News of the Day.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1557, 10 March 1874, Page 143

News of the Day.

Important Decision. The following is from the Otago Witness :—On the 2nd February, a case of some importance to sheep fanners and shearers was heard at Alexandra before W. Lawrence Simpson, Esq., R.M. The plaintiffs were Messrs Campbell and Low, of Galloway Station, and the defendant Thomas Tracey, a shearer. The cause of action was as follows:—It appears the plaintiffs employed 40 shearers, of whom defendant was one,. and that they had signed an agreement severally binding themselves to shear the Galloway flocks, at 20s per hundred, to the satisfaction of the employers, the working hours being

specified as from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., one hour' being .allowt d '/for 'bicakfast and, dinner, and any shearer abandoning his work during shearing without the consent of the enployp.rs, or without proper and reasonable cause, to be liable to forfeit his wages. On the 30th December, a deputation from the shearers waited on Mr Low, and requested a holiday on New Year's Day, so that they might attend the Alexandra Races. For certain reasons explained to them, he could not grant their request, and accordingly refused to do so; whereupon the men went away to their hut, leaving Mr Low under the impression that they would work on New Year's Day. The shed was filled with sheep on the night, of 31st December, and the station bell rang the men to their work at the usual hour in the morning, but they continued in their dormitories; and seeing that they were determined to take a holiday, the plaintiffs, after some time, turned the sheep out of the shed to feed. Men being very scarce, and there being no likelihood of securing another team of shearers, the plaintiffs were compelled to allow the men to resume shearing, which was completed on 21st January. The shearers were then called together and informed that their wages would be paid in full; but referring to their conduct on New Year's Day, Mr Low read them over particulars of clairh for damages, amouting to £174, which damage, be alleged, was caused by the accumulation of dust in the wool of 12,000 washed sheep on hand at the time, which had to be tailed and driven about for two days extra, through the shearers having refused to work on the Ist January, the tallies on 2nd and 3rd January having been only equal to the tally of 31st December. On the demand being made a great clamor arose, and very large words were used by some of the men, while others apparently thought it served them right. After some time spent in useless discussion-, the plaintiffs, in order to show the men that it was more a matter of principle than a desire to make money out of them which actuated them in making the claim, offered, without prejudice to their legal rights, to compromise the matter if the shearers would agree to give out of their earnings a donation of one shilling per hundred sheep to the Dunstan Hospital. The shearers thought this rather stiff, but they all ultimately agreed to give a donation to the Hospital except the defendant Thomas Tracey, who was the ringleader and spokesman of the holiday d< putalion. Tracey summoned Campbell and Low for his wages, and was in turn favored by those gentlemen with a summons for his one-fortieth share of £174 for loss sus tamed on wool, &c. On the hearing of the ease the evidence went to show that considerable damage had been done to the wool through the unjustifiable act of the shearers, which, much to the defendant Tracey's astonishment, the Magistrate fixed at £l2O in gross, leaving defendant's share of the same at £3 sterling, exclusive of costs of Court, in which he was also mulcted. On the damages recovered being deducted from Tracey's wages, Messrs Campbell & Low gave him a cheque for the balance. During the hearing of the case, the Court was filled by shearers and others interested in labor questions ; and in giving judgment the Resident Magistrate stated that if the dispute had come before him in another form, he would have been compelled by the agreement to forfeit the whole of the shearers' wages up to Ist January. Fortunately for the shearers, Messrs Campbell & Low could not afford to part with them, and were thus obliged to allow them to resume work, although they had broken their agreement, and were clearly liable to forfeit their wages. He recommended shearers and working men in general to take their present prosperity and high wages with a little more decency and regard to the interests of those who employed them. Capital and labor were necessary to each other, and this they would some day discover, and the sooner the better for all parties—especially for the working man. He was sorry to say, from cases which had come before him in another part of his district, that there were many laborers foolish enough to disregard their commonest duties as servants, and to disobey the lawful and reasonable commands of their employers, relying upon the great scarcity of labor to protect them ; and he warned all such men, that when such cases came before the Bench, it would indicate its sense of their conduct by meting out to them the severest penalty justified by the circumstances. Shooking Catastrophe. The Melbourne papers report a terrible and mysterious explosion which occurred on the 9th February, resulting in the death of one gentleman, and serious injuries to another. Mr Maxwell Reynolds, agent for Noble's giaut powder, in company with a friend, Mr Adam English, in his own office, proceeded to open a small box addressed to him, which had been left at the office. The lid was held only by one screw, and Mr Reynolds began turning it round on this screw to wrench it off. MiEnglish had just noticed a blue half-gill bottle in the 1 ox, when a fearful explosion took place, blowing him into the fire-place, and very seriously injuring him. Both gentlemen were conveyed to the hospital, suffering great agonies. Mr Reynolds did not long survive, but English is slowly recovering. The explosion is generally looked upon as the result of a diabolical scheme; for which no motive can be assigned.