TRADES AND LABOUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2237, 14 January 1897, Page 16

TRADES AND LABOUR.

MINERS' FEDERATION. London, January 4. Mr John Burns advocate* the fusion of trades unions and the appointment of a Labour Bureau, consisting of Mr 6. Howell (formerly secretary to the Trades Union Congress and the author of various* pamphlets on labour movements), Mr H. Broadhurat, M.P., and Mr Tom Mann (the labour leader), who Bhonld also act as a Board of Arbitration for the settlement of labour disputes. Mr Ben Tillett, labour leader, who is suffering from illbealth, sailed by the Aotea for New Zealand. January 6. The Congress of the Miners' Federation have opened their sittings at Leicester, Mr BeDJamin Pickard, M.P. for Normanton Division of York, presiding. In the course of his speech, he declared that the statutory law lixiDg a living wage in Victoria wae among the big events of the year 1896. The congress are now privately discussing the question of the nationalisation of land, minerals, and railways. Notice of motion has been given " that the congress pledge themselves to adhere to trade union lines." The Congress of- the Miners' Federation now being held at Leicester has passed a j resolution approving of the proposal to ! nationalise land, minerals, and railways. A motion, of which notioe had previously been given, that the delegates to the Trades Congress should act on unionist as opposed to socialistic lines, was also adopted. January 8. The Miners' Congress, sitting at Leicester, fixed 13 as the minimum age at whioh boyß should be employed at mines. The congress also supported eight hours' work, and passed a resolrtion against contracting out and the Employe* V Liability Bill in its present form. THE TINPLATE WOKKERS. January 7. The Welsh tinplaters in January last, fearing that the depression then existing in

the iron tracts would result in a reduction ot their wages, notified the masters 6( their intention to strike in March following. The mattsr, however, was smoothed over, and work was continued. Ttas trouble has again cropped np, and 5000 platers haye Btruck fcr an increase of wag«*. QUEENSLAND UNEMPLOYED. BRISBANE, January 8. Owing to the BbuttiDg down of the Lakes Creek Meat Works, Rockhamptcn, 1500 men have been thrown out of work. The Government; are being asked to proceed with p.uthoriaecl local works to provide for the ; relief of tho distress.

! The December issue of tho " Journal of the Departineuh of Labour " icports on the labour market lor Dunediu : — Building trades : Very [ busy ; few handi out of work. Engineering, 1 iron, &o. : Good ; range making very busy. Bcot trade : Fair ; some factories busy, others again somewhat stack. Clothing trade : Very busy ; all hands fully employed, detail trade : (general) : Good trade being done. Unskilled labour : There have bean very few men applying for work. Duricg the month 22 entered ! their names on the b >oks, and out of this number 18 havo been sent to Government works, and two to private employment. M Paul de Roustt-rs to a sympathetic student of Anglo-Saxon life, who h&s published hi i I viewH or. the American branch of tho EDgliah- ! speaking family. In a new volume on "Tha '• Labour Que^iim in Great Britain " we have I (says a L >udon paper) a remarkable »ppreci&- • tion of the British working man, his physical 1 find moral condition, surrounding*, and ' prospects. It is alwaya salutary, if sometimes , painful. t« see ourselvea as otherflaea us. Weribo ' from the p»rußal of this volume with a nowj bom conviction that the average working j man is & typical representative of nil the fine ! qualities of tbe Ecglich r*co. M. de Rousiers finds the secret of our prosperity lies in the fact th»t "all the forces of the nation are at work to favonr tho ascent of ths capable." Our national virtue is self-control, to which must be aJdrd tho national s rion«ness. Utitoajciously I parodying, perhaps, tbe saring respecting Scotchmen, cur author etatcs that " Englishmen joke rarely, *nd with difficulty.'.' Comparing bis lot with that of his Continental brethren, he finds that the British workman occupies an enviable position. But M. de Rousiera in full of confidence as to the ability of the •workmen to ndapt themselves '•o new con- ' difcion3, and lays much stress on what ho oonj aiders the great aud commen'Jablo aim of the I Bugiish educational oyateia — namely, tho ' development of character and all-round capa- ■ city rather than the mere acquisition of knowledge. " Many a French mother itT inconsolable when her children grow up, and the loses them. Iv England ... as saon as children are Blioog enough to fight foe themselves tho • parents' task is finished." British superiority is nlso shown in our colonizing capacity. "To a Briton the wholu world does not seem so great; as does Europe to a Frenchman, and, above all, it seems less foreign "