FREEZING WORKERS’ AWARD.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 December 1921, Page 5

FREEZING WORKERS’ AWARD.

THE REGISTRAR EXPLAINS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. Interviewed regarding Mr. F. J. Niall’s comments on the freezing workers’ award, the Registrar of the Arbitration Court stated there were only two points in Mr. Niall’s statement which called for a reply, and then only because the facts had not been correctly represented. Mr. Niall has said that the organisations concerned should have received copies of the award before they were handed to the newspapers. “To this.” said the Registrar, “I z can say that Mr. Ellis, secretary of the Canterbury Freezing Workers’ Union, was the first person to receive a copy of the award, and he did so before any copy reached the Press. Simultaneously to the award being available, I despatched an urgent telegram to Mr. Niall ad/ising' him that copies of the award would be available to him on the arrival of the ferry boat on Sunday morning. The Wellington newspapers' did not publish particulars of the award until the following day. It will thus be seen that the Court made every endeavor to let Mr. Niall have the particulars of the award before they appeared in the Wellington newspapers. ‘The other matter refers to Mr. Niall’s remark regarding the alleged amendment of the award. I can only say the award has not been amended since it was filed. The copies forwarded to the parties and to the Press were advance copies. The award was not signed until Tuesday morning, and before being signed the omission was noticed and certain words were added. These words had been inadvertently omitted from the advance copies, but the insertion of them did not in any way amount to an alteration of the provisions of the award.”