WAR BONUS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2869, 6 September 1916, Page 6

WAR BONUS

A ' BOOT TRADE QUESTION. Yesterday afternoon a question of principle regarding tho .war bonus was argued in the Court of Arbitration. Mr. Justico Stringer presided, and there were also on the bench Messrs. W. Scott (employers' representative), and J. A. M'Cullough (workers' representative). The question was whether the war bonus of 5 per cent, granted the workers in the boot trade\ applied to overtime as well as .to the ordinary rate of pay. Mr. J. Hutchison, the secretary of tho union concerned, urged that it did, and Mr. A. Blair, for tho employers, submitted that the only rate on which the bonus was 'payable was the rate stipula'tedpls. 3d. per hour. His Honour said, tho matter was trifling. It was only a question of principle. As far as the practical side went, it was very small. Mr. Hutchison agreed that it was a matter of principle. "There is only ljd. between us in six hours, so, of course, the matter is trifling." His Honour, in giving tho decision of the Court, said that on a question .of interpretation the intention of the award had to 1 bo gathered from the language used in tho award. If tho question now raised had been brought up at the, time of tho making of the award, different language might possibly have been used.

The Court did not agree with Mr. Hutchison's contention, and decided against him.