KAITANGATA COAL MINE.

Evening Post, Volume LXVI, Issue 152, 24 December 1903, Page 5

KAITANGATA COAL MINE.

CHARGES OF BREACH OF AWARD. {DI TBUWBArH-r-rKX9S ASSOCIATION 1 ' DUNEDIN, This Day. Tho Arbitration Court gave its decision yesterday in the cases brought by the union against the New Zealand Coal and Oil Company for breaches of award in the •Kaitangata and Caetkhill Mines. In the first and second coses tho company was charged with not balloting for No. 11 dip, it having been let by contract to Stratham and party. In the tnird' case Stratham and party, as members of tlio union, were charged with entering into the contract. The Court imposed a fTivo of £60 and two guineas costs, with witnesses' expense*, in tho first case, and as the second case was only on alternative ono the Court did not impose * further penalty. A imo of £5 was inflicted upon each of tho men in Stratbwn's party, with exponself. In the fourth case, another charge of not balloting for & place, was dismissed, an were alto two other coses, costs being allowed to the company. In the seventh caso, a charge of refusing to allow tho names of certain men to oo put into the general ballot, a fino of £2, with two guineas coats, was imposed. Three charges of ordering miners to truck their own coal were dismissed, with costs in each case to the company. In the eleventh and twelfth coses —for not paying 'truckers over twenty years of age 8s per day—a Urto of £5 iv tho first, nnd £3 In the second instanco, was imposed. In tho thirteenth caso tho manager was charged with refusing to ballot for certain places, and filling thorn with miners of his own nomination. He was fined £20, with costs two guineas. In the fourteenth and fifteenth cascA, for employing miners in a deficient place without paying shift wages, a penalty of £2 was imposed in each case, with two guineas costs. In finally disposing of the cases tho Court said it had found it moro conducive to harmony to inflict moderate penalties than severe ones, and this consideration had not been overlooked in tho present cases. The result of th©-proceed-ings had been \o bring many of tho clauses of the agreement under discussion. That being so, the company had necessarily been brought into communication with its legal adviser, and the Court hoped to hear no more of breaches in the future. (BY TELKQBAPn—OWN COIIBXSFONDBKT.) DUNEDIN, This Day. In finally disposing of the cases brought by the Inspector of Factories against tho New Zealand Oil and Coal Company (formerly the Kaitongata Coal Company), the President of the Court said that the Court was satisfied that there was no ground for the allegation by counsel that tho company was guilty of forming and pursuing a settled plan to favour certain men or groups of men, to create jealousy and ill-feoling among members of the union. The President also stated that the Court was pleased to be able to say that though in the result they had found the company guilty of certain breaches of a more or less serious character, they wero satisfied that Mr. Jordon, the manager, had cleared himself of the grave charges made against him. WRECKAGE ON TEE WEST COAST. .. 9 " " [BT TBUCQBAPH—MMS ABBOOIATIOH.] WESTPORT, Thl» Day. A resident of Ngakawau reports that »hll« travelling from Karamea he noticed i lot of wreckage strewn along the beach over a distance of twenty miles, In his opinion the lost vessel must have been a small schooner. The wreckage con«ist«d chiefly of .pieces of cabin fittings, doors, hatches, one small bucket and • tub painted green, and a dog'a head carved from Baltic or American pine— probably a figure-head. Two weeks ago the Poherua saw A three-masted achooncr off the land at Rocks Point. It waa blowing hard at tho time. _