LABOUR CONDITIONS IN GREAT

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 35, 9 February 1906, Page 3

LABOUR CONDITIONS IN GREAT

BRITAIN. J - i

SERIOUS CONDITION OF ATEAIKS IN POPLAR. {By Telegraph.—Own Correspom3ent.j

C HRISTCHURCH, this day. Regarding the labour conditions at Home, Mr Gould, a Chxistchurch merchant who has just returned to the colony alter two years' absence in England, said: "In East London thers were a great many unemployed. Aβ exceedingly interesting development Uad been going on in Poplar. Poplar was captured by tbe socialists some years ago. One of the first experiments which, followed the advent of the new regime was a new system of poor relief, which consisted principally of indiscriminate giving without any proper che/ck or supervision. . This unguarded beneficence brought with it t-he. concentration in Poplar of loafers in huge numbers from the South of England. As the loafers found their way into the town th<- poor rates steadily rose in sympathy, property depreciated, and now the ratepayers found themselves saddled with a rate of 12/6 in the £ opi the annual rateable value. The direct .result of this extraordinary state of affairs was that numbers, of people began to seriously consider whether they conild not with advantage move to other districts. This movement had been accentuated by the fact that, because it was more expensive to live in London than in the smaller towns, wages are higher in London than j in other places." ; Mr Gould, commenting on another aspect of the. position, quoted the case of Messrs Yarrow and Headly, who were offered a ship-building contract by the Austrian Government involving an expenditure of £ 275,000. One of the conditions of the contract was that the boats were to be delivered in twelve months. The firm could not see its way to accept on these conditions, as onethird of the whole work would have to be performed by overtime labour. As overtime labour in London is paid at i the rate of time and a-half, whereas in j the rest of Europe time and a-quarter is the usual rate, the firm were at a serious disadvantage. Before refusing they called the men together in the I yards and propounded to them a scheme for accepting the contract on a basis that would assure the men the labour, but held out no prospects of profit for the contracting firm. The unions, however, refused to endorse the suggestion, and work for 3000 men was thus lost to Poplar. This and the high rating, Mr Gould said, were the causes which induced Messrs Yarrow and Headly to move their yards at a cost of about £ 250,000. Thirrng tne last six or seven years the excessive rates and wages on the Thames had driven eiirht or nine large merchant firms out of the.! district. Following on the retirement of Messrs Yarrow and Headly, fron London, the Great Eastern Railway Co. announced that it was shifting its headquarters to Colchester. Nor was thisv all. The chairman of the India-rubber, Gntta Percha and T« legraphs Works Co., in a speech before his shareholders, stated that by leaving Poplar and. going to the North of England, the company could effect a saving of £25,000 anmiAlly in rates alone. As this company employed about 7000 hands, and had absolutely created the suburb of Silvertown the disastrous effect of a change of operations would be readily gauged. On the whole, Mr Gould stated, the developments he had referred to were being watched with the very greatest interest. With a view to relieving the distress in the meantime a sum of about two millions had been got together, but this large sum would, of cotirse, not be entirely used for keeping alive the starving people.