INDUSTRIAL CASE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 799, 23 April 1910, Page 14

INDUSTRIAL CASE.

SLINGS 'AND TRUCKS. .(Before Mr. W. R. Haselden.) Judgment was delivered in the case relating to the dispute between the Wellington Harbour Board (Mr. Izard) and the Wharf Labourers' Union (Mr. Menteath), ■ over the interpretation of ..the phrase "as far as may. be practicable," in' 'article 15 of the Wharf Labourers' Union, in its relation to the 'question of one-man truck loade- and •two-men truck loads.

■ It had been, argued; for the plaintiffs (the Wharf Labourers' Union), that the phrase referred to had been interpreted'to the.extent that a man was asked to wheel . a truck load of cement weighing 7}cwt.,. whereas, the maximum load, "as far as practicable," should have been- sJcwt. or thereabouts; and (2) that slings :had been weighted with 14cwt. for handling in trucks'by two men, .the limit, "as far as practicable," being 12cwt. or thereabouts.:

■ For the defence it had been argued that the practice for years past had been to load single-man' trucks with two'casks of cement,'and this fact was well known when the award was made. iVs to' the two-men trucks, it was. not easy -to load slings of : iron, rails with sufficient exactitude to comply at all times with the maximum limit defined in the award. . ■ ■

His Worship found for the plaintiffs, stating in the course of his judgment on the question of single-man trucks, that he was bound to assume that 6| cwt. was a fair load for a man, and that if had-been fixed by the award at that weight because it. was a fair load. To.add 1921b5. to a fair load for one man and ask one man to push it, was in his opinion, unreasonable, and was a breach of the award. Judgment for plaintiffs for 10s. and costs. Referring to the second point, his Worship said that iron rails were being discharged, and the question referred to was whether, it would be a breach of clause 15 of the award to-bad 14cwt. of rails on a truck and require two men to wheel it. Two cwt. was such a substantial over-weight as to take the load out of the margin allowed by the clause under the words, "as near as practicable." To so load trucks was a breach of the award. Judgment for plaintiffs for 10s. and costs.