1.—9.

8

[W. T. YOUNG.

mentioned in connection with that. We think that altogether too much time is spent by the Court in travelling from one centre to another. We think that when the Court arrives at any particular district it should clear the sheet at that district. Then it should travel to another centre and clear Ihe sheet there. I believe that if that were done, instead of the Court wasting so much time in travelling from one centre to another, it would greatly tend towards overcoming these delays. We would also like to impress upon the Committee the necessity of altering the Act so as to provide that awards shall be given within thirty days of the termination of the hearing of a dispute. At the present time there is no provision in our law specifying when an award shall be delivered; in fact, we have cases on record where the hearing of a dispute has terminated and it has been Over two years before the award has been delivered. One instance that I can quote is, I believe, the case of the Wellington bookbinders. The bookbinders were over two years after the termination of (he hearing of their dispute before they got their award.' If the Committee does not see its way to lay it down that the time shall he a month, then I say it should lay down a specified lime of not longer than Iwo months. I do not know that there is anything more I desire to say, Mr. Chairman. J understand there are some other gentlemen present who wish to give evidence, and they will deal with any points that I have not dealt with. il ill in m 7. Young re-exUmined: There is one point I overlooked, Mr. Chairman—-dealing with section 21 of the present Act. This section provides, "Any council or other body, however designated, representing nol less than two industrial unions of the one industry of either employers or workers may be registered as an industrial association of employers or workers under this Act." We suggest that the Act be so amended as to provide that "Any council or other body, however designated, representing not less than two industrial unions of different industries or two industrial unions of one industry of either employers or workers may he registered as an industrial association of employers or workers." I may say that at the present time the trades and labour councils of the colony are prohibited under section 21 from registering under the Act. The Wellington Council was originally registered under the Act of 1894, but in 1900 it made application to alter its title, and in order to do this had to cancel its registration under the Act of 1894. Within the six weeks which are required to cancel the registration the new Act of 1900 cann into force. Consequently the application to register the council under the Act of 1900 was refused by the Registrar in terms of section 21. Not only that, but since the application was refused to register under the Act of 1900, the Trades and Labour Council made application to register .under the Trades-union Act. This also was refused, the Council being told that the Trades union Act was superseded by the Arbitration Act So you will see thai so far as the councils are concerned thej have practically no legal standing at all. The Act provides that an industrial association shall consist of unions of the one industry. That is the law at the present time, and we ask the Committee to take that matter into consideration and to make some recommendation as we suggest, so that an industrial association shall consist of industrial unions of different industries or of industrial unions of the same industry. If that is done there will be ample power given for the councils of the colony to be registered under this law. At the present lime there is no provision to register the councils of the colony. William Henry Hampton examined. (No. 6.) 13. The Chairman.] What are you I—A1 —A carpenter. 14. Are you a member of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council?- Yes, and a member of the Carpenters' Union. 15. Will you proceed, please? I must be brief. I cannot bring in much new mailer in connection with this subject. I can heartily indorse the evidence given by the previous witnesses: and in connection with the appointment of Assessors to sit with the Magistrate, I should like to lay before yon an additional reason why the request should be given effect to. At the presold time, when tiie Court has to hear and decide a case of breach of award, the Judge himself under the Act is not deemed competent to deal with it unless one or two representatives are sitting alongside of him, this notwithstanding the fact that the Judge of the Court is continually hearing evidence regarding the technicalities of the different trades affected. We consider that if the Judge is not fully qualified to adjudicate on breaches of award without Assessors sitting with him, it is a serious matter to place that power in the hands of a Magistrate, who knows absolutely nothing, you may say, of the technicalities of the award and the technicalities of any trade that may be before him. One other matter which I would like to lay before the Committee is the question of incompetents which was brought before you by Mr. Denew. Al the present time, when some employers find that the permit clause is being kept a firm hand on by the union or by the Chairman of the' Conciliation Board, they go outside that altogether by indenturing these incompetents as apprentices, notwithstanding the fact that the men may be twenty-seven, thirty, or forty years of age' he may be over eighty years of age, but the employer is still able to indenture him as an apprentice to the trade. The change we would like to set' effected by the Mill would be (he strikingout from the main Act the provision which restricts the Court from fixing an age-limit for the termination of the apprenticeship. We have it on, I suppose, the highest legal authority in Wellington that these permits can only be granted to men who have once been able to earn the minimum wage but who are now incapacitated through age, accident, or sickness. This, however has been over-ridden by Mr. James, at Masterton, in connection with the carpentering trade. He gave a decision in accordance with that interpretation of the award in the first case, but afterwards he had a rehearing ami decided differently. lint, apart from the question of permits, we find that employers are indenturing men as old as twenty-seven, and in one case in this city the man was over thirty. lfi. Mr. Dare;/.] To what trade?— Carpentering. We find that this sort of thing will have the effect of knocking the bottom out of every award in existence, providing the employers go on those