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for day-wage men shall be £2 10s. (5.) The hours of labour shall be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with one hour for dinner, and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. The society also asked that where females are employed they make and press their own work. With respect to what appears to be the principal matter in dispute, the proportion of wagemen to journeymen, it was stated by the Court, — It has been recognised in the Old Country, and here in the colony in Wellington, that it is considered in the trade to be a reasonable thing that a proportion should be fixed. An agreement has been come to in Wellington between the masters and the union on the subject, and our award will be to place trade here in that respect on the same footing as the trade in Wellington—that is, one day-wage man in any shop, and a second day-wage man for the second four pieceworkers employed. As to the question of apprentices, and as to the question of hours, we do not think it is necessary to interfere with the recommendations of the Board of Conciliation. We do not think that it is shown that two apprentices to five to eight journeymen is excessive, and that is the maximum number of apprentices. We leave the number of hours as the Board of Conciliation recommended. I will read the minutes of the award in this, as in the last, case :— The recommendations of the Board of Conciliation as to apprentices to be adopted. The recommendations as to day-wage be struck out, and in lieu thereof the following be inserted : " That not more than one weekly-wage man to be employed in any shop unless pieceworkers are also employed ; and that the proportion of weekly-wage men be not more than one to every four pieceworkers or fraction of the first four : the proportion to be determined in the same manner as the proportion of apprentices to journeymen is determined." The recommendations of the Board contained in paragraphs 3to 7 inclusive to be adopted. The log produced to be binding, with the reduotion of one hour on trousers, as suggested at page 12. The award, to come into force on the 20th December, and to remain in force until the 31st December, 1898, is as follows :— Whereas a dispute arose between the Dunedin Operative Tailors' Society (hereinafter called " the union ") and the several persons and firms, being master tailors in Dunedin (hereinafter called " the employers"), whose names follow, that is to say —William Aitken and Sons, John and James Arthur, Bennett and Griffin, Brown, Ewing, and Co., Craig and Smith, James Crombie, Duthie Brothers and Co., Lewis Faigan, Thomas F. Feltham, Hallensteiu Brothers, Hendry and Son, Herbert, Haynes, and Co., Walter Isles, Thomas Jenkins, Joseph A. Kirby, John McDonald, Alexander Bobb, W. and B. Scott, Frederick Smith, Stokes and Sons, Todd and Brown, G. M. Wilkie, Andrew Walker : And whereas the said dispute was duly referred to this Court: Now this Court, having heard the parties and the evidence adduced on both sides, doth hereby award as follows: — (1.) The proportion of apprentices to journeymen to be as follows : For the first four men or any less number, one apprentice ; for more than four men and up to eight men, two apprentices; and so on in the same proportion. (2.) For the purpose of determining the number of apprentices to journeymen the calculation shall be based on a twothirds full-time employment for the six months previous for the average of the labour. (3.) The preceding rules are not to interfere with the engagements of present apprentices. (4.) That not more than one weekly-wage man be employed in any shop unless pieceworkers are also employed, and that the proportion of weekly-wage men be not more than one to every four pieceworkers or fraction of the first four: the proportion to be determined in the same manner as the proportion of apprentices to journeymen is determined. (5.) Members of the union shall be employed in preference to non-members, provided there are members of the union who are equally qualified with non-members to perform the particular work required to be done, and are ready and willing to undertake it. (6.) The last-preceding rule is not to interfere with the existing engagements of non-members, whose present employers may retain them in the same or other positions in their employment; nor is it to interfere in any way with the employment of females. (7.) When non-members are employed there shall be no distinction between members and non-members ; both shall work together in harmony, and both shall work under the same conditions, and receive equal pay for equal work. (8.) The minimum wage for wages-men shall be £2 10s. per week. The hours of labour shall be forty-eight hours per week. The work shall be done between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on the first five days of the week, and between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday. (9.) Overtime shall be paid as follows : Day-wage men, time and a quarter up to 10 p.m. ; from 10 to 12 p.m., time and a half; and double after 12 p.m. Pieceworkers, 3d. per hour extra up to 10 p.m. ; 6d. per hour after 10 p.m. to 12 p.m. ; and la. per hour after 12 p.m. (10.) The log attached hereto shall be binding upon all parties. And this Court doth further award and order that this award shall be binding upon the union and its members, and upon the employers and each and every of them, and shall remain in force, and its provisions shall be enforceable, for a period commencing on Monday, the 20th December instant, and ending on the 31st day of December, 1898. And this Court doth further order that a duplicate of this award be filed in the Supreme Court at Dunedin. Dunedin. Bakers' Dispute.— -The recommendations of the Board re this dispute in August were not agreed to by the employers, and the case came before the Arbitration Court. Messrs. John Peterson and J. L. Hewton (bakers) were included in the disputes ; pastrycooks had been withdrawn by the Board of Conciliation, and they therefore could not be included by the Court. The portions of the recommendations of the Board that were disagreed to were : The question of the hours of working, the number of apprentices to men, the scale of wages, and the wages in connection with jobbers—that is, casual labour. The following proposals were submitted in lieu of the rules as recommended : Eule 48 at present read, " No member of this association to work more than eight hours per day, starting at 4 a.m., half an hour for breakfast, and one hour for dinner." The Masters' Association submitted in place of that: "That no member of this association work more than nine hours per day, or fifty-four hours per week." The Bakers' Union wanted to fix the wages of foremen at £3, second hand at £2 10s., and table-hands at £2 ss. The master bakers said it was not a fair way to fix the wages for work that varied, and they submitted the following proposals : That no foreman receive less than Is. per hour; second hand, lid. per hour ; table-hands, lOd. per hour. With nine hours' labour that brought the wages up to what the union asked, with the exception of the wages of the foreman. In the case of the foreman the Masters' Association did not wish to bind any foreman to accept that wage; they left it open to the two parties to make an agreement with regard to the matter. If a man was worth more than £2 14s. he should claim what he was worth. Elevenpence an hour for fifty-four hours gave £2 9s. 6d. for second hands, as against £2 10s. asked for by the union ; and lOd. an hour for fiftyfour hours for table-hands gave a weekly wage of £2 55., which was the same as was asked for by the union for a week of forty-eight hours. Those wages were Id. an hour more in each instance than the Auckland bakers had agreed upon. In Wellington the rates were the same —£2 55., £2 9s. 6d., £2 10s., and £2 15s. His Honour said that £3 a week was recommended as the minimum for foremen in Wellington.

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