ARBITRATION COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 25 October 1907, Page 2

ARBITRATION COURT.

Per Press Association. Wellington, Thursday. There will be 1.02 claims for enforcemeat of awards, five compensation panes and live industrial disputes to be dealt with by the Arbitration Cou£t hew nsxt mouth.

Auckland; last-Night. The Arbitration Court waa -ioocupied all thiß afternoon with the claim of the Auckland Engineers' Union' for ed wageß, The men's demands included an advance in the minimum wage from is 3d to Is 4% per hour for first-class engineers, further limitation: of apprentices, and the ÜBual preference clause, In support of .the men's demands, evi' dence was given that the minimum' wage of Is 4y„d an hour was not"excessive, and was warranted by the tot creased cost of living and the J wages paid to other skilled labor. It wm a lso-Stated than one apprentice to three journeymen was a fair proportion, and that a greater number militated against a boy learning the trade. Mr Masefield, m putting the claim of the nuus* ter3 before the Court, considered 10s ft day ample for a minimum wage. They objected to the preference to unionists' clause, considering it unfair that nonunionists should be debarred from obtaining work. After much evidence on. both gideg, the court reserved its decisibn.