H.—ll

XL

breakfast, and one hour for dinner. He shall not board or sleep on the master's premises. (3.) No apprentice or improver shall be allowed unless two bond fide journeymen be. employed; if four, two ; but not more than two in any firm. No boy allowed under fourteen years of age or over seventeen, and after the trial of one month to be bound for four years. (4.) The rate of wages shall be no less than: Foremen, £3 ; second hands, £2 10s. ; other hands, £2 ss. (5.) Sunday sponging shall cover all holidays—viz., New Year's Day, Anniversary Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Queen's Birthday, Show Day, Labour Demonstration Day, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. If members are required to work on holidays, they shall be paid at the rate of time and a half. (6.) No carter shall work in bakehouse, but a baker may deliver bread so long as he does not work more than the stipulated hours. (7.) If a jobber be employed by the day, to be paid 10s. per day, or by the week, £2 10s. (8.) Members of the union to be employed in preference if equally competent with non-unionists. The following recommendations were made : — Eight hours and a half shall constitute a day's work, and half an hour shall be allowed for breakfast and an hour for dinner. The hour for starting work shall be 4 a.m., except upon Saturdays and days preceding holidays, when the time shall be 3 a.m. Lyttelton firms shall have the option of starting at any hour whioh may be mutually agreed upon between the employers and their employes, provided they do not work more than the hours specified per day. Overtime shall be paid for at the rate of time and a quarter for the first four hours, and at the rate of time and a half afterwards. It shall not be a condition of employment for men to board and sleep upon the premises of their employers, but the matter shall be one of mutual arrangement between the men and their employers. In cases where men board on the premises the oharge to them shall not exceed 15s. per week. One apprentioe shall be allowed to each two journeymen, the term of apprenticeship to be four years, and the ages at which apprenticeship shall commence to be between fourteen and seventeen. The wages paid shall not be loss than £2 15s. per week for foremen, £2 7s. 6d. for seoond hands, and £2 for third hands, for two months from the 13th June, 1898, and after that date £3 for foremen, £2 10s. for second hands, and £2 ss. for third hands. Jobbers shall be paid 10s. per day, or, when engaged for a week, £2 10s., and the same rate as permanent hands for overtime. Sunday sponging shall cover all statutory holidays, but any member working on holidays shall receive payment at the rate of time and a half in addition to the weekly wage. No oarter shall be employed in a bakehouse, but a baker may be employed to deliver bread, provided he does not work more than eight hours and a half per day. Employers shall employ members of the Canterbury Bakers and Pastrycooks' Union in preference to non-members. When non-members are employed there shall be no distinction between unionists and non-unionists, but both shall work together in harmony under'the same conditions, and shall also receive equal pay for equal work. Should any dispute arise it shall be settled by a committee composed of employers and employes, and should they fail to come to an agreement the question shall be decided by the Board of Conciliation. The award shall remain in force up to and inoluding the 13th June, 1899. Builders' Dispute (before the Arbitration Court). —The secretary of the Carpenters and Joiners' Union asked the Court to bring Mr. J. Goss and Messrs. Williams and Stephens, the only two builders in Christchurch who had not come in under the recommendations of the Conciliation Board, under an award of the Arbitration Court. The Court decided to make the award in terms of the recommendation of the Conciliation Board. Building Trade Dispute at Bangiora. —ln connection with the recent dispute in the building trade at Eangiora, Messrs. Boyd and Keir, of that town, advised the Board that they are unable to accept its recommendations; and that Messrs. Wadey, Thompson, and Withers agree with them.

July, 1898. Wellington. Plumbers' Dispute (before the Conciliation Board). —The proposals of the union were quoted in last month's list. A committee of masters and men was appointed to discuss and settle, as far as possible, a basis of agreement. Mr. T. Ballinger, who had acted as chairman of the committee, said that the new schedule drawn up by the committee was supposed to have been signed by both sides, but the journeymen had since refused to sign the document, as they thought it would be binding, and consequently his side also had not signed. The alterations made by the committee included the following:— The hours for a week's work were altered from forty-five to forty-six, with three hoars and three quarters' work on Saturday, the minimum rate of pay to be Is. 3d. (original claim.ls. 4d.) per hour; men now receiving 10s. per day to receive Is. 4d. per hour, and men at 9s. per day to receive Is. 3d. per hour ; in no case was a reduction of wages to be made. All work done after 12.45 p.m. on Saturday to count as overtime. (The original border-line was 12 o'clock.) That the proportion of assistants to journeymen receiving the rates of pay mentioned be not greater than one assistant (meaning thereby men or boys receiving less than lid. per hour) to one journeyman. That the proportion of improvers be at the rate of one to three journeymen. Improvers' rate of wages to be anything between lid. and Is. 3d. per hour. Mr. Barr (chairman of the Plumbers' Union) said that his union agreed to everything in the new schedule except one item—that of wages, as the union would not recognise 9s. men. The men felt that they had given way upon every point at issue, and considered that they should maintain their wages claim. The chairman said the committee had cleared away a lot of troublesome matters, and left practically only one point in dispute —clause 2. The Chairman of the Board gave the following recommendations, remarking that they had been almost solely guided by the suggestions of the committee : — (1.) That forty-six hours constitute a full week's work, made up by working eight hours and a quarter on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and four hours and three-quarters on Saturday. Employes who are working out at jobs to be at the shop at 12.45 p.m. on Saturday to be paid. (2.) That the rate of pay be Is. 4d. per hour for competent workmen. Men who are considered to be unable to earn that wage shall be paid such lesser sum (if any) as shall be fixed by a committee consisting of two persons nominated by the union, and, if they cannot agree, by the Chairman of the Board of Conciliation. (3.) That all overtime-work be paid for at the rate of time and a quarter for the first two hours, and time and a half afterwards. All work done before 8 o'clock in the morning, after 5 o'clock at night, and after 12.45. p.m. on Saturday to count as overtime-work. Work done on Christmas Day, Good Friday, Eight-hours Day, and Sundays to count as double time. On all other recognised general holidays work to be paid for at the rate of time and a half. This clause not to apply to men working on shifts, provided that the time worked be not exceeded, as before specified in clause 1. (4.) That an employer or firm be allowed one assistant for each employer or praotical working-partner, but another assistant must not be taken on until a journeyman is employed by such employer or firm. No firm to have more than two assistants for working-