TRADE, & LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 168, 15 July 1908, Page 8

TRADE, & LABOUR NOTES.

(Secretaries of the various T'nions are requested tv forward copies of their Union PDnapeirirnts to "'lndustrial Trncip," "Star" Office, and a list of Ud'ou Meetings will be furnisher! at the head of tills toiumu ror each wett.) rXION MEETINGS FOH TITT3 WEEK. Ihl? Eveniue. July 15 — Waterside Workers: Coach workers' Social; 100S Labour Day fommitteo. Thursday. July Iβ — Labourers' .-uiilit. I'liday, July IV — Bricklayers; Carpenters' A edit. Eatnrday. July IS — Flnurmlllers. Uciirkiv. July 2u — Cabmen; Painters; Plasterers. Tuesday. July 21 — Carpenters; Engineer?. .tVertnPsil.iT. July 22 — Trades and Labour Own, il. Special Tramway Board -till sitting. The first meeting of delegates appointed hy thp Inml unions to the I'JOS Labour D.t.v Committee take? placp this evening. Ljr-t year, the committee fell upon Troublesome times, in th.it the celebration had to contend with wet weather, and though heroic efforts were made to recr.vrr the losses, the clerk of the weather =eemed to have a dead set against any success whatever, and the result is that this year it is expected to make up a bit of the leeway that resulted. The new committee will be asked to return to the time-honoured procession and sports in the Domain, for it is a significant fact that every time that the celehration has taken place elsewhere, a loss has been the result. The Domain has always heen the place par excellence for such celebrations, and if the Committee are wise in their day and generation, they will net accordingly. The unions will hp well represented this year, and given a fine day, success is assured. The Canterbury Farm Labourers' Union have a big bill to pay for their late -ix monuis' sitting before the Board of Conciliation; and the bill for typewriting the evidence, amounting to over £400. has been repudiated by the Government. Thp Union's share of over £200 is 'beyond tneir slender exchequer, and an has been tuadp by circular to every union in the Dominion for financial assistance in defray inn; expenses. The Auckland Grocers Assistants' Union, at its last meeting de.cided to donate the Bum of two guineas toward the Southern Union's assistance. The annual Trades and Labour Council's conference, which has hitherto been held at Easter in the different cities in turn, will open this year in Wellington on Monday next. July 20th. The alteration has been brought about with a view of bringing the deliberations before the legislators in Parliament assembled, before thf said deliberations have had time to grow cold. The delegates from the Auckland Council were appointed last ■week: they were Messrs. L. Henry and T. Long. They leave for their duties by the West Coast boat on Friday next. The business paper for the conference is. as usual, a large and varied one, embracing every want and aspiration in the industrial world of the Dominion. From .Workers' Homes and National Annuities to the increase of Old Age Pensions, and the Prevention of the Importation of Labour under Contract is a very wide range: and so also is the Protection of Witnesses and the Consolidation of Labour : whne as a soupcon is added such morsels as: The Nationalisation of Industries, and Amendments to the Arbitration and Workers' Compensation for -Accidents Acts. There is no doubt that the matter that will receive the most attention will be the Amended Concilialion and Arbitration Act. copies of which have been sent to each union in the 'Dominion by the Labour Department. The discussion on this measure, with its rew features of a "needs" and "exertion" iwage respectively will evoke some interesting opinions amongst the assembled delegates, and there will not be many dull moments at the 1908 conference. The manufacture of some of the finest EFrencn tapesiry is so slow that an artist cannot produce more than a quarter ,of a square yard in a year. This is a case in point where the Hon. J. A. Millar's provisions for a "needs" and an "exertion" wage would not apply. Some of the wooden churches in Norway are fully 700 years old, and am still in an excellent state of preservation. Their timbers h ye successfully resisted the frosty and almost Arctic winters, because they have repeatedly been coated tar. A good mark is Denmark, half the population bring unionists. No other coun- • try has such a high percentage of or- , ganised abour. Sweden is second, and Germany ihird. Where does New Zealand come in? The third Australian Labour Congress "will open in Brisbane on Monday next. The whole of the States will be represented. Unusual interest attaches to this Congress, as it will have to determine important matters bearing upon the relations of the Commonwealth and the States. An endeavour is to be made to remove from the platform the plank calling for an amendment of the Constitution to enable the Commonwealth to deal with Industrial legislation for the whole of Australia. The developments of the past few weeks have centred Labour interest upon this question, and while it is expected that the present | plank will be retained or amplified, the advocates of State control are straining •every effort to secure the right of the twelve State Houses oi Parliament to | keep charge of Industrial legislation ' ■within their jurisdiction. Amongst other important matters to bo considered is •the framing of a Constitution for the Australian Labour party, which presents some difficult features." The Minister of Labour, interviewed! at Christchurch by the Workers' Politi-! cal Association, stated that the experiment of day labour v. contract had been tried in connection with the erection ot workmen's dwellings in Wellington, i Four were let by "contract and °four i erected by day labour, and the day lab- i our system was so successful that it will in future be followed by the Department. Special general meetings of the New South Wales Tramway Employees' Unions are being held to determine the Union's course of action with regard to the Industrial Disputes Act, and to consider the question of protection for drivers. There is a great deal of dissatisfaction among the men with regard to the latter question. They feel that the Department 13 merely bluffing in stating that the work is being carried out as actively as possible. The contention of the Commissioners is that they can only alter a few cars at a time, as to withdraw many would interfere with the traffic. But it is considered that they are not really doing all they can in this respect. The Dunedin branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers has increased in membership by 50 since the coming into force of the new a"ward. Ninety-five per cent of .those engaged in the sa--arm)Trmg industry in Southland ere in the Southland Sawmill Workers' Union, [When it is. remembered thai-

I these workers are spread over a very large area, the result is most creditable to those responsible for it. Southland Trades anc Labour Council will be represented at the coming Labour ConiereiiL-e in Wellington in July by Messrs. J. Alsweiler (president), J. Corson, and T. O'Byrne. A New Zealand worker, who was getting somewhat dissatisfied with the position of affairs in the Dominion, saw an advertisement in it Sydney paper, to which he decided to respond. It was for work of the description to which he was accustomed, consisting of the clearing of land on a station on the Southern line from Sydney, and digging out rabbit burrow?. Since receiving a reply the New Zeahnder has decided that both conditions and pay compare unfavourably with what he is able to secure in the Dominion, and his ardour to cross the Tasman Sea has sensibly diminished. The following is the reply which, he received to his application: — "The burning off is let by contract, and the price depends on timber, etc. To fix it. it is necessary for a ninn to apply personally on the ground. In regard to digging out rabbit burrows, the camp is to consist of 30 to 40 men, and cook, under a ganger, and is very nearly full. Only good pick and shovel hands, and men physically capable of doing a fair day's work r\t it, are any good. Wages, 3/4 per day of 8 hours' work, and rations. No work, no pay, but if stopped by rain, rations allowed but no wages. A man may be discharged at a moment's notice. No horses, women, or children allowed in thp camp. I find tents and tools. As I said, this camp is nearly full and may be filled any hour. So I could not guarantee a plare, as the system is first come first served." Mr. O. M.ison, the organising secretary of thp Builders and Contractors' Labourers' Union, reports that the employers are coming into line and sending their men to join the Union; numbers coming in daily. Mr. Mason has had no trouble to =peak of, and' hopes to bring all the non-unionists into the union without any j friction with the employers, many of whom seem to show every wish to work amicably with the Union. Men from all lines of general labouring work are coming along also, as the union is widening its sphere of operations, and is preparing to take in all lines of general labour. The art of mixing unfading colours was known to ancient painters, but invariably pludes the moderns. Probably the ingredients used were not similar. The output of pig iron in Germany during the first quarter of the year was j 3.102,513 tons, as compared with' 3,139.600 ! tons in the corresponding period of 1907. I Miss Emma Sunntag, IS years old, the daughter of a blacksmith, has set up a shop of her own at Bernburg (Germany), I w.iere she shoes hprses and oxen. It is anticipated that 2.30 new factories will be registered l in Wellington during I the year. These are already on the books.