ARBITRATION DIFFICULTIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 199, 20 August 1904, Page 4

ARBITRATION DIFFICULTIES.

A somewhat curious complication is likely to arise as the result of a recent decision of our Arbitration Court. The question put to the Court was whether the Huddart-Parker Company is bound to accept the award granted by the Arbitration Court to the Wellington Cooks' and Stewards' Union. The Court held provisionally that the company was a party to the award, and after due consideration Mas now confirmed its decision. The company contended that as it is a Victorian corporation, and its steamers are registered at Melbourne, the New Zealand Court has no jurisdiction over it. But the Court considered that the local union was justified in claiming that as the Company's boats carry goods and passengers coastwise between seven New Zealand ports, they must abide by local conditions of employment. The Company is thus to be treated as a local trading concern; and the principle thus affirmed will very possibly lead to litigation later on. For it must be remembered that the Hud-dart-Parker Company, being for most purposes an Australian trading concern, may at any time become responsible to either a Victorian or a Federal Arbitration Court; and when the decisions of such a Court are in conflict with our own, it will be interesting to see how matters can be adjusted. Our own Union Company is, of course, in much the same position. It is incorporated in New Zealand, its boats are registered at Dunedin, and much of its trade is done with Australia. There seems no reason why the New South Wales Arbitration Court, for instance, should not claim to exercise over the Union Company the same authority that our own Court has assumed over Messrs. Huddart-Parker on such vexed questions as payment for holidays and overtime. Altogether there seems to be the makings of a very pretty quarrel between the two Courts- competing for jurisdiction, and it will certainly be necessary to come to some definite decision as to the respective territorial limits of these rival powers.