THE CORN PRODUCTION ACT, I917 6q 



such rate is void. Payment of wages at less than such rate lenders the 

 employer liable to a fine of not more than £20 and also to a fine of not 

 more than £1 for each day on which the offence is continued after conviction 

 therefor, unless he prove that he did not know and could not with reason- 

 able diligence have ascertained that he was paying less than the fixed 

 minimum rate. 



When the Wages Board is satisfied that a worker on time-work is affec- 

 ted b}' a mental or other infirmity or a physical injury, rendering him in- 

 capable of earning the minimum time-rate normally applicable in his case, 

 it may grant him a permit of exemption. The employer is not liable to 

 penalty for paying a worker having such a permit wages at less than the 

 minimum rate, so long as he comply with any conditions prescribed by the 

 Wages Board when the permit is granted. 



Where legal proceedings are taken against an employer for paying 

 wages at less than the minimum rate the court ma\', whether or not it 

 convict him, require him to pay to the worker concerned any arrears of 

 wages which it may hold to be due. 



Any worker may complain, or may authorize another person to com- 

 plain to tJie Wages Board that he is being paid wages at less than the fixed 

 minimum rate, and the Wages Board ma}', if it think fit, take steps on his 

 behalf for the recovery of his due arrears of wages or the prosecution of his 

 employer. 



Moreover a worker may take proceedings on his own behalf for the 

 recovery as a ci\nl debt of an^^ arrears of wages which may be due to him 

 in respect of his payment at less than the minimum rate. 



When a worker is working b}' the piece on work for which a minimum 

 time-rate but not a minimum piece-rate has been fixed by the Wages Board, 

 he may complain to this board, or may authorize another to do so, that he 

 is receiving wages disproportionate!}^ low as compared with the wages 

 payable at the fixed minimum time-rate. The Wages Board may then di- 

 rect the employer to pay the difference between the effective amounts of 

 wages at the two rates, and the worker may recover from the employer, 

 summarily as "a civil debt, any sum which the Wages Board so direct to 

 be paid. 



Officers may be appointed b}' the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 

 to investigate complaints and otherwise secure the proper observance of 

 the provisions of the Act relating to minimum rates of wages. They will 

 have the power to require the production of wages sheets and other relevant 

 information. Persons refusing, at their demand, to produce such documents 

 and information, or knowingly producing false documents and information, 

 will be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding £20, or to im])risonment 

 for not more than three months with or without hard labour. The officers 

 have power to take legal proceedings in pursuance of directions of the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for the enforcement of the Act. 



e) District Wages Committee. — The Wages Board ma}^ establish Wages 

 Committees to jfct for such areas as the}' may determine. The Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries may require them to do so. 



