Eight-hour day brought out the crowds

Dunedin people played instrumental roles in the eight-hour day movement and the holiday that marks it, writes Bruce Munro.

Labour Day in New Zealand began, not as a long weekend at the beach or lake, but as a celebration of what united workers had and what they could achieve.

The labour movement in this country made its presence felt in Wellington in 1840 when carpenter William Parnell refused to work more than an eight-hour day. He encouraged other tradesmen and women to take the same stand. The idea was that all workers should be entitled to eight hours of work, eight hours for recreation and eight hours of sleep.

The same battle had to be fought in towns and cities throughout the colony. In Dunedin, the mantle was taken up in 1849 by newly arrived immigrant Samuel Shaw.

University of Otago emeritus professor Erik Olssen, writing in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, said the eight-hour day had been a key idea in early discussions about the proposed settlement in Dunedin. But when founding father Captain William Cargill arrived with the first settlers, he announced he would employ men to work 10-hour days, Prof Olssen said.

Mr Shaw, a plumber, painter and glazier who arrived aboard the John Wickliffe in March, 1848, organised a widely attended public meeting in January, 1849.

A petition drawn up at that meeting demanded the eight-hour day be instituted.

Capt Cargill refused, so Mr Shaw organised a mass rally in February.

The balance tipped in the workers' favour when wealthy English capitalist W.H. Valpy arrived in Dunedin offering good wages for an eight-hour day.

''Samuel Shaw's activities in Otago entitle him to be counted among the precursors of the New Zealand labour movement,'' Prof Olssen wrote.

Labour Day itself did not come to New Zealand until 1890 when two Dunedin trade union men suggested workers throughout the colony should mark the 50th anniversary of the eight-hour day protests.

How the first New Zealand Labour Day came about, and how it was celebrated in Dunedin, was recorded in an Industrial Exhibition catalogue published in 1912, and now held in Dunedin Public Libraries' McNab Collection.

Local union officials settled on October 28 as a suitable day for adoption as Labour Day, and decided that a ''demonstration should take the form of a procession and sports or picnic as deemed most suitable''.

''Much unnecessary opposition was shown by employers and business people generally, most of them declaring that they would not close their places of business on Labour Day. Eventually the shopkeepers and the majority of factory owners agreed to close, but the large warehouses declared their intention of keeping open, and did so until the procession was passing their respective business premises, when most of them capitulated and closed for the day.

''A feature of the pioneer gathering was the roasting, on the Caledonian Ground, of a large bullock given by Mr S.G. Smith (butcher, of Rattray St).''

More than 11,000 gathered at the ground, ''and the net proceeds, after paying 95 15s to the Caledonian Society, was 247. With characteristic generosity, 200 of this sum went to help the Denniston Miners, who were involved in strike troubles on the West Coast.''