ARBITRATION COURT
BREACH OF AWARD.
The Bakers and Pastrycooks' Union claimed that Ambrose Phillips, one of the parties to the agreement, had committed a breach of clause 8, which was to the effect that no bread carter should be employed in the bakehouse, but that a baker might deliver bread so long as he only worked fiftyone hours per week. The union were represented by Mr Emslie, and Mr Phillips by Mr A. S. Adams. Mr Adams said the facts would be admitted, but it was not admitted that they constituted a breach of the agreement.
Mr Emslie said Mr Phillips had a son employed with him as a baker, who had also been engaged in doing carting.
His Honor t-hought it would be better if they got down what was admitted by the other side, and Mr Adams then said that, it was admittted that young Phillips had driven out the cart during the two particular weeks referred to.
Mr Emslie said the defence might be that as young Phillips was the son of an employer the agreement was not binding, but this point had already been settled by the Court. He understood that it was to be submitted that young Phillips was not going round with the bread, as he was only employed in driving, and had a young fellow with him who was doing the delivering; but it must be admitted that if he was driving he was engaged in delivering. Mr Adams said the agreement provided for overtime, and they were brought there to answer a charge of employing a man more than the fifty-one hours in each of the two weeks.
His Honor said that if Mr Adams showed that the man had been paid overtime that would be an answer to the charge. Mr Adams was under the impression that they were brought there for employing a man over the fifty-one hours.
His Honor: But if you prove that he was paid overtime that is a complete answer to the charge. Mr Adams said that Mr Phillips did not know that the agreement included his son when he signed it. Mr Phillips himself was in weak health, and on several occasions his son had consequently taken the cart out for him, but had been paid for overtime.
His Honor (to Mr Emslie): Supposing Mr Adams proves that the young man was paid overtime, do you still say there was a breach of the agreement. Mr Emslie: Yes; there is a breach on the ground that he was acting in a dual capicity.
Mr Adams: He was paid overtime as a baker. I understand the question was the fifty-one hours.
Mr Emslie: The question we want settled is whether an employer can keep his men working eight and a-half hours at baking, and then send them out with the cart for eight and a-half hours by paying them overtime wages?
His Honor: If the man works eight and a-half hours a day baking his employer has no right to say now go out with the cart for another eight and a-half hours, but there is nothing to prevent the employer paying him for two or three hours' overtime for delivering bread. Mr Adams said the young man went out with the cart in the afternoon.
After a short consultation with Mr Emslie, Mr Adams intimated to the Court that he thought he had arranged matters with his learned friend.
Mr Emslie said if his learned friend said that the young man would not go out with the cart more than two or three times a month the union would withdraw the charge. Mr Adams assenting to this, His Honor entered upon his notes that the charge was withdrawn, Mr Phillips undertaking that his son would not go out more than once a week with the cart. -Otago Daily Times, 8/6/1901.
THE WEIGHT OF BREAD.
(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) DUNEDIN, July 5. After a prolonged hearing, Ambrose Phillips, baker, was to-day fined for selling bread under weight. It was sought to prove that a barracouta loaf had always been sold as fancy bread, and that full weight was not looked for. The magistrate said he believed there was no intention to defraud, but the Act had been passed to prevent bread being sold under weight as fancy bread. It was suggested that the case should be slated for the Supreme Court, and informations against other bakers were deferred. A charge of selling unstamped bread was dismissed, as it was shown that the stamp had been obliterated in baking. -Press, 6/7/1904.
Man Cut in Two
BEFORE HIS WIFE.
EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.
Per United Press Association. DUNEDIN, Aug. 2. Ambrose Phillips, till quite recently a baker at Caversham, threw himself beneath the wheels of the train at Caversham to-night. He was cut in two and disembowelled before the eyes of his wife, who was with him on the platform.
Mr and Mrs Phillips had returned by the train from Mosgiel.
The act, which was as sudden as it was unexpected, was witnessed by two railway officials who were unable to prevent the tragedy.
Deceased had been a baker for 30 years in Caversham, where he was much respected. He had possessed a particularly sanguine temperament till quite lately, when he sold his business, after which he became melancholy and complained of haying sold it at a loss.
The act was apparently unpremeditated, and it is thought that deceased was suddenly seized with a fit of madness. His wife is in a state of collapse.
Deceased was 61 years old, and had a grown-up family of sons and daughters. -Southland Times, 3/8/1907.
RAILWAY TRAGEDY.
A WELL-KNOWN RESIDENT KILLED AT CAVERSHAM.
BODY TERRIBLY MANGLED.
A terrible tragedy nntfnr tho most appalling and distressing circumstances took place at the Caversham Railway Station about 8 o'clock last evening, when Mr Ambrose Phillips, aged 61, who recently carried on business as a baker in Main South road, Caversham, was seen to throw himself from the platform beneath the wheels of a moving train, and was out to pieces before tho eyes of his wife.
Mr and Mrs Phillips went on a visit to Mosgiel yesterday morning by the 11 o'clock train to see Mr Heward, a local butcher, on business, and returned by the train from Balclutha, which arrived at Dunedin at 8.15 p.m. They were talking together quietly on the train and alighted at Caversham. They walked down the platform, still conversing together. The signal was given for the train to start, and it began to pull out from the station. Suddenly Mr Phillips broke away from beside his wife, and rushing acrom the platform, precipitated himself on to the rails between the rear car and the guard's van, the wheels of which passed over the body, fatal results following immediately.
THE GUARD INTERVIEWED
Isaac George Brookman, guard on the train, was interviewed immediately after the accident. He said:— "I saw Mr and Mrs Phillips get out at Caversham Station and walk away along the platform near the fence. I started the train and entered the van. Scarcely had I closed the door when heard the most piercing and agonised screams, apparently from a woman. Then the van bumped heavily twice. I knew what had happened and immediately put on the Westinghouse brake. The train was brought up in a car and a half's length, and getting out I saw the mangled remains on the permanent way. The unfortunate lady reeled screaming on the platform with her hands over her face, as if to shut out the terrible sight. Some men led her into the waiting room, while others rushed away to telephone for a doctor. The passengers, who were alarmed, alighted, and stood horrified at what had taken place. The attendance of a doctor would have been useless, and the remains were laid on a stretcher and brought on with me in the van to Dunedin."
As the guard finished his narrative the stretcher, with its terrible burden, was lifted from the train and borne through a knot of pale-faced people to the ambulance, which conveyed it to the Morgue.
EYE-WITNESSES.
The act itself was only witnessed by two men besides the unfortunate wife of the deceased. These were Andrew Sayers (acting stationmaster at Caversham) and George Lawson (goods office clerk). They both saw Mr Phillips and his wife leave the train, and noticed nothing unusual in the appearance or demeanour of the former. Mr and Mrs Phillips waited along by the fence, apparently chatting quietly, when the whistle blew and the train moved off. It had attained a fair speed when, without the slightest warning, Mr Phillips threw up his hands, darted across the platform, and dived headlong in front of the guard's van. It was all done in a twinkling; and there was no time to move, much less to interfere.
A WIFE'S DISTRESS.
Mrs Phillips's distress was heartbreaking to witness. She screamed with horror when she saw her husband disappear beneath the wheels, and afterwards her grief was most pitiable.
DEATH INSTANTANEOUS.
Mr Ernest Burgess and Mr J. Healey were the first to jamp down to where the body lay cut in twain and disembowelled. Life was, of course, extinct, and death must have been instantaneous. Both thigh bones were protruding, and the mutilations were too terrible for description. No less than four doctors were telephoned for, and an immediate reply was received from Dr Fulton, who, on hearing that life was extinct, advised them to inform the police. All tho passengers in the train heard the woman's heartrending screams, but did not see Mr Phillips throw himself from the platform.
THE DECEASED.
It was at first thought that the deceased had possibly left something in the train, and hurrying back to get in after it had missed his footing and fallen between the carriages, but such, it appears, was not the case.
Mr Phillips had been a baker in Caversham for about 30 years. He was very well known in the locality, and was known to be of a happy disposition until quite recently, when he sold his business. Since then he became worried and melancholy, and was frequently heard to remark that he had sold his business at a loss. He leaves a grown-up family of sons and daughters.
Up to a late hour last night Mrs Phillips was in a state of collapse and suffering from shock.
The matter has been reported to the coroner, and an inquest will be held at the Morgue at 2.30 to-day. -Otago Daily Times, 3/8/1907.
Special Telegraphic.
THIS DAY.
At the inquest on Ambrose Phillips, who threw himself under the wheels of a train at Caversham, a verdict was returned that deceased was suffering from temporary insanity. -Cromwell Argus, 5/8/1907.
DEATHS
PHILLIPS. — On July 26, 1921, at her residence, 86a Main South road, Caversham, Mary Phillips, wife of the late Ambrose Phillips, baker, aged 75 years. "At sweet rest.” Private interment. Hugh Gourley (Limited), undertakers. -Otago Daily Times, 27/7/1921.
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