The Daily News THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1904. THE ARBITRATION COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 192, 18 August 1904, Page 2

The Daily News THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1904. THE ARBITRATION COURT.

A circular has lieon is«:uetl by the New Zealand EmployM-s' Association, urging on employers the importance oi uniform action being taken iu all disputes which come Ikloic the Arbitration Court. The circular points out that owing to lack of unanimity many points conceded in tho early history 6f the court, innocent'in themselves so far as the particular trade before the court was concerned, have been made precedents, and eventually embodied in the awards of other trades 1 , particularly in those of the manufacturing trades, much to the detriment |of tho employers. An instance »f this was tho weekly wagie, from which, accoixling to tho best legal advice, 110 deduction could ho made for sickness, holidays, scarcity of Work, etc. In ail future cases employers should insist on wages on an hourly basis. As to holidays, ! there was a tendency to unduly increase the number of holidays under the awards, anil lit is suggested that anything in excess of the following six should be objected to Christmas fay, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Labbur Day, and Sovereign's llirthday. The circular proceeds "As it is the employers' undoubted right to obtain the very best labour o'btninalillc, whether that lailxiur be union or nonunion, the principle of preference to unionists cannot under any circumstances be admitted. The latest Government returns show that the total number of members' of industrial unions of workers is 27,(M0, while the number of m a le wage-earn-ers alone is 170,000. Anything less than all eight hours' day, or a 18 hours' week should be S'tivnuoiifcly opposod, as a shorter week woul I prevent manufacturers iioni compeling with other m a rket» where longer hours are worked. As the majority of employers are against the indenturing of apprcntieus, as shown by some of the largo centres refusing to do so, it is urgiod tihat for the soke •of unanimity the minority, who believe in indentures, should give way, and oppose the inclusion of any provision for such in any award. Any rate for overtime, whether for work done on holidays or 011 other occasions, should not exceed a sum equivalent to time and a half. The centre wlieiK) the lirst dispute in any trade is to come before t'i.e court ought to be recognised by that trade as the place and occasion for a unitad and supremo effort lo protect the interest of employers. To this end it is suggested that employers in the particular trade should combine t<> have their case properly put before the court in the lirst instance. As it is at present, if the lirst dispute is heard in ;l centre where the employers fail to fairly and fully place their \xews before the «j(»urt, the employers ill other centres suffer, the first invariably lieing taken as a precedent."