ARBITRATION COURT.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 36, 11 August 1905, Page 2

ARBITRATION COURT.

■THE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY. ITS LANGUISHING CONDITION. [bt teleoravb- -press association.} DUNEDIN, 10th August. The Arbitration Court has not yet concluded the hearing of the tailnresses' dispute. Mr. Scott, in opening the ca&e for the employers, referred to the languis.hing condition of the woollen industry. The output from mills was steadily decreasing. The importation of slops had now reached the unprecedented figure of £600,000. "If half the goods represented by these figures could be made here it would be a. substantial addition to the colony's manufactures. Another phase of the unsatisfactory condition of trade was the antiquated methods of control. To compete with the imported material the cost of production must be "lessened, and that could only be done upon a wage system, and with improved methods of manufacture and new machinery. The log under which the trade had been groaning was "an abomination of abominations." A statement was put in. concerning apprentices. This provides there shall bo no,, limitation, as to the number, apprentices to serve four years, and be taught either machinery or finishing in the several branches. It shall be obligatory on an employer to pay tho wages in the award and teach' an apprentice the trade. An employer ehall not dismiss an apprentice to/-, want of work, but must in such case find her another employer witlnh a '^reasonable distance. When four ygars have been served the employer is to give a certificate Should an employer dismiss an apprentice for a good cause .a. certificate shall be given for the time served. Ifc shall be obligatory on an apprentice to remain till the full term is served, unless dismissed foi^ misconduct; three months' probation to be allowed to determine the apprentice's fitness, and, such time to be included in the apprenticeship. Apprentice's w^iges for the fovsfc year to be 6s per week, for the second' year 9s, for .ihe third year 13s,' and' for tho fourth yeai, 17s. The hearing; of evidence was not concluded., CiiRISTCHURCH, 10th August. The award of the Arbitration Cpurt in the moulders' dispute hns reached the Registrai of Awards. The principal provisions aje that forty-seven hours shall constitute a- week's work, all time worked in .excess to be paid afc the rate of time and a quarter for the first two hotus, time and a half till midnight, and double time thereafter ; wages, of all firet-class iron and brass moulders, including plate moulders, to be not less than Is ljd per hour; apprentices' wages range from- 5s per week for the first six months, to 30s during the sixth year ; preference is given to unionists, but not to interfere with engagements subsisting at the date when the award comes into force (14th. mst.); the award to remain in force till the same , date in 1907. Attached to the award is a statement that the Court did not find reasons for altering the wages under the present award, the evidence satisfying them that the conditions of trade did not warrant any alteration.