SHEARER'S AND SHED HANDS FINED FOR WORKING ON SUNDAY

Wanganui Chronicle, 5 March 1947, Page 6

SHEARER'S AND SHED HANDS FINED FOR WORKING ON SUNDAY

CONTRAVENTION OF AWARD Commenting that the present Shearers’ Award for some reason had forbidden Sunday work on remote sheep farms, where it might be very desirable to have work completed because of wet weather, Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Wanganui, yesterday imposed a penalty of £1 on each of three shearers and two shed hands, and 12 on the contractor who employed them, for working on Sunday, December 8, in. contravention ot the Shearers' Award. The Labour Department made for £5 as a penalty against the shearers and shed hands and 110 against the contractor. The men concerned were: William Doble, of Bell Street, Wanganui, •shearer; Victor Phillips, Puliki. shed hand; Thoma s Rockel, Bell Street, shearer; Alfred Frampton, Hunterville, shed hand; James Travers, Castleclifi, shearer; and William George Tasker, Tay Street, Wanganui, contractor. INSPECTOR’S STATEMENT. As Inspector of Awards. Wanganui, Mr. W. J. Roydhousc outlined to the Court that on Sunday, December 8, he made an inspection in the Mangamahu district and found that on Mr. H. Collins' property shearing was proceeding at 3 p.m. There had been a considerable amount of wet weather and the gang was overdue at another shed, shearing on the Sunday to make up time. The award covered the position as to Sunday work very clearly. During the inspection it was disclosed that there were four gangs in the district. Two were working, two were not. The 'members of the other gang found working would be the subject of proceedings at another centre.

For all the defendants, Mr. R. E. Tack said he fully appreciated that the Court was not asked to question the wisdom or the economic effect of the terms of the award regarding Sunday work. There was, however, the question of gravity of the offence. In November, according to records kept at Cook's Gardens, in Wanganui, there were 16 day s on which rain fell, as against six in the corresponding month of the previous year. At Okehu, at an altitude of about 1000 ft., more like the altitude of tile Mangamahu district, there were 22 days on which rain was recorded, as against 11 in the previous November, and a fouryear average of 1.93 in. for that month. The workers had had a considerable number of wet days, the sheep had to dry out for two days and, further, grease became more evident in the wool when the sheep were not shorn, while bidi-bidi also became thicker in the wool. The shed where the men were working was about a mile from the road. If health considerations were the reason for the enforcement of the award, the men had already had a good deal of enforced rest that month. “PUNISHED FOR VIRTUES.” "If the law-making authority intended to punish men in such circumstances as these, it mieht he said that they were punishing men for their virtues instead of their sins," said Mr. Jack. "These men were doing a thing that was of benefit to New Zealand, and they were doing a thing that is all too rare in these times." “It is interesting to note that section of the Police Offences Act v;.. forbids Sunday trading, was originally passed in the reign of King Charles 11, just after the Puritan days, and the whole point ot that section Is that it forbids Sunday wqrk, or a man working at his trade, within view of a public place. It was the shock to public fee Hags that was objected to, said the magistrate. The present award, for some reason, has forbidden Sunday work on remote sheep farms where it might be very desirable to have work finished because of wet weather. However, it is not for this Court to question the award, but only to enforce its terms."