Lieutenant-Governor in Council. All necessary expenses incurred by said Board shall be paid by the Department of Labour from the Consolidated Revenue Fund unless moneys have been appropriated by the Legislature for that purpose.

5. It shall be the duty of the Board to ascertain the wages paid to employees in the various occupations, trades and industries in which women are employed in this Prov ince, and to fix the minimum wage. The Board shall have full power and authority, either by any member of the Board or by any duly authorized representative, to inspect and examine any and all books, pay-rolls, and other records of any employer that in any way appertain to or have any bearing upon the question of wages of any employees, and to take extracts from or make copies of any entries in such books, pay-rolls, and records, and to require from any employers full and true statements of the wages paid to his employees. A register of the names, ages and residence addresses of all employees shall be kept by employers.

6. The Board may from time to time hold public meetings at a time and place to be fixed by them, at which employers and employees and all persons interested may appear and be heard. For the purpose of obtaining information, the Board shall have the powers and authorities conferred by the Public Inquiries Act on a Commission issued or appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, and the provisions of that Act shall mutatis mutandis, extend and apply to any inquiry held by the Board under this Act. All witnesses subpoenaed by the Board shall be paid the same witness fees and mileage as are now allowed by law to witnesses before the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

7. If after investigation, the Board shall find that in any occupation, trade or industry the wages paid to employees are inadequate, the Board is empowered to call a conference composed of an equal number of representatives of employers and employees in the occupation or industry in question, together with one or more disinterested persons representing the public; but the representatives of the public shall not exceed the number of representatives of either of the other parties; and a member of the Board shall be a member of such conference and chairman thereof. The Board may make rules and regulations governing the selection of representatives and the mode of procedure of said conference, and shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over all questions arising as to the validity of the procedure and of the recommendations of said conference. On request of the Board it shall be the duty of the conference to recommend to the Board an estimate of the minimum wage proper in the occupation or industry in question, and adequate to supply the necessary cost of living. The findings and recommendations of the conference shall be made a matter of record for the use of the Board.

8. Upon the receipt of such recommendations from a conference, the Board shall review the same, and may approve any or all of such recommendations, or it may disapprove any or all of them and recommit the subject or the recommendations disapproved of to the same or a new conference. After such approval of the recommendations of a conference the Board shall issue an obligatory order specifying the minimum wage for employees in the occupation affected. Such order shall become effective in sixty days from the date thereof, or if the Board shall find that unusual conditions necessitate a longer period, then the Board shall fix a later date on which such order shall become effective. Said order shall be published in one issue of the British Columbia Gazette at least thirty days before the same becomes effective. After such order is effective, it shall be unlawful for any employer in the occupation named in said order to employ or pay employees less than the minimum wage specified in said order. The Board shall send by mail, so far as practicable, to each employer in the occupation named a copy of said order, and each employer shall be required to post a copy of said order in each room in which employees affected by the order are employed.

9. After a minimum wage has been fixed by the Board in any occupation, upon petition of either employers or employees the Board may in its discretion reopen the question and reconvene the former conference or call a new one, and any recommendations made by such conference shall be dealt with by the Board in the same manner as the original recommendations of a conference.

10. (1) In the case of women who are physically defective, and in case of female apprentices in any occupation in which apprentices are usually employed, the Board may in respect of any occupation as to which a minimum wage has been fixed issue to any such woman or apprentice a special license authorizing her employment in that occupation at a minimum wage, to be fixed in the license, less than the minimum wage fixed for that occupation. Such special license shall be issued only in the discretion of the Board, and in cases where the Board is satisfied that the application therefore is made in good faith, and in the case of apprentices shall remain in force for such period as is fixed by the Board.

(2) The number of employees holding special licenses under this section employed in any plant or establishment shall not exceed in number one-tenth of the whole number of the employees in that plant or establishment.

11. The Board may at any time inquire into wages and conditions of labour of girls under eighteen years of age employed in any occupation in the Province and may determine wages and conditions of labour suitable for such girls. When the Board

has made such determination in the cases of girls under eighteen years of age it may proceed to issue an obligatory order in the manner provided for in section 8 of this Act, and after such order is effective it shall be unlawful for any employer in said occupation to employ a girl under eighteen years of age for less wages than is specified for girls under eighteen years of age in said occupation, or under conditions of labour prohibited by the Board for said girls under eighteen years of age in its order.

12. Any employer who discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because such employee has testified or is about to testify, or because such employer believes that said employee may testify, in any investigation or proceedings relative to the enforcement of this Act shall be liable, upon summary conviction, to a penalty of not less than twenty-five dollars and not more than one hundred dollars.

13. Every employer employing an employee for whom a minimum wage has been fixed under this Act, at less than the minimum wage, or who violates any other provision of this Act, shall be liable, upon summary conviction, to a penalty of not less than twenty-five dollars and not more than one hundred dollars.

14. If any employee is paid less than the minimum wage to which she is entitled under this Act, the said employee shall be entitled to recover from her employer, in a civil action, the balance between the amount of the minimum wage and the amount paid, together with costs and solicitors' fees, to be fixed by the Court.

15. This Act shall not apply to farm labourers, fruit pickers, or domestic servants or their employers.

Assented to April 23, 1918.

Vocational Education.

[Chapter 74 amends The Public Schools Act, Chapter 206, Revised Statutes of British Columbia, 1911. Section 127, of the original Statute provides for the establishment of night schools in the ordinary branches of education. Section 38 of the amending Act substitutes the following section respecting night schools:-]

127. Where it appears that in any school district there are twenty or more persons of the age of fourteen years and upwards desirous of obtaining instruction in technical education, manual training, domestic science, commercial training, or in the ordinary branches of an English education, the Board of School Trustees may establish, under regulations issued by the Council of Public Instruction, night schools for their benefit. Assented to April 23, 1918.

Liability of Employers for Taxes of Employees.

Chapter 90.-1. This Act may be cited as the Poll-tax Act Amendment Act, 1918. 2. Section 5 of the Poll-tax Act, being chapter 65 of the Statutes of 1917, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "employ," in the second line of subsection (1) of said section, the words "liable to a poll-tax;" and by inserting after the word "every," in the fourth line of said subsection, the word such."

Assented to April 23, 1918.

Weekly Half-holidy for Shop Employees.

Chapter 99.-1. This Act may be cited as the Weekly Half-holiday Act Amendment Act, 1918.

2. The Weekly Half-holiday Act, being chapter 75 of the Statutes of 1916, is hereby amended by adding thereto the following sections:

13. The provisions of this Act as to the closing of shops and the observance of a weekly half-holiday shall not apply in respect of any of the seven days immediately preceding Christmas Day in any year.

"14. In the case of any of the following public holidays, that is to say, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Dominion Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, the birthday of the reigning Sovereign, and any day appointed by Proclamation and declared to be a public holiday for the purposes of this section, the provisions of this Act as to the closing of shops and the observance of a weekly half-holiday shall not apply in respect of that week, being the week before, or the week after, or the week during which such public holiday occurs, in which the day fixed in any case, pursuant to this Act, for the observance of a weekly half-holiday falls nearest to such public holiday."

Assented to April 23, 1918.

Workmen's Compensation.

Chapter 102.-1. This Act may be cited as the Workmen's Compensation Act Amendment Act, 1918.

2. Section 2 of the Workmen's Compensation Act, being chapter 77 of the statutes of 1916, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "includes," in the fifth line of the definition of the word employer" contained in said section, the words "the Crown in right of the Province and."

3. Section 2 of said chapter 77 is hereby further amended by adding to the definition of the word "person contained in said section the words "and shall include any

body corporate or politic.'

"

4. Section 4 of said chapter 77 is hereby amended by inserting after the word 'cleaning," in the fourteenth and fifteenth lines thereof, the words "and such other industries and occupations as the Board may by the regulations determine."

5. Said chapter 77 is hereby amended by inserting therein, after section 5 thereof, the following section:

"5a. This Part shall apply to any employment by or under the Crown in right of the Province to which this Part would apply if the employer were a private person." 6. Section 6 of said chapter 77 is hereby amended by striking out subsection (2) thereof, and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"(2) If the injury does not disable the workman longer than the period of three days, exclusive of any holiday upon which the workman would not in the usual course of his employment have worked, from earning full wages at the work at which he was employed, no compensation, other than medical aid, shall be payable under this Part. If the injury disables the workman longer than the period of three days, no compensation, other than medical aid, shall be payable for the first three days of disability reckoned exclusively of any such holiday.'

7. Subsection (2) of section 18 of said chapter 77 is hereby amended by adding after the word "head," in the fifth line thereof, the words or otherwise permanently injured."

8. Said section 21 is hereby further amended by adding thereto the following as subsection (8) ::

(8) Employers in any industries in which it is deemed proper may be required by the Board to maintain, as may be directed by the Board, such first-aid appliances and service as the Board may direct, and the Board may make such order respecting the expense thereof as may be deemed just."

9. Section 25 of said chapter 77 is hereby amended by adding thereto the following:"Class 13.-The Crown in right of the Province of British Columbia."

10. Section 30 of said chapter 77 is hereby amended by adding at the end of subsection (1) thereof the words " and at such other times as the Board may direct." 11. Said chapter 77 is hereby amended by inserting therein, after section 51 thereof, the following section:-

"51a. (1) Where in any employment or place of employment safety devices or appliances are in the opinion of the Board necessary for the prevention of accidents or of industrial diseases, the Board may order the installation or adoption of such devices and appliances, and may fix a reasonable time within which they shall be installed or adopted, and the Board shall give notice thereof to the employer.

(2) In any case where safety devices or appliances are by order of the Board under this section required to be installed or adopted, or are prescribed by the regulations, and the employer fails, neglects, or refuses to install and adopt such safety devices or appliances in any employment or place of employment in accordance with the terms of the order or regulations and to the satisfaction of the Board, or where under the circumstances the Board is of opinion that conditions of immediate danger exist in any employment or place of employment which would otherwise be likely to result in the loss of life or serious injury to the workmen employed therein, the Board may, in its discretion, order the employer to forthwith close down the whole or any part of such employment or place of employment and the industry carried on therein, and the Board shall notify the employer of such order.

(3) Every employer who fails, neglects, or refuses to comply with any order made by the Board under subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence against this Part, and each day's continuance of any such failure, neglect, or refusal to comply shall constitute a new and distinct offence."

12. Section 65 of said chapter 77 is hereby amended by striking out the figures “26 " in the sixth line of subsection (4) of said section, and inserting in lieu thereof the figures" 28."

13. Said chapter 77 is hereby amended by inserting therein, after section 68 thereof, the following section:

"68a. The decision of the Board shall be upon the real merits and justice of the case, and it shall not be bound to follow strict legal precedent."

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14. Said chapter 77 is hereby amended by inserting, in Part I. thereof, after section 69, the following section:

"69a. Every notice which the Board is empowered or required to give to any employer or workman under the provisions of this Part, or under any rules or regulations made hereunder, shall be in writing, and may be served either personally or by sending it by post to the address of the person to whom it is given. Where a notice is sent by post, service of the notice shall be deemed to be effected at the time at which the letter containing the notice, and properly addressed, postage prepaid, and posted, would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.'

Assented to April 23, 1918.

YUKON.

Liability of Employers for Taxes of Employees.

Chapter 1-6. (1) Every employer of labour shall, on demand of the Collector, as hereinafter provided, pay the tax for every male person liable to the tax, in his employ, not only at the time when said demand is made, but also from time to time, for every such male person in his employ during the year for which the tax is payable, and may deduct the amount so paid from the amount of salary or wages due or to become due to such male person. Every such employer of labour shall be primarily liable for the tax in respect of every such male person in his employ at any time during the year in which said tax is payable and until the tax in respect of such person is paid, and shall pay the same as provided by this Ordinance.

(2) Every such employer of labour shall from time to time furnish to the Collector or Sub-collector, when requested by him so to do, a list of all male persons in his employ, directly or indirectly, but no such statement shall bind the Collector or excuse him from making due inquiry to ascertain its correctness.

(3) Every employer of labour within the meaning of this Ordinance shall be liable to all the provisions of this Ordinance in regard to such persons in his employ, and as to all persons who work for him or on his premises or in connection with his business, whether such persons are employed directly by such employer of labour or indirectly through a contractor for labour. Such employer of labour shall, upon production of the receipt therefor, have the right to deduct from the amount payable to such contractor all sums paid for such tax by such employer of labour to the Collector or Sub-collector, for any men furnished to him by such contractor, and such contractor may deduct the same from the amount due by him to such men respectively.

(4) In the event of any person liable to the tax, while in the employ of an employer of labour, having paid the tax, for the then current year, and producing the proper receipt therefor to him, the liability of such employer of labour shall cease in respect to the tax on such person, provided the Collector shall, on demand, be fiurnished by such employer of labour with particulars of the name, number, date and place of issue upon such receipt.

(5) Any demand or request to be made by the Collector may be made by letter sent by post to the last known address of the person to be notified. Service of such demand or request shall be deemed to be effected by properly addressing and posting, prepaid, a leter containing the demand or request, and unless the contrary is proved, such demand or request shall be deemed to have been made at the time that the letter would be received by such person or at his home, office or place of business in the territory, in the ordinary course of mail.

7. Every employer of labour who fails to pay the said tax for any such male person in his employ as aforesaid, or to deliver to the Collector the list mentioned as provided by the preceding section, or who knowingly states anything falsely in such list, shall be guilty of an offence and upon summary conviction therefore be liable to a penalty not exceeding $100.

8. No employer of labour shall be responsible for payment of the tax in respect of any male person in his employ until such person shall have been in his employ for at least five days and thereupon such employer shall be responsible for the tax of each such person and shall pay the same and may deduct the amount of the tax from the amount due to such person for wages, unless the employee at the time of settlement or payment of his account produces his receipt for the tax for that year.

15. The said tax and all penalties, whether due from the person liable to pay the same, or from any employer of labour, in regard to any employee or servant, may (in addition to any other mode of recovery) at the option of the Collector, be recovered with costs as in an action between parties for debt, by action brought in the name of the Collector as such, and all proceedings had for the recovery thereof, either under Part III of the Judicature Ordinance, relating to small debt procedure, or in a Police Magistrate's Court, under the provisions of Chapter 71, of the Consolidated Ordinances, 1914, relating to the civil jurisdiction of Police Magistrates.

Assented to May 6, 1918.

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