FIRE WATCHERS

Grey River Argus, 5 June 1942, Page 6

FIRE WATCHERS

NOT SUBJECT TO AWARDS. OAMARU, June 3. Any worker exclusively employed as a fire-watcher does not come within the scope of any industrial award, according to a decision of Mr. R. C. Abernethy, S.M., in a recent test case. This information was contained in a letter from the Associated Chambers of Commerce tabled at the monthly meeting of the Oamaru Chamber. The letter stated that, in the absence of any satisfactory statement from the Government, the Auckland Employers’ Association had recently been advising its members that any worker exclusively employed as a fire-watcher was not affected by industrial laws or awards. That opinion, stated the Associated Chambers of Commerce, had now been : confirmed by Mr. R. C. Abernethy. S. in the case, Inspector of Awards versus New Zealand Paper Mills, Ltd. The Magistrate, is was stated, held that the employee concerned was employed by the company under compulsion of the regulations, and was a quasi-policeman; therefore he was not an industrial worker. Default of Duty WELLINGTON FIRE-WATCHERS CHARGED. WELLINGTON, June 3. The first prosecution in Wellington for failing to carry out fire-watch-ing duties, resulted in Frederick George Seelen, Edward Thompson, and' Francis Walter Saunders being each fined £5, by the Magistrate (Mr Stout.) 4 Evidence' for the prosecution was that 'they were employees -of R. Han. nah and Co., and failed to attend for fire-watching on allotted duties for the Easter holidays Defendants pleaded not guilty. The effect of their explanations was that they considered an unfair allocation had been made in their roster, bringing them on in the holiday I period, before they would normally have been required. ' Mr. Stout pointed out that 'the I proper course would have been to I complain to the fire protection orI ganiser. The action they took amounted 'to shirking. Mr. Hampson-Tindale, Fire Protecticn Organiser said he had recommended these ;prc,seuetioil?, not so much because of the. enormity of the 'offence, as to warn others.