LAND AND INCOME TAX. BALLAST MEN STOP WORK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20057, 21 September 1920, Page 7

LAND AND INCOME TAX.

BALLAST MEN STOP WORK.

OBJECTIONS TD BILL. POSTPONEMENT URGED [Per Press Association] WELLINGTON, September 21. m ! e 1 , T ;? 1111 income Tax Assessmeut BiU now. before Parliament, was considered at a conference of represenahres °t the Chambers of Commerce throughout ISeiv Zealand to-day. ‘. r "J Pi'ostick, Christchurch, moved that the interests involved by the Land and Income Tax Amendment Bill are so vital to the prosperity of the commercial and trading community of this Dcnmion, that Government be asked to postpone consideration of this Bil m larlmment until next session and, in tbo • meantime, to appoint a i 'I Commission with full and unrestricted powers to make inquiries r 4•. P- Pcherts seconded th’o motion, which was carried. It was agreed that tho various sections of the community involved should bo represented on the Commission.

NOT GETTING SQUARE DEAL On the ground that they ought to receive the usual hut allowance tor working affay from homo, nine men employed in the railway shingle pits at Burnham and Sochburtt have stopped Work. Although working eighteen miles away at Burnham the men .did not receive anything extra- They are casual men, but they maintain that this does not affect tho position ns casual relay gangs always receive the hut allowance of 2s a night. They hold, also, that they should bo paid wet or fine, so long ns they are on tho job. Tlio alleged under-payment of one of the gang was also a factor in the stopwork decision. This man will ho twentytwo in December, but the Department pays him only 12s a day, as against th§ other men’s 15s a day. Among labourers, twenty-one is regarded as the age at which a worker should receive men’s wages, and in the caso under notice the man does his full share of work. . ‘ The railway engineer is at present absent in Wellington, but inquiries show that a custom lias grown up, rightly or wrongly, of regarding a casual ballast worker as a local man, although ho may have to work away from his home, while the relay gangs arc regarded as a mobile force. /