FREEZING WORKERS.

Otago Witness, Volume 1851, Issue 3809, 15 March 1927, Page 31

FREEZING WORKERS.

THE RECENT AWARD. CRITICISM OF COURT. WANGANUI, March 7. Mr W. J. Polson, president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, interviewed in regard to the new freezing workers’ award, said that the worst feature was the pronouncement accompanying the award. Evidently the u.icontradicted evidence of the farmers had had no weight with the court, and the effect of the award upon the farming industry was a matter of indifference. No doubt lower prices were not merely temporary, as the court had suggested, but the figures this year would probably be worse than those of last year. “In spite of this,” he said, “the court has planted another £15,000 a year in costs on the backs of the producers. In a word, the court’s attitude lias been this: We are not concerned with what happens to the community as a whole. As an effect of the conditions these workers have got behind a bit in spite of our efforts to keep them well on rim of the ascending spiral, and we must again increase their wages to restore them to their place.” “In regard to the freezing workers, it must not be forgotten that they had their wages reviewed and increased by the-court in 1925. What justification there was for a further and retrospective increase the public could judge for itself. The immediate effect of it on the producer would probably be to reduce the price of fat sheep by 2d a head for the rest of the season. "Mr Justice Frazer,” he proceeded, “refers with some asperity to the demands of the farmers for the abolition of the Arbitration Court. His remarks cannot, of course, refer to the Farmers’ Union, the policy of which hitherto has been opposed to the abolition of the court, but such pronouncements as this last one will go far in forcing the organisation into line with those who seek a change.”