A JUDGE'S CENSURE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 20, 19 October 1920, Page 8

A JUDGE'S CENSURE

LABOUR DEPARTMENT'S REPLY. Certain strictures 'passed by Mr. Justico Stringer upon tho action of the Labour Department i» prosecuting certain ladies in a bakery business formed the subject of a question recently asked in the House by the Hon. T. M. Wilford (lender of the Opposition). Mr. Wmford wished to ki>w what the Depart-, nient had to say on the matter. Sir William Herries (Minister of Labour) last night furnished a reply in the course of which ho said: "In dealing with breaches of awards the Department cannot, of course, consider whether the provisions of the award are. equitable or not. It would obviously have been unfair to the other traders to allow tho breach to continue unnoticed, and in any event the Department would have laid IHsclf open to a charge of neglecting its duty. I might add that this was scarcely 'a case in a remote part of the. country,' seeing that the award was snecilically made by the Court for tho Gisbeine and surrounding- district, and tho shop in question was in Gisborae; n<ir were tho ladies merely 'baking a few cakes,' as they were engaged m a busines* of .considerable size, as evidenced by tJts fact.that there were three employees in the bakehouse.-" THE BUTTER" PRICES GOVERNMENT COULD NOT WAIT. The right of the Government to fix the retail price of butter at 2s. 3d. per pound,- in view of the fact that the recommendation of the Butter Committee on this point is still before Parliament, was questioned in the House by Mr. Panw (Auckland Central). The House, said Mr. Parry, bad not yet voted on the amendment moved by a Labour member proposing that the retail price should be l-i 9d. , ' Mr. Massey said that the Government had not required tho consent of the House. It had asked' the House to set up a -committee, and this committee, niter considering the matter very Jully, had made a recommendation, which the Government had adopted. The proclamation fixing the price of butter at the level proposed by the committee had been issued. The Government could not reasonably keep the peoplo waiting any longer. FENCING WWFOR SOLDIERS' A QUANTITY FROM AUSTRALIA. A suggestion made .by Mr. Nash (Palnierstori North) that the Government should import a shipment of tensing wire for the benefit of returned soldierswas replied to last night, by the Minis ter of Lands (the Hon. D. H. Guthrie). Mr. Guthrie said that all along it had been the policy of the Government to import for the use of soldiers both fencing wire and iron, and the Government had in many cases been able to givo soldiers wire' nit or i3O a ton less then they would have had to pay in the absence of any special arrangement. 'It had not been able, however, up to the present time, to import wife in very large quantities. At the present moment it was negotiating for the purchase of a large quantity of wire from Australia, and probably tho wire would be available in a very few weeks time. He would not say nt present what the price of the wire would 1 be. TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES ON STATE FARMS AND THE COST-OF-LIVING BONUS. Mr. T. If. Wilford (Hutt) lately asked the Prime Minister whether the Government would arrange to pay the cost-of-living bonus to temporary employees on Government experimental farms, so that their allowances should be equal to those ■of permanent employees on such.farms. The Prime Minister last night replied: "The employees referred to in the member's question are, and have : been for uome time past, receiving the increased rate of wages, and it is not proposed to take any further action in this connection."' RATING "AMENDMENT DR. THACKER HAS A BILL. ' Dr. Thacker (Christcluirch East), who happens also to be Mayor of Christchurch, was given leave in the House , of Representatives last night to introduce a Rating Amendment Bill. He did not state the 'terms of his Bill, but he indicated that its intention was to secure the -speedier revaluation of city and : borough land?. The local bodies, he said, were all losing money because the Government valuations did not keep pace with the increase of actual values. Messrs. Wilford (Hutt) and Nash (Palmerston North) ngreed that the valuations needed to be kept up to date.' .Mr. Luke (Wellington North) stated Hint the trouble had been caused by the system of rating on unimproved values. 'I'h is system worked well when a town had much land waiting to be used for building purposes, and he believed that it had promoted building in Wellington. But the system ceased to work well when a city reached a certain stage of growth. ' Auck'land, which rated on tho annual value, as fixed year by yenr by its own valuers, was in a very much better position thnn the other pities. It got the benefit immediately of increased values in any part of its area. Other local ' bodies' were losing money and paying interest on overdrafts, since they could not collect all the money that really should be coming to them. NEW ZEALAND "SEAMEN AND GENOA CONFERENCE Mr. P. Frnscr (Wellington .'Central) last nigh't again asked the Prime Min'stor whether Mr. Massey would oxplain why the Seamen's Union was not given nn onpor'himtv of being represented ni. the Genoa Conference. He further asked whether Mr. Mnssoy had roeoived . 'r<jm the International Labour Bureau a eomimiiiieatitm regardimg immigration. \Vould the Government, he finally asked, make provision for the representation ot Labour Ixxlies in New Zealand at the Labour Conference to be hold at Geneva! 'Mr. Massey invited tho momber to place his question on the Order Pnner. Ho would furnish an answer. He hai. previously made arrangements to answei the question about the Genoa Conisr•>noo, but the matter had been overlooked, o DUTY ONUSHING GEAR Sir William Herries (Minister of Customs) has announced that tho question-of the remission nt duty on nets and netting suitable for fishermen's use will be considered when the tariff is being revised during the recess.