MR. SCOTT'S POSITION
Maoriland Worker, Rōrahi 7, Putanga 257, 26 Kohitātea 1916, Page 5
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MR. SCOTT'S POSITION
In the Dunedin "Star" of October 4 last year, a lengthy letter was printed, over tbe signature of Malcolm Steven.on, in which it was alleged that the Gtago Employers' Association had considered tho question of superseding .Mr. Duthie on the Arbitration Court Bench. It appeared the employers wore dissatisfied with the wages ii..r-i._e_ made by the Court, and . meeting of the Employers' Federation at Wellington had re_ulved that Two representatives from tho Dunedin Executive should wait on Mr. Duthie and atk him te apply for leavo of absence for two months, and that Mr. Pryor should take up his position on the Court, and at the end of two months, IF IT WAS FOUND THAT MR. PRYOR WAS"; NOT ABLE TO PUT THE BRAKE ' ON THE COURT, Mr. Duthie should j then go back to the Court. i It was alleged by Mr. Hiram Hunter in "Tho Worker" of October 18 that j ! what tho employers really proposed was i that Mr. Duthie should sham illness, ! draw tho .alary attaching to tho position while pretending to bo sick, and allow tho secretary of the Employers' | Association to take his position on tho j Court, and draw a second salary for so ( sitting and applying the brake, and 'j also his travelling alio wane© while . p- ! plying the sand to tho working parts, j However, Mr. Stevenson d...1. red that Mr. Duthie refused to fall in with ! th© proposal, and -sent in his resigna- i tion, and that the Otago Employere' j Association was then requested to al-
On the Arbitration Court
low Mi - . Scott to accept the position. Mr. Stevenson further stated:— ... It was decided to allow Mr. Soott to relinquish his position as secretary, and take up the portion as employers' representative on the -.titration Court, AND THAT THE SALARY PROVIDED BY THE l.o - ERNMENT OF £500 A YEAR FOR THE POSITION BE SUBSIDISED BY THE EMPLOYERS OF 'THE DOMINION TO THE EXTENT OF £SSO PER YEAR, To the £10' a week attaching te the position, tho employers proposed to I add £7 a week. Now, a representative lon tho Arbitration Court is in the poi sition of a judge. And this paper does i not think that the law of N.Z. will per-, I mil any Judge to rcceivo payment from I private sources for tho work he does as; ! a Judge. , | | The question is: Is Mr. Scott being ( I subsidised (we do not say that he is) j Ibv the employers in accordance with! tho terms of tho October decision And if ho is being subsidised by tho em-! plovers, is he not disqualified by that very fact from occupying a scat on tho Bench? Tlie workers, whoso case must b© decided by tho Court, are entitled to know. By th-.ir own decisions th© employers have raised tho suspicion. If tho Labour unions woro to announce that they proposed to subsidise Mr. McCullough's salary by. £7 a week, would not the employers make a.noise? Every Fusion paper in tho Dominion I would declare that we were attempt-1 ing to buy our decisions.
