ARBITRATION COURT.

Evening Star, Issue 11278, 27 June 1900, Page 5

ARBITRATION COURT.

THE TAILORESSES' DISPUTE. The Court resumed at 10 a.m. to-day, Mr Justice Martin presiding. The President intimated that, bavinlooked up the subject, he did not sec any way by which the Auckland manufacturers conJd be joined. Abraham Levy, a Wellington manufacturer, mid in the course of bis evidence that the hrst goods he saw at Auckland were not what they should be, but the things he syw afterward* were Al-an good a., he saw in the fcjouth. The reason why Auckland-made Roods were not brought to the South was that it suited the market here better to have A„ ?, od 3 ? la 'h 0 " the *V° L H» trade with Auckland had.fallen off during the past two year*. To the Court: His trade on the wuoje, from other sources, was as large as it was two years ago. <1 A s" ed l J - , [sa ? cs ; man ager at, Duiicdin of the New Zealand Clothing' Factory's factory examined by Mr Hercus, said that all the clothing for their branches throughout the coIon? was made in Diinediii. Their goods sold freely m the South. The Northern manatrers had made representations that they had a difficulty in competing with the Auckland-made clothing. I„ m anv lir)ea the profits had been sacriliced to meet that competition. The present make of the Auckland-made clothing, so far as he could see. was quite up to the Ihuicdin standard Ihe criticisms about the Auckland clothing probably applied six years ago. but not now" With the existing log the Clothing Factory could not compelo with Auckland and leave a reasonable prolit. The Auckland houses could sell cheaper. 'l.Tiere wa ,s not much difference on a single garment—perhaps a shUling or fifteenpence—but it. told with manufacturers who were dealing in larca parcels. b

Mr Slator said that he could not see much diflerence in retailers' prices at Ihe different towns.

Witness replied that retailers' values were one thing and manufacturers' rallies another. A retailer would sometimes secure, a job line, that tho manufacturers were glad to gel rid of at any price. To Mr Dally : He would not sav from memory that, the New Zealand Clothing Factory's output to their Auckland branches was decreasing. What ho said was that in many lines they had to sell in Auckland at a lower figure than elsewhere, in order to compete with the Auckland-made articles. Tho President remarked, apropos of other questions and answer*, that the I bin end of the wedge seemed to he threatening a.considerable upheaval in the trade. One tirm in Wellington had opened a branch in A.ttokland to work to the Auckland log, and the goods were being brought back to Wellington and sold there. Thai, could have only our result. These Auckland-made goods would spread from Wellington to all parts of ih c South, and there would bo less work for the Southern factories. That was how it wo.iid re-act upon the workers. Then, when-the. trade was settled in Auckland, up would, go the Auckland log, and that would upset the employers' arrangements.

Mb Isaacs remarked that these things i ad been pointed out by the employers f;;r ye,.u'< past in their endeavors to secure a iiiii-• •• ii log.

Thomas Glendining, representing Ross and Glendining, .said in tire course ;>f l,ievidence that tho difference in pay was the cause of unfair competition. To Mr Kerens : Ross and Glendining were able to sell their fingering wools, worsted hosiery, blankets, and so forth freely in the North. It wa« only«tin clothing that they felt the .handicap. To Mr Slater: Theirs and the Bruce mills were the only makers of worsted fingering in the colony. Tho Auckland mills did not make anything like the Southern quality < f rugs. To Mr Hercus : OtJi- 1 : 1 lingering*, apart from worsted, were made by r ,tiier mills. . Peter Hercus, general re.t ;.v.'cr o! the K\iapoi Company, examined by Mr Isaa.-s, said that with a uniform log* he thought his company would be able to increase their business in the North. Under existing conditions they had to cut the profits in or-in-it compete. The Auckland clothing was by no means rubbish. It the. tickets wore not attached, one would not know where their goods were made. To Mr Haily • He believed that five-eighths of the Kaiapoi Company's clothing trade wa:; dona in the North Island.

Mr Hercus said that he now proposed to pall expert evidence. The first witness in this line was 1 KH.c B rough ton, 110.7 employed with the Kuhipoi Company, formerly in Clark's factor.- at Auckland. He said in the coursa of his evidence that the statement made by Miss jsfreden about soaping the cheaper garments to save tacking was not correct. Roup was Dot used until the garments had been through the machines. He was iibfc 1,0 state the wages earned in Clark'.-; faclovv ■nnder the present log. Coat hands earned anything from 15s to 26s per we.-l;. There were four vest hands. One, practically an apprentice, averaged 12s 6d ; another, taken off tronsers finishing six month.-; caiiier, averaged 17s 6-.1; another, a yuod hand' always earned from £1 to 22s'6d ; and the -fourth, generally employed on special work, always averaged over £1 when put on slop 12s 6d to 25s—the majority on the hHier scale, sav from 17s 6d to 255; the slop trousers finishers, 12s 6d to 17s 6d; and the

order finishers from £1 to 255. Witness struck an average ono week, and found that tho average for sixty or eighty tailomsns. including apprentices, was 16s" 4d per girl! He did not call theso sweating wages. Then was no sweating. To tho. Court: Ht thought that a single girl could get very fail hoard and lodgings for 12s a, week in Auckland. Tho. President: That, leaves her 4s for clothing herself, and putting something bj for old ago, and recreation, and so forth. * Witness remarked that in taking an average there would he included many young persous who lived with relatives and friends. T!m President, admitted that the calculation did not help very much. • vjUiess was then questioned as to the relative merits of Auckland and Southernmade garments, and as to the charges for making. Summed up, it came to this: that there'was no material difference in the system adopted at each place, but that the Auckland operatives turned out more work Hum the Southern workers. In Auckland, said the witness, a finisher earning 20s a week on coats at lOd would make 24 coats per week of 48 hours, averaging two hours ner coat. In Christchurch, a finisiiei earning 20s per week on coats at Is 3d would mako 16 coats per week of 45 hours, averaging 2hrs per coat. the President: liow do yon account foi the difference? Do you say the Auckland workers are better than the" Southern workers? . ' Witness replied that the facts puzzled him. Mr Hercus added that they puzzled everybody. Witness submitted further figures showimr that whereas twenty hands In Auckland, earning 20s per week! would make 400 coats, the same number of hands in Christchurch, at the same wage, would produce 320 coats, To Mr Hercus: It might be that the smaller wage in Auckland"makes the girls there work harder. He could not say that theie was any understanding amongst the Southern tailoresses to do so much work and 110 more. To Mr Slater: He could not say that the facilities for turning out the, v> J ork were greater at Auckland thau at the Kaiapoi factory. Mr Slater remarked that he had been through both Clark's factory in Auckland and the Kaiapoi factory, and would sav that of the. two the latter gave the better'facilities.

Witness, examined by Mr Hally, said that so far as he could see the Auckland system was the s;uue as the Southern system. Ho supposed the Auckland girls were faster. Wellington eiii]|joyers had advertised in the South for girls. They could not be got in Auckland. The wa'ges he referred to were paid bv A. Clark and Sons. He could not speak of"other Auckland factories prices. The girls were not rushed to make the average of 16s 4d. and there was no overtime that week. Twelve apprentices were included in the number of hands. To Miss Whitehom: In Clark's factory one machinist was kept going by two finishers.

Phillip Painter, manager of Ross and Gleudimnprs clothing factory, said that he employed his tailoresses on the weekly wage system. There were thirty-nine of them, and they were paid first-class wage*. He based tho wages on the piecework log. To Mr Hercus : He had known a case where ■a girl working beyond a certain output, had her zeal checked and did not afterwards do so much.

Mr Hercus produced a statement, by a worker (twenty-one years of agel in the Kaiapoi factory who for eleven weeks, with four hours’ overtime per week, had averaged £2 6s 4d per week. Albert Baker, the nest witness, was under examination at 4 p.m.