BROKEN HILL AWARD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 461, 20 March 1909, Page 5

BROKEN HILL AWARD.

EMPLOYERS'WILL APPEAL TO HIGH . COURT. (by T.ELEQBAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION—COrTKIGHT.) (Roc.' March 19, 10.31 p.m.) \ Sydney, March 19. A, meeting'of directors of the Proprietary Company decided to test the validity of Mr. Justice -Higgins's Broken Hill . arbitration award before the High; Courtrat rthe earliest possible date. __. i v , , JUDGE HIGGINS'S SUMMING-UP. The award of tho Judgo of the Federal Arbitration Court in the celebrated Barrier dispute at Broken'Hill'has been made (writes out Sydiiey Correspondent), and the result is in favour of the men. Mr. Justice Higgins, in' a long judgment, which runs into five columns of the newspapers, has examined venr minutely the conditio is of living at Broken Hill. In the first place, water is dearer there than in any of the other cities; bread which costs 3d. in Adelaide costs. Id. in Broken Bill; rent is higher, meat is dearer, ~ and tho milk used by the working families is nearly always some tinned loiik sold by the grocers. .One witness had said that cows' milk was almost an impossibility at Broke-i Hill, and, tho result was an' abnormally great infant mortality. But the greatest difference in prices .between Broken-Hill and the seaboard was to be found in fruit. and vtpotables, 'so ! necessary for such a climate. Examining the lists of weekly expenditure which iad been handed in by some of the working witnesses and their wives, his Honour remarked that no one could say that these people were lazy, or unthrifty, or self-indubwit. Nearly all the men whose affairs had Lten examined were teetotallers, and did not gamble, and handed over their fortnightly earnings to their wives. At least half the men, he eitilnated, abstained from tobacco. ,

In-view. of_ the cost of living, lie was driven to'the conclusion that tho minimum wage proposed by the company was not a sufficient living wage at Broken Hill.' 'Then for a great part of the year the workers in their iron sheds had to face an unbroken desert on all sides, and dull, dreary, desolate, grassless plains,', with all-pervading dust and grime, -with water scarce and dear and impure, and amid unhealthy conditions. The work was Hid, rough and tumble, even dangerous work at the best, and the men were kept well up to tho collar. At the same time, the provision lwde for,the comfort of tho,men would bear comparison with provision made in any mine, and reflected credit on the management of this splendidly-equipped and organised enterprise. For all the reasons set out, the judge grants the men's claims as.representing the lowest 1 wago upon which a labourer can bo expected to live in decency and support a family. The company offered a minimum of 7s; Gd. at Broken Hill and 7s. 2d. at Port Pirie; the union, on the other hand, claimed Bs. 7id. at Broken Hill and; Bs. 3d. for Port Pirie,' and these rates have been fixed by his Honour. The othor side of the questiori is, Can the owners afford these increased wages? His Honour, has not allowed that issue to be overlooked in his judgment. It is, he agrees, a oatastropho that this mine should be closed down, but he points out that as the metals do not replace themselves on extraction, such a.catastrophe is bound to take place in every case at some time, and in this instance must occur after a short interval, as, in the opinion of the Proprietary Company's officers, tho days of the mine aro approaching an end, as the lodes are becoming narrower. "X face the possibility of its remaining closed, with all its grave consequences," said his Honour; "but the fate of Australia is not dependent on tho fate of any one mine, or of any one company, and if it is a calamity that this historical mine should close down, it will be a greater calamity that men should bo under-fei or degraded." There were scenss of enthusiasm at Broken Hill when news of tho award was received, and Mr. Justice Higgins was oheered by tho work' men and their sympathisers.