EARLY SUPPLY OF MILK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16561, 9 June 1917, Page 8

EARLY SUPPLY OF MILK.

QUESTION OF MEN'S HOURS.

VARIATION OF AWARD SOUGHT. The Court of Arbitration yesterday sat as a commission to hear evidence in an application made under the War Regulations for a variation in the Shops and Offices Act and the Milk Vendors Award in the direction of allowing employees to commence their rounds earlier than 4 a.m. Mr. S. K. Wright appeared for the Auckland Milk Vendors Association and Mr. A. Rosser for the union. Evidence was given by Thomas Henry Chapman, manager for Amburys, Limited, and representing the association, that several of the men had themselves broken the award by commencing wo:k earlier than 4 a.m., for the reason that consumers insisted on having milk delivered before breakfast, which meant usually before. 7 a.in. The men could not earn the wages they wanted between the hours of 4 a.m. and 7 a.m., and the Vendors Association and many of the men were desirous of making the hour of starting three. The employers were prepared to undertake that they would not insist that the men start before 4 a.m.; they wished it to be made optional for the men. Evidence for the union was given by Ernest J. B. Allan, employed by the Takapuna Dairy Company at Devonport. Members of the union generally were opposed to any alteration in the system. Mr. Rosser said the Arbitration Court had laid it down that no award should be npset or suspended on scanty grounds. The Act had been in operation for 12 years, and the agitation was from a few people in Auckland. Vendors in Wellington and Christchurch had made no complaint. At a secret ballot taken by the men 48 voted in favour of a continuance of the present hours and 29 in favour of a start being made earlier. The Court announced that it would make a recommendation to the Government respecting the matter.