ARBITRATION COURT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 201, 15 July 1936, Page 11

ARBITRATION COURT.

GAS AVORKERS’ HOURS. Per Press Association. AVELLINGTON, July 14. The Arbitration Court to-day heard an application by coal gas manufacturers that the Hours ot employment be extended from 40 to 44 per week, and in addition that shift workers be employed for six shifts of eight hours each to bo worked each week with a break of 40 minutes in tlie middle of the shift. Of 47 companies covered by the application, 22 were manulacturers in a small way and consideration of their case was held over. ’the application referred only to the men employed in the yards receiving or handling coal, to the complaint men, and to the maintenance men. It was stated that in the production of gas it was essential that an uninterrupted service be given and also that the price of gas be kept at a minimum for the sake of both the domestic and industrial consumer. Any financial benefit for the few at the expense of the mass should not be countenanced by the Court and any reduction in the consumption of gas through an increased price would likewise affect the production of coal with a consequent loss ot employment. The case of the shift workers was argued at length, and tho Court reserved its decision.