AWARD OR NO AWARD.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1910, Page 5

AWARD OR NO AWARD.

♦ INTERCOLONIAL STEAMSHIPS. The conditions under which intercolonial steamship companies and also the P. and O. line are competing in New Zealand waters were discussed in a subeditorial in Wednesday's Post. The following letter has been sent by the secretary of the Seamen's Union :—: — TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — Your editorial of last night, under the heading, "A Difficult Question," re the matter of the entry of the P. and O. Steamship Company into the intercolonial trade in competition with the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, and Huddart Parker Company, creates a wrong impression, in that it reads — "The Union Steam Ship Company and the Huddart Parker Company have hitherto enjoyed a monopoly of that trade, but they have had to work in conformity with the conditions prescribed frpm time to time by the Arbitration Court of New Zealand." It is the latter part of the paragraph quoted that is misleading, as only the Union Steam Ship Company have so far been bound by the Arbitration Award. It is true that the court whilst Mr. Justice Chapman was president, ordered the Cooks and Stewards' Union of New Zealand to attach Messrs. Huddart Parker at the time the current Award of the Cooks and Stewards' Union was made, and that company was attached, but when the company was cited for a breach, or a series of breaches of the award, the company challenged the jurisdiction of the court to enforce the award against them, with the result that the president of the court asked the Government to amend the I.C. and A. Act, so as to allow him to consult tho Supreme Court on questions where the jurisdiction of the court was challenged. An appeal on the question was made by his Honour Mr. Justice Chapman, and the finding of the Appeal Court was to the effect that Huddart Parker could not be bound. In this connection, the Wellington manager made a statement in the Arbitration Court that his company did not desire to pay their stewards less wages than the Union Company paid to their stewards, but notwithstanding the desire, they have never paid the award rates since they have been running on this coast. If the competition has come to stay, then the Legislature will have to meet the situation by compelling owners of all vessels trading on this coast to register their vessels in New Zealand, so that they can then be brought under the provisions of any awards that might be made. — I am, etc., W. JONES, Secretary. Mr. C. W. Jones, local superintendent of the Huddart Parker Proprietary, corroborated the statements in the letter, adding that his company worked under aD Australian award, which in some cases provided for higher, and in others for lower, wages than are stipulated under the New Zealand award. The net average wage was about the same.