The Patea County Press. With which is incorporated The Patea Mail. FRIDAY, NOV. 29, 1907. ARBITRATION COURT FARCES.

Patea Mail, Volume XXIX, 29 November 1907, Page 2

The Patea County Press. With which is incorporated The Patea Mail.

FRIDAY, NOV. 29, 1907. ARBITRATION COURT FARCES.

“Be Just ana Fear Not.”

The public must often wonder when perusing some of the cases brought before the Arbitration Court for the enforcement of awards whether a little leas law and a great deal more common sense would not be of benefit to the country. At the last sitting of the Court at Palmerston there were some splendid specimens of farcical absurdities, The Feilding Star reports that in one case, a baker was summoned for allowing one of his drivers to feed two horses—instead of one; the inference being that if two horses were to be fed two men should perform the arduous task ! It transpired, however, that the horses were only fed on alternate days, so the spectators in Court breathed again as the Judge ordered the case to be withdrawn. Another case, even probably a still greater farce, was when a tailor and two of his employees were charged with allowing weekly wages to bo paid when piece-hands should have been employed. It was no defence that tho men received more money than if they had worked on piece ; it was no palliation that none of the parties were aware that they were committing a, breach of the award ; and they were not allowed to plead that it was a first offence. So for this heinous crime the employer was fined £2—exactly the amount a drunken seaman was fined in Wellington for picking up a child and dashing it down on tho wharf—while the daring men who ventured to take more wages than they could have earned on piece were let off with 10s fine. This last case would appear to carry off first prize for the heighth of absurdity.