ARBITRATION COURT.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 279, 4 December 1901, Page 3

ARBITRATION COURT.

DISPUTES AT NAPIER. By Telegraph—Press Association. Napier, last night. The Arbitration Court sat to-day taking evidence in the furniture trades, painters and decorators, iron and brass moulders, and tin plate and sheet motal workers’ disputes. In all these it was contended for tho employers that if tho demands of thermion were acceded to it would mean that a lot of work would have to be discontinued, as local conditions rendered it impossible to continuo the manufacture of many lines at a higher rate than wus at present paid. In the painters’ dispute the employees averred that the rate of living was higher in Napier than in Woffington, and the rato of pay asked for was a fair one. In the iron and brass moulders’ disputes the employees woro not represented, as thoy aro satisfied with the existing conditions of their employment. No evidence was tondered in the timber trades dispute, it having been decided that tho employers would appear before the Court at Palmerston North. Thero was also no evidence given in the bookbinders’ dispute, tho union representatives stating that they woro satisfied with the enquiries they had made regarding tho state of tho trade in Napier. Tho Court concluded its business to-day, and loaves here on Thursday for Palmerston North, sitting thero on Eriday.