Three hours' overtime may be done on any day, but on not more than fifty-two days in the year.

No male under eighteen and no female is to be continuously employed for more than five hours without at least half an hour for a meal. The following shops are exempt from the above provisions, viz: chemists, coffee-houses, confectioners, eating-houses, fish and oyster shops, fruit-shops, restaurants, book-sellers and newsagents, tobacconists, and hotels.

Fire--Careless use of.

Apart from the common law liability in respect of damage done to property by the negligent use of fire, negligence in this respect is also punishable by statute.

LIGHTING FIRES NEAR CROPS.

It is enacted that any person (except those using fire for the purposes and in the manner hereafter mentioned) igniting or using, or carrying when ignited, any inflammable material within twenty yards of any growing crops or stacks of corn, pulse, or hay, or within three yards of any stubble-field or grass-land, and thereby injuring or destroying the property of another person-shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £50, or to imprisonment proportionate to the penalty imposed.

GRASS, ETC., MAY BE BURNT AFTER NOTICE.

Straw, stubble, grass, herbage, wood, or other material which will burn, may be burnt or ignited by the occupier of land after clearing a space of not less than fifteen feet in breadth around the substance intended to be burnt or ignited, and after giving at least twenty-four hours' notice of his intention to the occupiers of lands adjoining his own. If damage is done by fire to a dividing fence through the negligence of the owner or occupier of land, he must repair the fence at his own

cost.

LEAVING FIRES BURNING.

Any person who leaves any fire which he has lighted or used in the open air without thoroughly extinguishing it, is liable to not exceeding £10 penalty or to imprisonment as before; but persons burning off straw, wood, etc., in the manner aforesaid are not subject to this provision.

One magistrate may adjudicate; and the offender may appeal to Quarter Sessions, subject to the provisions noted under the heading "Justices of the Peace."

Friendly Societies.

PRINCIPAL OBJECTS OF SUCH SOCIETIES.

A Friendly Society may be established under the Friendly Societies Act, No. 31 of 1899, and which may include among its objects any of the following undertakings:

To insure payment of a sum of money on the death of a member, or for his or her relief or maintenance or that of his or her wife or husband or child during infancy, old age, or sickness; or to insure payment of a sum of money to be paid on the death of a member, to the person, or to the executors or administrators of the person, named in a writing deposited with the secretary of the society by such member-such person to be the wife, husband, child, or a certain other relative of the member; or to insure the tools or implements of trade of a member from loss by fire, to the amount of not exceeding £15; or for the frugal investment of members' savings; or to enable a member or his wife or children to emigrate to this State; or for other purposes tending to the mutual benefit and advantage of the members.

Such societies may consist of any number of persons, and the funds thereof are to be raised by voluntary subscription; no annuity may be contracted for exceeding £52 per annum, and no sum to become payable on death or any other of the above-mentioned contingencies is to exceed £200.

BENEFIT BUILDING, LOAN, AND INVESTMENT SOCIETIES.

Any number of persons may compose such societies. The purposes may be to raise by subscription in shares not exceeding £200 (the subscription being limited to 30s. per month) a fund to enable each member to receive the amount of his share out of such fund and to erect a house or to acquire other real or leasehold estate, which is to be mortgaged to the society till the amount of such share is fully repaid; and to create a loan fund for members, advances from which may be repaid by instalments; or for any other lawful purpose for the mutual benefit of the members. These societies and those next mentioned are regulated by the Act 37 Victoria No. 4— the former "Friendly Societies Act."

CO-OPERATIVE TRADING AND INDUSTRIAL

SOCIETIES.

Any number of persons less than seven may establish a society to carry on any labor, trade, or handicraft, wholesale or retail (except banking) which the members voluntarily unite

to carry on; the profits may be applied to any lawful purpose, and the buying and selling of land and working of mines may be undertaken.

Guarantees.

GENERAL REMARKS.

A guarantee or contract of suretyship is an engagement to answer for the payment of a debt, or performance of some act to which a third party is liable in the first instance; e.g. A. and B. come to C.'s shop, and A. says to C., "Let B. have credit up to £10 for goods, if he fails to pay you, I will.”—A.'s undertaking is a guarantee.

By the Statute of Frauds a guarantee, or some note or memorandum thereof, must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged under the same or his lawfully authorised agent, else no action shall be brought upon it; therefore a verbal guarantee cannot be sued upon. The promise to pay the debt, etc., must appear by the writing, but the consideration for the guarantee (i.e., the amount of the debt, etc.) need not do so; the liability may arise out of tort, or wrong, as Iwell as out of contract.

CIRCUMSTANCES DISCHARGING THE

GUARANTOR.

The guarantor or surety will be discharged if the creditor varies the contract; or enlarges the time for payment by a binding agreement, and thereby affects the sureties' remedies -in either case without his consent; or if the creditor gives the principal debtor an actual release; or allows securities for the obligation to return to his hands, or loses them; but in the two last mentioned cases the guarantor will be discharged only to the extent of the security so lost, etc.

A release given to one of two or more joint sureties will discharge them all, unless it can be construed as a covenant not to sue him; but the creditor may release one surety and expressly reserve his remedies against the rest.

REMEDIES OF SURETY.

Apart from certain equitable remedies, the surety may, when he pays the debt, bring an action against the principal debtor for re-imbursement; or, if there is more than one surety, and he pays the whole, he may bring an action for a rateable contribution by the other or others; and he has also the right to all securities for the debt, etc., which the principal debtor may have given the creditor, and may enforce their delivery by a suit in equity.

Forms of Guarantees.

GUARANTEE FOR PAYMENT OF GOODS TO £—.

In consideration of your consenting at my request to sell goods to A.B. of, I hereby guarantee you the payment of such sum or sums of money as may at any time or times hereafter become due to you from the said A.B. in respect of goods sold to him, but my liability must not exceed £—, for which sum this shall be a continuing guarantee.

In consideration of your staying proceedings in the action you have commenced aganst A.B. in the [Supreme Court of New South Wales] to recover the sum of £— [after judgment signed in such action], I hereby guarantee to pay you that amount by [weekly] instalments of £—, and in default of payment of any one instalment I further agree that the balance then due of the said sum of £- shall be recoverable against me under this guarantee.

An infant is, in law, any person under the age of twentyone years.

WHO IS ENTITLED TO GUARDIANSHIP.

The father is by law entitled to the guardianship of his infant children; and by statute he may, even though he is himself under twenty-one, by deed appoint a guardian for his legitimate children or do so by either deed or will if he is of full age. Otherwise a guardian may be appointed by the Equity Court, even during the life of the father, if his conduct is such as to be likely to corrupt their morals, or he is guilty of cruelly ill-treating his children.

RIGHTS OF GUARDIAN.

It is for the guardian to determine the mode and place of education of his ward; and where he or she is kept away from him the court will aid the guardian in obtaining possession of his ward, and this object may be enforced by a writ of habeas corpus; if the guardian wishes to remove his ward out of the jurisdiction of the court, he must give security; and, if an improper marriage between the ward and another person is in contemplation, it may be restrained by injunction.

SETTLEMENTS BY INFANTS.

Though infants cannot, as a general rule, contract, it is provided by statute that such persons may, with the sanction of the Equity Court, make a binding settlement upon his or her marriage under age. But such infant must be not less than twenty, if a male, nor less than seventeen years of age, if a female, at the time of the settlement; real and personal property of every kind may be included in the settlement.

Gunpowder and Explosives.

Special restrictions are imposed by statute on the keep ing, carrying, and sale of explosive substances such as gunpowder, dynamite, nitro-glycerine, blasting powder, etc.

WHAT QUANTITY OF EXPLOSIVES MAY BE KEPT.

No dealer in gunpowder, etc., may keep in his store or other place more than 2 hundred weight of gunpowder, etc., at any one time; other persons are limited to 25 pounds at one time a penalty of 10s. per lb. may be imposed for every lb. over the legal quantity in addition to forfeiture of the excess.

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LICENSES TO KEEP EXPLOSIVES, ETC.

Licenses to keep explosives must be obtained by dealers, which hold good for 12 months only; a dealer must keep up the words "gunpowder sold here" in legible characters and in a conspicuous place under penalty of £5 for every day whereon he omits to do so; places where any explosive exceeding 25 lbs. in weight is kept must be registered.

CARRYING EXPLOSIVES IN PUBLIC VEHICLES.

To carry gunpowder exceeding 2 lbs. in weight, or any other explosive, in any omnibus, coach, or other public vehicle -used for the carriage of passengers, or in any licensed boatany other passenger being therein, is punishable with a penalty not exceeding £5.