INTERESTING TO SHEEP FARMERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2720, 27 January 1910, Page 2

INTERESTING TO SHEEP FARMERS.

ALLEGED BREACH OF SHEARERS’ AWARD. rPun Unices Association.! DANNEVIIIKE, Jan. 26. A case of interest to sheopfarmers was called on at the Court to-deiy, when the Inspector cf Awards for Hawke’s Bay claimed from Mrs Franklin, a sheep farmer, of Titree Point, the sum of £SOO as penalty for an offence under section 5 of the Industrial Concililation and Arbitration Act, 190 S. The following are the particulars of the .alleged offence : The defendant being a person bound by the Wellington shearers’ award, dated April 4, 1908, did, on November 3rd, 1909, employ seven shearers and further, on November 4,. 1909, did lock-out the said shearers, and thus become a party to a lock-out in the sheep-shearing industry. in the County of Weber. For the prosecution it was alleged that the men refused on more than one occasion to shear sheep because they were wot, and that the defendant's son said to the men, “Either shear the sheep or take your cheques.” 'The men took their cheques. It was contended by the Inspector that the action of Franklin in giving an alternative to the men constituted a lock-out. The Magistrate declined to decide the point off-hand, and evidence for the defence is being heard to-night. The question is whether, under the award, the Hearers were justified in refusing to shear the sheep because they were wot.