A PECULIAR CASE.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12458, 6 February 1909, Page 4

A PECULIAR CASE.

OTAGO SHEARERS' AWARD. """""-*-* i\ [United Press Association.] 9( rjDunedin, Feb 5. b At the Arbitration Court to-day he Inspector of Awards proceeded * . igainst "John Cooper and Francis iVaddell (Timaru) on a charge of at- P ;empting to defeat the provisions of , ;he Otago Shearers' award ,and con- -j-J ;rary to section 110 of the Concilia- « ion aud Arbitration Act, 190S, by d nserting in the ' : Otago Daily Times" ° n November last a notification advsi- c ing shearers not to engage in shearing s for less than ISs per hundred, all c found. i For the defence it was contended / that no offence had been committed, a The Court had .fixed 16s 8d per 100 as the minimum rate, but there was t nothing to prevent a higher rate be- z ing paid. *-- The Court decided that as the re- j, spondents could not be regarded as v either workers or employers, the case , would be dismissed. The Court (, would not express an opinionon the question whether the advertisement ( was inimical to the provisions of the , award, but the President said if such an advertisement appeared in future " and was the means of bringing about a strike, tho gentlemen responsible for its insertion would be proceeded against. In the course of the proceedings' in the Arbitration Court the question of the dismissal of a man cropped up. Mr Justice Sim pointed out that no employer was bound to keep an employee, however competent that employee might be, any more than a workman was bound to stay with an employer. *