NEW ZEALAND NEWS

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 599, 30 August 1909, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND NEWS

( IBj Telegraph —Preas Aaioclatton.l 0 •• IMPORTANT TO BUILDERB. Dunodin, August 28 A special meeting of the High School Board of Governors was held to-day to coneider a protest received from tho DuneJin Builders' and Contractors' Association regarding alterations made bv Mr , Anscombe (architect for tho new Girls' High School building in the specifications for the work The alterations, as made by tho architect in tho arbitration clause m'the specifications, make him flic sole judge of the quality of the work-and of the material, but allow that all other matters in dispute shall bo settled by arbitration as beforo To this the builders object, and they require that the arbitration olanso bo inserted as 'drawn mp by the Timaru Conference of Architects end Builders 'A deputation from the Contrac- ' tors' and Master Builders' Association was hefad, after which tho matter was fully dsscus3»d by the board, m committee It was finally decided'that the board-adhere to tho specifications as altered by tho architect "railway appeal board. ' ' Nanior, August'2B A sitting of the Railway Appeal Board was held here to-day to hoar evidence, on appeal, of Henry Goldsnuth, carpenter, > against the decision of tho.- Department withholding an increase of pay. Evidence of the workshops' foreman and senior hands indicated that appellant's method was slow ' and leisurely, an 4 that he had failed to show that interest in his work wh'ch warranted an increase in wages .After consultation, the Chairman (Dr M'Arthur) announced that tho boaitl was unanimous in dismissing the appeal [ A .CLEAN SHEET. , I ' s ' inveroarglll, August 28. For the quarterly sitting of the Supreme Court, there is a clean sheet with regard to criminal and divorce cases. I ' ' , THE OTIRA DISPUTE. * ' v Chrlstcliuron, August 28. . The position a r Otira is unchanged, -To- „ day the men are receiving their first "strike" pay, which ia being paid as from the 16th j instant, the day on which work ceased.' The time of the conference with Mr. Murdoch M'Lean has not yet been • definitely fixed, but will prbbably be on Sunday, afternoon. The men are veiy hopeful that an offer to , return to work on the old conditions, pending r a settlement'of the dispute, will b° accepted The township is'quiet, and tho good conduct df tho men continues, Mr. P Hally,

considers the prospects of a settlement very favourable *> > - , " In connection with the dispute 1 that has * ' arisen at Otira, the matter having been placed in the hands _of the New Zealand ' Federation of Miners," that body has been advised by its solicitor, Mr -P J> O'Regaii, /that the action of the contractors is illegal, . being, firit, a breaoh, of the ' Wages Protection and Contractors' Liens Act, 1908, ' and, secondly (most probably, a lock-out within the meaning of the Arbitration Aot [ Amendment Act, 1908. ' n