TIMBER STACKERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 April 1938, Page 8

TIMBER STACKERS

APPEAL COURT’S DECISION [per press association.] - WELLINGTON, April 29. The question whether timber stackers can be classed as factory workers, was aswered by the Full Court,. when it delivered judgment, this morning, in the case of Charles Edward Otley of Christchurch v. Sydney William Armstrong of Christchurch, Inspector of Factories (heard March 23). The appellant, manager of C. E. Otley Ltd. of Christchurch, was convicted and fined £2 by Mr. E. C. Levvey S.M., of Christchurch, for breach of Section Fourteen, of the Factories Amendment Act 1936, in that being the owner of a factory, he failed to pay certain timber stackers for a certain statutory holiday. An appeal was then taken to the Supreme Court, and argued before the' Full' Court.*. The question for determination was whether certain timber stackers working in an open space in a timber yard were workers in a. factorv, within the meaning of that, term as defined by the Factories Act. By its judgment, the Full Court held that on the particular facts of- the case, the workers in question were not employed in a factory, with the result that the appeal was allowed, and the conviction of the appellant ■ was quashed.