FLAX TRADE AWARD.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 8

FLAX TRADE AWARD.

; - LITTLE'ICHANGE.,,. ; V . , .: The award in. the-flax traue. dispute leaves the-industry, very, much-where, it. : was.. The workers' union - sought: further' .improvements from their point of view'on ihe award- of. July, 1907, which expires at-the end of the'.mbnth.and the millers endeavoured- to convince the Court that the' industry was not one suitable for re.gulation, or, failing: that, that if a fresh award were made it should be more elastic ijn its provisions'. The upshot is the.accept; >nce of-tha old award, with a few minor alterations in "favour oi the 'employer's.' The paddocking rate has been reduced from 265. to :235.' 6d. per ton from April to September, and from 21s. to-20s. per ton from October to March. As the : bulk of the flax is milled between October and . March,', this means)a; reduction of; one. shilling a ton -oh''the,main' portion df the output.' .On ,ihe scutching,rate ithere; is .A'.rediiction ,of 2s. per ton,. from r2Bs." to £6s.'-.These ,two concessions equal three -shillings-a ton, a mere bagatelle "with a ..product' that fluctuates, in: value from ji*2o to .£3s;a ; : : ton. .The most'valuable »concession ; is in' connection ■ with the over-;' .-time rate. At present the. men have, to' ■'be paid, time and;a-' quarter, iof; tne first' ,ihiee. hours worked in excess of- is, hours -..'•jjer and thereafter at the fate, of, :time ond a half. '.Under the.new award the time and a.quarter period is extended to ten hours, instead or three. . Speaking .to a Dominion iyesterday, Mr. A. E. Mabin, of Messrs. Levin-and'Co., said the aesire , of , thu anillcrs was to obtain, sufficient elasticity lib. enable them to keep the mills going .during a period of lori- prices. It seemeu (to! him rather a pity that the' Court idid not make some provision. to suspend •the award when flax iell be10w..£22 a ton,' \or else declare straight out that the,industry was not one. to which an award ehonld apply. . The millers had aimed at abrogation as , they thought. that Parlia- .: neht gave , the. Court -. a lead ; in that ' direction last. year : when it-, specifically .stated.in the/Act that an award .need, idt"necessarily be made,in any dispute/ However, the Court' did not look ", at. it ..; ihatway. If they were to have an award • the •millers had desired to see a lower : minimum, scale fixed. This did , not; mean that-they would necessarily, have paid the lower scale, but they needed provision to eee them through, a period of stress. . They wanted to be able to meet the.men, ; and forthe men to be able to meet them. , iWith snch an unstable market, give-and- ; take, was necessary at both ends of the industry. The new overtime clause gave a little more latitude, and was a welcome provision. As far as the wages ■were concerned, the general rate for'mill-' ha'nds ran at about Is: and Is. 2d. per hour. These the Court had allowed to stand. As they were the standard rate of wages in the district, a lower minimum would not have'enabled-the flaxmillers -': to get their : labbnr cheaper in. the ordinary course. It would, however,■ pre- . vent a temnorary give-and-take- arrange- !-' ment for seeing things through' a tight

pinch. '.■■•. .■•■■■■■■ : The market; continued Mr. Mabin. was now in a very weak state, having fallen 10s.' a ton to .£2l for pood fair since last ■week. A fall of another pound or two pounds a ton would mean that a considerable number of men would inevitably 1)B thrown out of employment in the flaxinilling and allied industries.

That the.Waikato is able to produce fat stock equal to any other part of the Dominion has been proved on more than one occasion—first, some years ago, •when the pair of bullocks ■ exhibited by the late Messrs. J. M'Xicol and N. 1.. Hunt> swept the show rings m both islands: and last year, when Messrs. Goodwin Bros, and E. Allen had almost a tepetition of the successes. So writes Ihe "Waikato Argus" |in a paragraph announcing that a locally-bred Shorthorn heifer, two years old, had just been killed, and when dressed had turned the Bcale at 887lbs.