H.—ll

XLVIII

The award states that any employer may employ workers at weekly wages to do any of the work he requires to be done. Weekly-wage workers are classified into three divisions, with the following minimum weekly rate of wage : First-class coat, vest, and trousers hands, £110s.; secondclass coat hands, £1 7s. 6d.; second-class vest and trousers hand, £1 ss. A third-class coat apprentice is to receive 2s. 6d. for the first four months, and 2s. 6d. rise every four months until the end of the three years, when £1 2s. 6d. is peached. Then she will receive £1 ss. for the next six months, £1 6s. for the following six months, when £1 7s. 6d. brings her into the second class. A third-class vest and trousers hand on completing her apprenticship is to receive the minimum of £1 Is. Six months later she is to have a rise of Is. per week, another Is. after a further six months, and at the end of eighteen months, after completing her time, she is graded into the second class. First-class machinists are to be paid a minimum of £1 10s., and second-class £1 ss. The rates under the award show increases of from ss. to 2s. 6d. over the wages suggested by the master tailors. The number of apprentices is to be limited to one to every four or fraction of the first four operatives, the proportion to be gauged by the full employment of operatives for two-thirds of a year. The period of apprenticeship is to be three years for coat-making, and two years for vest and trousers hands and machinists. Considerable alteration is made in the payment of apprentices. For apprentices to coat-making the weekly rate is to be 2s. 6d. for first four months, and a rise of 2s. 6d. every four months until completion of three years ; the vest and trousers apprentice also starts at 2s. 6d., and gets a four-monthly increase of 2s. 6d., but during the second year the rise is only at the end of a half-yearly period. This is because the vest and trousers hand only serves two years. Employers are to employ members of the union in preference to non-members, under the usual conditions as to competence and willingness. When non-members are employed there shall be no distinction made between the two; both unionists and non-unionists shall work together in harmony and under similar conditions, and both shall receive equal pay for equal work. All work is to be done at the shop of the employer, and the award is to take effect on the 12th September, 1898, and to continue in force until the Ist September, 1900. Westport. During August the Denniston Coal-miners' Union sued the Westport Coal Company for breach of an agreement made under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. The company were fined £5 Is., without costs. Am appeal will be carried to the District Court. The union claimed that " all coal " worked should be "cavilled" for, whereas the section of the mine worked by machinery was excluded from cavil. The company's defence was that it was impossible to cavil machines, and that " all coal " applied only to coal worked by manual labour. Kaitangata. Goal-mining Dispute (before the Conciliation Board). —Dispute between the Otago Coal-miners' Union and the Kaitangata Coal Company. (For the reference filed see last month's list.) The case was withdrawn for the present, owing to the company having sold out, and the names of the new owners not being known. Dunedin. Furniture Trade Dispute. —Both sides accepted the Board's recommendation. (See last month's list.) Bootmakers' Dispute (before the Court of Arbitration, which had adjourned the case to Wellington). —The case came before the Conciliation Board in February last, but both parties decided beforehand to refuse to abide by any recommendation of the Board, and the case was sent on for the Court to deal with. The statements of the two sides are given on page xxxi. of last year's report. Uepresentatives of the two parties met and went through the log, in order to lay before the Court as briefly as possible the exact points in dispute. Evidence was taken, and, with the assistance of experts, the award was given as follows : — (•1.) Subject to Rule 2, it is hereby declared as follows: (a) It is the individual right of the employer to decide whom he shall employ or dismiss; (i>) it is the individual right of the workmen to accept or refuse work from any employer. (2.) Employers shall employ members of the Workmen's Association in preference to non-members, provided there are members of the association equally qualified with non-members to do the work required. When non-members are employed there shall be no distinction between the members and non-members. They shall work together in harmony, and both shall work under the same conditions and receive equal pay for equal work. Any dispute under this rule shall be decided by the Chairman of the Conciliation Board in the district in which such dispute shall arise ; or, i£ he shall be unable or unwilling to act, then by some person nominated by him, not being connected with the trade, and not being a manufacturer or employer in any trade. (3.) These rules and conditions shall apply to the clicking, benching, finishing, and machinery departments. (4.) It is the manufacturer's right to introduce whatever machinery he deems necessary, or his business may require. If a division or subdivision of labour is required for the purpose of working such machinery it shall be allowed, subject to the minimum wage. Weekly hands may be employed in connection with machinery, subject to payment of the minimum wage provided. No restriction shall be put upon the output of any machine, or the method of working such machine. (5.) (a.) Every employer is entitled to the fullest control over the management of his factory, and to make such regulations as he deems necessary for time-keeping and good order, (b.) Every manufacturer shall be at liberty to pay either the recognised piecework rates or weekly wages, not being less than the minimum fixed, provided that in the slack seasons weekly hands and pieceworkers employed in the same class of work shall start and cease working at the same hour; provided also that where pieceworkers and weekly hands are employed together the work shall be fairly distributed between the weekly hands and the pieceworkers, but this shall not apply to machinery or to work executed by means of or in connection with machinery, (c.) There shall be no restriction in the employment or wages of hands engaged by the week when the wages are satisfactory to the employer and employed, subject to the recognised minimum, and any person shall be at liberty to arrango with his employer to work on the weekly-wage system. (6.) For all purposes of this statement the classification of uppers shall be decided by the vamp or golosh, except for slippers and canvas work. (7.) Employers shall find all grindery, workshops, light, &c, and serve out all oolours and material used in connec-