BOOT TRADE EMPLOYEES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2923, 23 March 1910, Page 4

BOOT TRADE EMPLOYEES.

PAYMENT FOR, HOLIDAYS.. WELLINGTON, March .18. The Arbitration Court to : day filed its decision in the case brought by';'Walter Newton, Inspector of Awards, against R. Hannah and Company (Ltd.). The,question to be determined was*as to the. interpretation of clause 14;.; of|l|he New- Zealand' Federated Boot-trade '"award rin connection with female operatives. The court held that there were three classes of apprentices : (1) Indentured apprentice, who is to be apprenticed for five years and paid wages fixed? by; sub-clause D; (2) an apprentice who is not indentured, but who is engaged til .servo as an apprentice for five years .(all the provisions of clause 14 apply to this clause save the incorporated provisions of clause 12); and (3) girls who are not indentured or engaged to serve as apprentices for any definite term, but are employed merely to work in the factory (the provisions ot clause 12 of the award apply to this class). All the girls in question in the case came within the last-mentioned class, and as due notice was given to them in terms of clause 12 of the award, their engagements were properly determined. There had therefore been no breach of the award, and judgment would be given for the defendant. No order was Tiade as to costs, the case being treated as one of interpretation. .- -