THE FLAXMILLERS' AWARD

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1847, 31 July 1907, Page 49

THE FLAXMILLERS' AWARD

Dissatisfaction is expressed by Mr Westbrooke, secretary of the Trades and Labour Council, relative to the recent award of the Arbitration Court in the flaxmillers' dispute. During the course of a visit .of inspection through the district he found the conditions under which employees were living "most horrible" —to use his own words. In one shed, 12 by 14 feet, with a 7-foot stud, the floor simply the bare ground, with no attempt at ventilation, twelve men were sleeping. Quite one-third of them worked in water up to their waists there was no place where they could dry their clothes, and they had to go to work each morning with their apparel still wet. Another third of the employees were working in an atmosphere impregnated with fine particles of fibre, and subject to a form of asthma developed by their work. "If' one thing is necessary for these men," said Mr Westbrooke-, "it is an abundance of fresh air when sleeping.” He had urged upon the Conciliation Board the necessity for better accommodatkm, and it had made certain recommendations in this connection. It had also recommended certain provisions relative to mei smoking while working —all of which were in the interests of the employers. What he resented was this: The employers' representatives when before the Court had objected to the accommodation and sanitation clauses on the ground that they were not purely industrial matters —-while at the same time admitting that the accommodation was bad. The Court struck them out. When, however, he had objected to the conditions regarding "smoke-oh!" on the same ground ,his application had been declined. The question was: Which were the most valuable, the health, and probably the lives, of the men, or tue flax areas, which, if burnt down, would grow again in three or four years?"