CARPENTERS AND JOINERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 145, 21 June 1899, Page 3

CARPENTERS AND JOINERS.

The thirty-ninth annual report of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners in comprised in a volume of 400 pages, just received from the head office in Manchester through the local branch of the Society. The statistics it contains are those for last year, and they form a good illustration of the strength which ati extensive and well-organised union affords a trade In the direction of obtaining more favourable conditions of labour and remuneration. From the general secretary's epitome of the year's progress, which serves as an introduction to the volume, we gather that 13 new branches were affiliated during 1898, and the roll number increased by 9444. The total membership now amounts to 56,634. The finances, whic'u it is of paramount importance should be satisfactory if a society of this description is to do any good, would appear to be on a sound basis. Receipts from all sources in 1898 are given as £142,760, an increase on the previous year of .£5528. The total expenditure for the corresponding period wa.s £106,362. which left no less a sum than £ 30,404 to carry forward to the cash balance which, at the close of the year, stood at £ 172,712, or an average of v small fraction over £.'i per member. The satisfactory state of the trade in Britain, where the great majority of the Union's members are, is shown by the fact that the sum expended on the support of unemployed members—£l3,4o.'! —was the smallest on record for a period of 20 years. The assistance given to members when out of employment, attending to their wants when sick or destitute, replacing their tools when lost, assisting them in sums of £100 or £50 when meeting with accidents, paying their travelling expenses to i places where work was to be obtained, superannuating the aged on 8/ and 7/ per week, and, finally, when death overtakes them or their wives, providing a decent sum for their burial, amounted in all to £73,456. The general secretary, after summarising this aid extended to members, says: 'Where, then, is the man, in the face of these figures, bold enough, and with such a disregard for truth, as to assert thattrade unions such as ours are not doing a noble and Christian work?' Particular stress is laid on the fact that in no less than 125 towns were secured (in the most peaceful and conciliatory manner) increased wages or shortened hours, and in many instances a combination of both. The great bulk of tihese concessions were obtained in England and Wales, and vary from 3d (in conjunction with a shortening of hours) to 0/11J per week. The average monetary increase J of the weekly wage achieved was approximately 2/3. The shortening of hours only applies to 30 cases, and the average amount of the concession is 3 hours a week. Some eight cases from the United States, and 5 from Australasia, go to show t'liat improved pay is not entirely confined to the British Isles. As against this improvement there were only 8 cases where hours were either lengthened or pay curtailed; and four of these were in the United States. In applying the figures which show an improvement in t!he wood-workers' position in Britain it cannot be argued that it follows that the increase in pay or lessening of hours should be world-wide, for in most of the colonies the conditions are already, in many instances, easier for the employed. Reference to the portion of the present volume dealing with wages shows in t'lie United Kingdom the scale is from £1 10/ to £2 for an average 54 hours' week, -while in Australia it is from £2 8/ to £3 3/ for a 4S hours' week, in New Zealand I from £ 2 8/ to £ 3 1/4 for an average 4G hours' week, and in South Africa from £ 3 12/ to £ 6 for a4B hours' week. Of i course the steadier employment of! larg-e centres of population must be taken as in some measure compensating for the otherwise greatly improved position of the trade in the colonies aa regards hours and pay.