TRADE & LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 217, 11 September 1907, Page 8

TRADE & LABOUR NOTES.

:"■ .■ ■ (By Industrial Txaznp.f : " (Secretaries of the various Unions aw requested to forward copies of their Union _ engagements ,to,' '.'lndnstrial Tramp," "Star" Office, and a list of Union Meetings wfll befnrnished at the head of this coltnnn for each week.) UNION MEETINGS FOB THE -WEEK. This Evening, Sept; 11 — Waterside Workers. . ' " • • Thursday, Sept. 12 —:. Stonemasons (Conference TvitK 'Employers). ■'.■'' ■ ■-.'•; ■•- - Friday, September 13— Furniture Trades; Shipwrights. .-■•'• _ ' * ■■■..- , Monday, September 16— Painters;" Cabmen. Tuesday, September 17 — ; Carpenters; Engineers. . Wednesday,, September 18 — Trades - and • Labour ConnciL • - • ; Arbitration Court now sitting "in . .Dunedin., :'-. • ■ . ' : ? Confirmation of the "Straphanger" bylaw, to-morrow evening, by';. the City Council. ... : .'. Unions universally object to tie new Arbitration Act. With.'all our varied industries in the colony,'there are still "some businesses engaged id by traders in the Mother Country, that are not represented in New Zealand. A general dealer in Hoiton (London), exhibits the following notice over his place of, business:— ■ "Second-hand coffins:for sale!" The wealth of the United States, at the beginning of 1907 was £23,600,000,000, as "much as the combined wealth of England and France. The .outcry from. the Unions, against the drastic provisions '" of the new Aibi=.tration Act still continues throughout ' the length and breadth of the Dominion. ■ All the principal trades councils haye condemned the measure in no unmeasured terms, and. the individual .unions, as ■they meet from time Ito time, are taking up the refrain. t)n Sunday eveiTSg last, ' the Wellington Council.held a crowded meeting in His Majesty's Theatre, and passed several condemnatory reselufions, A - which will be forwarded to the .proper quarter... It is safe to say that when the Labour Bills Committee meets to" consider the measure, the amount of proitest will induce it toalter the bill to a material extent. At the.quarterly meeting of the: Auckland Letterpress Machinists' Union, held on Saturday evening -hist', the Arbitra- ■ iiqn Amendment Act, was . extensively discussed. -This union is .one of those Unions, - that—by reason -ofithe smallness of" their roll—are unable to keepione of ■their -own. trade- exclusively employed as Secretary of the union; neither is •there a working: member of the union prepared to take .on the secretaryship, "and at the "same time "continue to work at his. trade.. ■ The office is therefore held iby "a-man, outside "tfie • trade, and the members .on 1 Saturday evening, expressed their opinions of the proposed innovation, in no unmeasused terms. - A -resolution Was unanimously- carried, strongly protesting against : the bill being passed-into law, and the secretary was instructed to forward,the protest to the "Minister for Labour, and the. chairman of lie Labour Bill?, Committee. ' ; The members 'of" the lately-formed^ ■ "Stonemasons' Union are having a confer- . enee with the' monumental"master mas- . on§ to-jnonrow, evening .with:a, view of. .. coining to some settlement prior to going" bet or c the Coiirt nest month. . It is no t proposed to bring. the monumental work under.the .proposed scale of; wages; but' * • ihe monumental" masbns c 2,lsp> do'buildin" , ■work, and work-Usually done by outsicle, employers,- and ihe- men's union, in con-; junction -with the master are. strongly of the "opinion, that if "the monumental men engage in building' and cpnetrnction work they must observe the same conditions asythe builders. Mr Barnes, secretary''of the Amalga-" ' mated '• Society : of Engineers, * one of the Labour members in.the British.House of Commons, said it had been decided to terminate the affiliation* of the society with the Trades Union Congress. The Eociety_liad. joined, the Labour party- and the-Federation cf"Trades.* - " •. The most expensive- country cathedral in Australasia is* tfiat of St. Carthage's, lasm6re,-N.S."W., which- wa3 opened in, the presence; of 5500 persons, it. iwill cost when finished £30,000, and was constructed entirely .by ;day labour. ~\ -*'It is reported iliat the-wages of the ■-Hew South Wales "police Are ito be raised by 6d per. day from September Ist. The increase will alfect. all below the krank of sub-inspector. ; - "Thepay-of the police at present is.as;foUows:;The whole time the man is at the depot being trained, He receives 6/ per..day including Sundays.; -'-" -He : then does probationary street" ■ ■. duty for/12" months, at? the' end of which ihe gets -hjs -'first increase of 1/ per (lay. His next increase of. 6d goes with '"~!b^~'nrsT.*promoiicOa-S : oiie stripe (firstclass constable). , \The senior' constable (two stripes) receives 8/ per day); :fier"gearit (three stripes), 9/3' per day, .'and the senior sergeant (a crown), 10/6' per U: .day.. :■■ Tron?/ the-pay. 4-; per.cent isjf.deducted Jot superannuation., ■ '.% i -Twelve hundred .drivers employed , : In ifche-New York -wholesale meat trade have . ceased worki/... :; :, .". " '..',' _ .. Mr: Price, -Premier of South '- "in the" course of the debate, in the.'As- . .semblyLpn .the- proposal;to appoint' additional Wages. Boards, said-that requests • ior Wages made by unions .\had been acknowledged, and that <he ■.could not. recognise requests for Boards unless ttnade by-.Unions. --. The machinery-^did ■■- r :i£bfc provide for individuals, but forHhe tirade being properly represented on the -Board, and that .was impossible' unless from united action. Li other words,;if ,the conditions of any . trade or calling ■were not. satisfactory, the- employees should join or form a union. It was easier to deal with 'associations of workers than -with individuals;. , and .better . and OMfe-satisfactory besides: ■' : ' '■ * Airiong the unions'registered during' .the last month appeals the New Plymouth Drivers and Grooms, and the Gisborae Waterside Worlieris, Awhile the IJpper Thimes Carters, the Otagb Grooms end.Coechmen, and the.Gisborne Paint-" ere have ceased, to exist. At .jfche - recent' annual congress' of Cooperators held in Preston, England, the following resolution; was unanimously approved :— ' 'That this congress views with grave concern" the extent and seriousness ©£ 'the sweating - evil; and respectfully wrges His Majesty's Government to introduce a^.bill establishing-wages boards to. the .sweated' trades, with, power to fix minimum rates of payment." > During"the discussion it was pointed out that there were over; 2,000,000 .sweated workers• in •England alone. _:.-■ In Germany there are 33 Government labour colonies,- and" one ia -the United . Kingdom for the reception and employment of wbrklesV fcbilers. -latest Board of Trade Labour Gazette to hand reports that the changes 5n rates of wages in Great Britain for She month of June affected 157,400 workpeople, every one of whom-received adiwwices. . .' "/",.. -:■, ■ . .■■ •"■ '' '