The gold rushes of the latter part of the 19th century saw a major influx of unskilled workers into New Zealand. When the gold ran dry these people sought to make their way in more conventional employment. Initially, Government development programmes saw most of them employed by the state.
In 1876, the Government changed and with it Government policy. The situation was made worse by a worldwide recession that started in the late 1870s and reached its peak in the 1890s, leaving the labour market grossly oversupplied.
Working life was grim. Real wages fell, hours of work lengthened, unemployment was high, and child labour was common. Abuse and exploitation within the employment relationship was rife. The employment of women and girls as cheap labour led to the first major Government intervention into the working relationship through the Employment of Females Act 1873. This Act limited the number of hours women and girls could be required to work on any one day, and provided for one half-day off per week, on a Saturday. The Act was amended in 1874 and 1875, when it became illegal to employ children (either boys or girls) under the age of ten.
In reality, however, the new laws were not given any effective enforcement mechanisms, and in the desperation of the times many of the things expressly prohibited under the Act continued. Real change did not come until the Sweating Commission in 1890 began looking into employment conditions.
