A HOTELKEEPER'S GRIEVANCE.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2742, 10 April 1916, Page 6

A HOTELKEEPER'S GRIEVANCE.

Sir,—l am a hotelkeeper at Petane, some seven miles from Napier employing less than five servants. I comply with the statute law of the country by giving' each of .my employees a half holiday every week under the Shops and Offices Act. ) So" long as I give the half-holiday I' am not subject to any fine or penalty whatsoever under that Act. Hie Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1911, Section 10, says:—"No award of the Arbitration Court shall contain any provision that is inconsistent with any statute which makes special provision for any of the matters before the Court." Now, tho Wellington 1 Hotel /Workers' Award, date>l November, 1914, renders me liable to a maximum penalty of £100 !r Ido not allow'a full holiday in the week to each worker. _ Surely that award is inconsistent with the statute, which says I ami doing my duty, in giving a lialf-holiday. But the Arbitration Court has said in a memorandum to its award, and in an interpretation Of its award, and at the Court at Napier on April 5, that the award is not inconsistent. There is no appeal from.the Court's decision. Surely this is a matter which might well engage the attention of the Legislature. Tho poorest man with an arguable case can obtain a lioaring in tho House of Lords at Home. There should be a similar right of appeal to tho highest Cabinet in New Zealand.—l am, etc., ■ A. A. PENFOLD.