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Joseph Ayres applied for the job, and offered to take the improver's place at the same wages. I told him I did not require a journeyman, but he begged of me to employ him, telling me that he had been for ten months out of work, that his wife was almost starving, and he found it necessary to sell gome of his furniture to get money to buy food, and he was unable to get shoes for himself. (4.) I did not engage the said Joseph Ayres as a table hand, and his work is not that of a table hand, but of an improver or an apprentice who has had some experience, and during the greater part of his time he is employed at work that does not require the skill of a journeyman. His average working time does not exceed seven hours a day. The following affidavit by Joseph Ayres was also filed :— (1.) I am a journeyman baker, and am at present employed by Peter John Calder at a weekly wage of £1 15s. (2.) I entered the service of the said Peter John Calder about the 11th March last, and for about ten months prior to that date I had been unable to get employment. Knowing that an improver employed by the said Peter John Calder had left, I applied for the job. The said Peter John Calder said he had not sufficient work for a journeyman in addition to himeelf, and that an improver would serve his purpose. He did not wish to take me on, but I explained my necessitous circumstances, and informed him, as the fact was, that I had been out of work for about ten months, and my wife was almost starving, that I was in debt and without credit, and had been forced to sell some of my furniture in order to obtain food, and that I was without shoes for my feet. (3.) Yielding to my importunity, the said Peter John Calder engaged me in the place of the improver who had left, and I consider I am sufficiently paid for the work I have to do. I was not engaged as a table hand, and my work is not that of a table hand, but of an improver or an apprentice who has had some experience. During a large proportion of my time I am employed in work that does not require the skill of a journeyman, and the business is not sufficient to occupy the time of a journeyman in addition to the said Peter John Calder. My average working time does not exceed seven hours a day. (4.) During the time I have been employed by the said Peter John Calder I have been at liberty to leave at any time, but I have not seen an opportunity of getting better employment, and I claim the right to earn my living as best I can when I cannot get work as a journeyman baker. James Walker's Case: The affidavit of George Arming, in the case against James Walker, set out that by the award it was adjudged, inter alia, that if overtime was required time and a quarter should be paid up to 6 p.m. and time and a half up to 10 p.m., and that no work should be done after that hour, and that the said James Walker had been since the date of the said award, and still was, working the workmen employed by him in his bakery more than eight hours and a half per day, and was not paying them overtime. In an answering affidavit James Walker declared : — That on receiving the copy of the award I read the same over personally to all hands employed by me, and informed them that lon no account wished them to work overtime. That, in order to avoid overtime being worked, I rearranged the manner in which my baking business was to be conducted, and distributed the work out more equally throughout the week. That it is quite unnecessary for any of my hands to work overtime, and I was not aware until receiving this summons that they did so, my strict instructions to my second hand—who took charge of the bakehouse during my absence —being that no overtime should be worked. That until receiving the summons herein I was not requested by any of my hands to pay them overtime, nor did I know that they worked overtime, nor had I any complaints made to me on the subject. The work set out for my hands is quite capable of being finished in the prescribed time, and if any of the hands have to work overtime it has been their own carelessness or inattention to the work during working-hours. That the only overtime which my hands have worked since receipt of the award was on Good Friday, at which time the two hands worked till about 11 o'clock at night on the Thursday preceding, for which overtime they were duly paid. That I have had no request made to me for any other overtime since receipt of the said award. An affidavit was also filed by William John Eitchie, who has been employed by James Walker for several months past, and who says : — That the amount of work set by the said James Walker in the bakehouse for his hands is quite capable of being accomplished in the time prescribed—namely, eight hours and a half per day. That if any overtime had being worked by any of the hands of the said James Walker it was against his will and without his knowledge that such was done, and it was through the inattention of the hands so working that they required to work overtime. The Judge dismissed all three cases on technical grounds. Dealing with the first two cases, the Judge said that it was an application for a writ of attachment against two persons, which is of a highly penal nature. The first point to decide was whether the Masters' Association is an association under the Act. It was not registered, and therefore could not be an association under the Act; on this point alone the two cases were dismissed. The third case was then withdrawn.

October, 1898. The following are copies of the awards of the Court in the Bangiora building trade dispute, the Christchurch bakers' and pastrycooks' disputes, and the Wellington bakers' dispute. Eangioba Building Tbade. In the matter of an industrial dispute between the Rangiora Branch, No. 2, of the Canterbury Carpenters and Joiners' Industrial Association (hereinafter called " the said association") and Harry Cook, Boyd and Keir, William Wadey, George Thompson, James Withers, Thomas Burnett, Colin Shelton, and John Forbes (hereinafter called " the employers "), referred to the said Court under section 46 of " The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1894." The Court, after hearing the association by its representatives and the said employers, do hereby award as follows: — Wages. —The minimum rate of wages for a tradesman competent for the work for which he is employed shall be 9s. per day from date the 10th October, 1898, to the 31st December, 1898 ; and from the Ist January, 1899, to and including the sth July, 1899, the wage shall be 10s. per day. Men who are considered to be unable to earn the minimum wage shall be paid such lesser sum, if any, as the committee of employers and workmen, if such should be established, shall agree upon, or otherwise it shall be fixed by the Chairman of the Board of Conciliation. Hours. —Forty-four hours shall constitute a week's work. That all time-work beyond eight hours on the first five days of the week and four hours on Saturday, also holidays—viz., New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Queen's Birthday, Prince of Wales' Birthday, Arbour Day, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day—be paid for at the rate of time and a quarter for the first four hours, and time and a half afterwards. Rule 4. —That all men sent to a country job shall be conveyed or have their travelling-expenses and their time paid for going and returning, and an addition of 10 per cent, to their wages when the distance necessitates lodging; but where the board and lodging is provided by the employer the 10 per cent, not to apply. Rule s. —The suburban limit for men walking to their work shall be two miles from their employer's yard. The time-limit for men being driven to work shall be 7.30 a.m. at the shop ; beyond that distance Rule 4 to apply.