THE CASE OF MR DIXON.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9131, 28 April 1908, Page 7

THE CASE OF MR DIXON.

DR. FINDLAY INTERVIEWED. Per Pfesa Association. The ‘ Attorney-General intimated to a Herald reporter that, amongst other matters coming up before Cabinet, was amendment of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act in certain directions.

Asked; if he proposed to again" bring down the Judiciary Bill he introduced last session, Dr. Findlay said lTe'“did l but that it would probably be with modifications. There would be an alteration, at least as regarded the proposal to establish a new system of hearing appeals. The Bill involved a proposal to abolish District Courts and substitute sittings of the Supreme Court or extended jurisdiction to qualified Magistrates. This had found almost universal- approval from the legal profession. Referring to the case of Mr W. Dixon, of Drury, now undergoing imprisonment for failing to pay on an order of the Court an amount for back wages to an employee, Dr. Findlay said as far as he understood the matter it was a perfectly clear case. The Court of Appeal decided some time ago in a case involving much more hardship on the employer that a man could sue for back wages. In that case the employer bad to pay a very large sum extending over several years to a young man who had throughout been a party to the bargain under which be received less than the award rate. There had been several similar cases since, in each of which the employer had recognised that, as the law stood, he must pay, and had done so without making any fuss. The judgment against Mr Dixon was an ordinary judgment of the Court, and the proceedings on it were just the same as those when a man refused to pay his grocer’s hill.