LAUNDRY ALLOWANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 134, 3 December 1926, Page 11

LAUNDRY ALLOWANCE

LABOUR DEPARTiMI.JNT I'JfOSECUTION.

The alleged failure of P. E. Low, proprietor of the Trocadcro Hotel, to pay .laundry allowance to four waitresses from 31st March to 28th July resulted jn the Labour Department proceeding against him in the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon to recover a penalty for a breach of the Wellington Private Hotel Employees' Award. J'or the Department Mr. W. Mount.joy, Inspector of Awards, quoted clause 10 (b) of the award, wbk-.:> set out, thai "where the employer docs not launder the aprons, caps, or facings worn by the employees, he or she shall provide laundry accommodation for ihc samn to be done on the premises, or in lv.-v thereof shall pay 3s per week in addition to the wages prescribed," and clause 16 (c), which said that '-laundry accommodation means the use of tubs, copper, laundry iron, and drying accommodation." The amoun', in arrears, said Mr. Mount joy, was £12 IS*. Lewis W. Metcalfe, an Inspector of Awards, said that he lin_ visited the hotol and found tho laundry accommodation insufficient. Subsequently arrangements wsre made for the work to bo laundered outside. To Mr. W. P. Shorland (for tho defendant): The defendant told him that the girls were paid Is Od per week more than wa_ required by the award. That did not, how.ever, make up the total required where there was no proper laundry accommodation. Evidence was given by a former head waitress that kerosene tins were provided at all times for washing the aprons and cuffs, and an iron for pressing them. There was drying room on tho i-oof, but no coppcn or tubs were provided. To Mr. Shorland: She was quite-satis-fied with the laundry arrangements, and she had never asked for her washing to be sent out. Mr. Shorland moved for a nonsuit at this stage, as the three, alternatives open to the employer under clause 10 had not been disposed of, but, the Magistrate (Mr. W. G, Riddell, S.M.) said that he was not prepared to nonsuit ! the Department, as thero was some evidence of a breach. After further legal argument the Magistrate said that he considered there had been a breach of the award, but not a very substantial breach, and a minimum penalty would meet the case. A penalty of 10s would bo imposed.

Cassowaries have a tremendous power in their legs. Those at the London Zoo, merely by kicking;, have bent and even broken the iron railings round their enclosures.