to unorganized districts: Provided, however, that the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council may, if he sees fit, appoint a day in each week during the year or a portion of the year to be observed as a half-holiday by the employees in any shop or shops in an unorganized district, and upon such day being fixed the provisions of this Act shall apply in respect of such shop or shops. 8. It shall be the duty of every employer to whom this Act applies to keep his shop closed for the serving of customers from and after one o'clock in the afternoon of the day fixed as a weekly half-holiday and during the remainder of such day, and in case of any contravention or failure to comply with this provision the employer shall. be guilty of an offence against this Act, and be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding : (a) In the case of a first offence, ten dollars; (b) In the case of a second offence, fifty dollars; and (c) In the case of a third or subsequent offence, one hundred dollars. Provided that nothing in this section shall render a person liable to any penalty for serving after the closing hour any customer who was in the shop at the closing hour. 9. When the day immediately preceding a half-holiday is a Friday and not a public holiday, it shall be lawful for the employer to keep his shop open for the serving of customers until half-past nine of the clock on the Friday, any law or by-law to the contrary notwithstanding. 10. Where an offence for which the employer is liable under this Act to any penalty or punishment has in fact, been committed by some agent or servant of such employer, such agent or servant shall be liable to the same penalty or punishment as if he were the employer. 11. (1) When the employer is charged. with an offence against this Act, he shall be entitled, upon information duly laid by him, to have any person whom he charges as the actual offender brought before the court at the time appointed for hearing the charge; and if, after the commission of the offence has been proved, the said employer proves to the satisfaction of the court that he has used due diligence to observe the provisions of this Act, and that the said person committed the offence in question without his knowledge, consent, or connivance, or wilful neglect or default, the said employer shall be exempt from any penalty or punishment, but such person shall thereupon be summarily convicted of such offence and shall be liable to the same penalty or punishment therefor as if he were the employer. (2) When the employer is a corporation, such information may be laid by the president, secretary, or any director, or by the solicitor of the corporation. 12. The provisions of this Act shall extend to every shop, whether employees are employed therein or not, and the owner, proprietor, or manager of a shop wherein employees are not employed shall be liable to the penalties provided in this Act in the same manner and to the same extent as if he were an employer, and the agent of such owner, proprietor, or manager shall also be liable to the same extent as if he were an agent of an employer. (According to Schedule A the following trades and businesses are exempt from the provisions as to a weekly half-holiday, namely: those of bakeries, barber shops, cigar stands, drug stores, newspaper stands, restaurants; shops or stands for the sale of fresh fruits, vegetables, soft drinks, cut flowers, and dairy products, confectioners' shops, and such other trades or businesses as may be declared exempt by Order-in-Council published in the "Gazette.") (Schedule B is omitted.) 31st of May, 1916. WORKMENS' COMPENSATION. Interpretation. Chapter 77, Section 1. This Act may be cited as the Workmen's Short title. Compensation Act." 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,66 Accident shall include a wilful and an intentional act, not "Accident." being the act of the workman, and shall include a fortuitous event occasioned by a physical or natural cause: Accident Fund" shall mean the fund provided for the payment of compensation, outlays, and expenses under Part I: "Board" shall mean Workmen's Compensation Board: 'Compensation shall include medical aid, except where such interpretation is inconsistent with the context: Construction" shall include reconstruction, repair, alteration, and demolition: Accident Fund." 64 Board." Dependants shall mean such of the members of the family "Dependants." of a workman as were wholly or partly dependant upon his earnings at the time of his death, or who but for the incapacity due to the accident would have been so dependant; and no person shall be excluded as a dependant because he is a non-resident alien: 66 Employer" shall include every person having in his service under a contract of hiring or apprenticeship, written or oral, express or implied, any person engaged in any work in or about an industry, and in respect of any industry within the scope of Part I includes municipal corporations and boards and commissions having the management of any work or service operated for a municipal corporation: Employment," when used in Part I, means and refers to the whole or any part of any establishment, undertaking, trade or business within the scope of that part, and in the case of any industry not as a whole within the scope of Part I includes any department or part of such industry as would if carried on separately be within the scope of Part I: "Industrial disease" shall mean any of the diseases mentioned in "Industrial the Schedule, and any other disease which by the regulations is disease." declared to be an industrial disease: Industry" shall include establishment, undertaking, work, trade, "Industry." and business: "Invalid" shall mean physically or mentally incapable of "Invalid." earning: Medical aid," when used in Part I shall mean and include the several matters and things which the Board under the provisions of section 21 is empowered to provide for injured workmen Medical aid." "Member of the family" shall mean and include wife, husband, "Member of the father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, family." daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother, sister, half-brother, and half-sister, and a person who stood in loco parentis, to the workman or to whom the workman stood in loco parentis, whether related to him by consenguinity or not so related, and where the workman is the parent or grandparent of an illegitimate child shall include such child, and where the workman is an illegitimate child shall include his parents and grandparents: "Outworker" shall mean a person to whom articles or materials "Outworker." are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished, repaired, or adapted for sale in his own home or on other premises not under the control or management of the person who gave out the articles or materials: Person shall include females as well as males: Physician shall mean and include any person registered under the "Medical Act": "Regulations" shall mean and include rules and regulations made "Regulations." by the Board under the authority of this Act: 66 Workman" shall include a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service or apprenticeship, written or oral, express or implied, whether by way of manual labour or otherwise; and in respect of the industry of mining shall include a person while he is actually engaged in taking or attending a course of training or instruction in mine-rescue work under the direction or with the written approval of an employer in whose employment the person is employed as a workman in that industry, or while with the knowledge and |