THE WATERSIDERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 5 August 1931, Page 4

THE WATERSIDERS

EXEMPTION FROM CUT GROUNDS RULED OUT * HEARING ENDS ABRUPTLY (By Telegfaph—Press Association) AUCKLAND, 4th August. In consequence of the Arbitration Court ruling cut three of the four grounds on which the Waterside Workers’ Unions of Auckland and the province applied for exemption from the 10 per cent, cut, the nearing of. the case ended abruptly this morning after two hours, whereas it had been expected to last two days. The Court ruled that three of the union’s grounds were grounds for use when applying for an ordinary award. Mr J. Roberts, secretary of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union, protested strongly, asserting that the Court had not kept its promise made at the hearing in Wellington of an application for a general order. “The Court has now placed me in the position that I must appeal to Caesar and Caesar means the men themselves. Our award has nearly run cut. My own hope is that we will not have to trouble the Court for another award. The employers are rushing to get another agreement. We are not rushing with them. If there are any difficulties, you gentlemen on both sides will have to take, the responsibil-. ity.” He said he would consult his .men throughout New Zealand, and then tell tlie Court at the Wellington sittingwhe-. ther or not he would ' withdraw the whole case. .. .

Mr Justice Fraser said , that .the Court must administer the law as it found , it. He regretted if there had been a misunderstanding. He did not think that Mr Roberts had been harshly treated.

In declining to admit evidence designed to show that there was increased casualness in the • work on tlie waterfront, Mr Justice Frazer said that if the Court did so the general order for wage reduction would be nullified, because every union in the country could bring evidence of it. In .making the order the Court had based its decision only on the Dominion’s reduced revenue. The wage cut might have been thirty or forty per cent, instead of ten.