IMPORTANT TO GROCERS

Evening Star, Issue 22471, 16 October 1936, Page 1

IMPORTANT TO GROCERS

IS HAM AND BACON SALESMAN A BUTCHER ? DECISION RESERVED IN TEST CASE [Per United Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, October 15. Most grocery stores have counters at which are sold ham, bacon, dairy produce, and sometimes sausages. In the Magistrate’s Court to-day Mr F. F. Reid, S.M., was asked to decide whether the assistants at such counters were grocers or butchers, the Labour Department having prosecuted three city firms with grocery stores for alleged breaches of the butchers’ award by employing assistants after 5 p.m. without the payment of overtime. As grocers’ assistants they could work till 5.30. It was stated during the hearing that if the contention of the department were sustained then e - . cry grocer in the Dominion would be affected. Witnesses for the defendants said that it had been the custom for grocers’ shops to sell certain classes of preserved or cured meats, such as ham and bacon, but not fresh meat. The only moat sold by grocers which couldi be described as fresh was in the form of pork sausages. The assistants were not trained as butchers and knew nothing of the butchery trade. The Magistrate reserved his decision.