THE SLAUGHTERING DISPUTE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 713, 12 January 1910, Page 6

THE SLAUGHTERING DISPUTE.

1 CONCILIATION COUNCIL TO-DAY. HOPES OP A SETTLEMENT. •Both parties to the. slaughtering trado dispute locally , still preserve their '.cautious The Conciliation .Council ■will meet this afternoon, under the chair-, manship; of Mr. P. Hally,- cbmmissionjer, at his office in Hunter Street. The council will, sit; in camera, and its proceedings. are not bound by'any set rules, ' as the 'object of the conciliation system' is ■to. facilitate: a settlement, by ..having -the points 'in disputo talked oyer by men who have, an inside knowledge of the conditions. ■-'•'.

... The council is. debarred from making apy 'Teoommendation.; unless the assessors .unanimously agree to it. Even then, the conclusions of the council do; not bind the parties to a dispute. ', Its recommendation shall operate (says Clause 3 of the amending~Act of last, year) merely as a suggestion for the amioablc settlement. of; ;the dispute by mutual agreement,.'and as a public announcement: of the. opinion, of : the council' as. to the merits of -the dispute. • • " .

/A.isettlement can only be arrivied'at by. mutual "agreement between the who. are -'in .this case the two meat com-' ■ panies . on the'one side and the Slaughter.men's'.Uiiion on the other. . The most that the,council can do .is to suggest the . terms of "a settlement. 1 are enter-, •tained \ that .the present -oouncil will• lie. able.,'.to' : draw\up, such terms, relating to. rates pay,: hours ,of work," and the. other points in dispute, as will,be. acceptablel';b6thi to . the l 'employers.'" and employees. ' The Arbitration" Court will "then, presumably ,'bo asked to convert ,' the agreement into an award. " If - the - parties, come ;to - an': agreement before.. the . council, has 'finished its sit-, tings,. it .' will , havo 'nothing more to 1 do,'; and: the t agreement can be. given the force of "an awafd,' but. it .is iiot expected, that this will occur.

. POSITION IN AUCKLAND. ; (By. • -■ Association.) ! . i Auckland, January 11. ' At the conference - between 1 the. Farmw?' Freezing Company and;.the. slaugiitcrrncn ■' employed -in - the export trade, it. vras pointed;, out that those -employed; in the. regular local- trade -received 255.' per hundred, and it was urged that those in\tho export: trade, . whose work was in-' termittimt, . ~should .rcceive , an equal ■; amoirnt' It wasj docided, to ■ leave - the •matter/ in - abeyance till' after -the. Wei-: lington. conference, to.vwhich will send a'delegate. "-.J.■ -..