ALLEGED BREACH OF AWARD

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21582, 19 September 1935, Page 20

ALLEGED BREACH OF AWARD

HEARING BY COURT OF APPEAL { LABOURERS 9 PAY FOR COUNTRY WORK (MUSS ASSOCIATION MU9MM.) WELLINGTON, September 18. The Court of Appeal to-day considered a case stated for its opinion under the Arbitration Act by Mr Justice Page. The case arises from a claim in the Magistrate's Court at Wellington, brought by John Georgeson, Inspector of Awards, against Michael Gordon Templeton, contractor, for a penalty in respect of an alleged breach of the Wellington Industrial District (except Hawke's Bay) Builders', Contractors and General Labourers' Award. This award provides that general labourers shall be paid at the rate of Is 8d an hour and that in the case of country work they shall be paid an additional 4s 2d a day, but an employer may, instead of paying the extra 4s 2d a day provide them, at his own expense, with suitable board and lodging. Templeton contracted with the Wellington City Council to erect a sewer outfall at Makara for £19,188, undertaking to pay some 30 to 40 general labourers Is IOJd an hour and to provide them with lodging only. Mr Georgeson, the Inspector of Awards, alleged that there had been a breach of the award, maintaining that Is 101 d an hour plus lodging was less than the amount provided by the award. For Templeton, in the Magistrate's Court, it was contended that the award was applicable only to buildings and that the work was not country work, which was denned as being work at which a worker was required to sleep away from home. The magistrate held that the award did cover the case and that the work was country work. -The magistrate found that the total amount of cash each was entitled to receive, in addition to lodging, was wages at Is 8d an hour, plus board at 2s 8 4-7 d a day, and if the amount in fact paid was less than this, then the appellant should pay the difference before the award could be satisfied. Templeton then appealed from this judgment to the Court of Arbitration, from which a case has been stated for the Court of Appeal.

The court reserved its decision,