TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 310, 30 December 1915, Page 8

TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.) RETROSPECT. The year 1915 will soon be numbered with the past, and no one will deny that it lias been a most eventful one indeed.' Last Christinas was the first Christmas celebrated during the war, and many hopes were expressed for the completion of the strife before another Christmas rolled round. But events have proved Earl Kitchener to be a more reliable prnplu-t. when he said be was preparing for a three years' war in 1914, than the thousands of amateur sages who opined that " the war would be over by next autumn." Last Christmas Day there was a mutual truce between the contending Eo'.diers in Flanders, but this year there am different occupants of the trenches, and the business is too serious to allow of any cessation. So far as the Dominion is concerned, the outlook for 1010 is not so dreary as was the case \vh?n we were entering upon the year that is just about to close. This time year the Arbitration Court had suspended its operations, so far as new, or rather unsettled business was concerned, luti early in the year, owing to the unions putting forth good argument as to why the Court should resume its normal functions, the embargo was lifted and, though disputes had piled up considerably in the interim, by the end of the year arrears of work had been disposed of and the Court is ready to enter on the year with practically a clean slate. At the beginning of the year Mr. E. F. Duthie became a member of the Court as employers' representative, in succession to Mr. W. Scott, who had resigned; but after about nine months in the position, Mr. Duthie resigned, owing to strictures being passed npon some of the awards by employers' unions. He, however, finished out the twelve months, and Mr. Scott comes back again with the new year. Though the Court resumed its consideration of awards, comparatively little progress has been made so far as wages are concerned, except in those industries that tad been shown to be benefited by the ■war, by increased business or profits. In the majority of cases the alterations were the result of agreements arrived at in Conciliation Councils. So far as work has been concerned, the past year has been rather busier than was anticipated. General labourers suffered most for h time, until people got over the firit effects of the war-scare; but it has now adjusted itself. Builders' labourers, on the other hand, have had a fairly good year, although, from the employers' standpoint, business has not been so profitable, so we are informed. Owing to enlistments, skilled tradesmen have been in great request, engineers, carpenters, boiler-makers, and others being hard to replace. From the South word comes that the agricultural implement section has never been busier. The tannin-* fellmongering, artificial manure makin" and the frozen meat industries have also benefited during the year. According to returns supplied to the Department of Labour by 312 unions registered under the Industrial Conciliation Act, with a membership of 50,697, no fewer than ;».107 Members were known to have »one tember 30th; ln addition 4SI had enlisteo. but had not been called up. This shows a quota from unionists alone of Much h,gher percentage than this For ™ ance the Auckland Dairy Employed Union h as contributed over 20' nor

CONSCRIPTION that , most e W the attention of the people at present is that of S iP bv°t n h and in rC3pOnSe tO 4 Ul *° t?T * executive of the United of Labour, there will-be a good representation from the unions from all except Dunedin. at a conference to open in Wellington on January it rcDlv O r i t < r S b >" unions'in reply to the creular are many and vari- «». but they all concur in the propoe - tion hat there must be conscription of wealth, a* well a., of men, if eonscripdon » to come as a last resource, while man" declare straight-out hostility to anything m the shape of compulsory militarist The Auckland Carpenters' Union is especially cautious, for b»fore it will a 4 to conscription it requires to be informed as to what its members are to fight for and also what the terms of peace are to be Inter alia, the resolution passed etates: "We are of the opinion that before organised labour gives its consent to conscription, or even agrees not tb oppose its introduction, that organised labour has a right to be takon into the confidence of the Government: it should know what it is asked to fight for, and -what are the terms upon which the present awful conflict can be brouaht to a close. There are others -besides the carpenters who would Jike to hove an inkling o what the terms of peace are -to. be, but their patriotism impels them to the belief that it is premature to talkabout peace at present, and that there can be no proposals from the AU'es for a cessation of hostilities, until the power oi Prussian militarism has been broken never to rise again, in our time at }east. A lasting peace must be an honourable peace, and there can be no honourable peace until the responsible parties have been made to pay the piper for their deeds. The Germans have to compensate Belgium (if. indeed, it be possible to do co), and the Austrians must foot the bill for unfortunate little Serbia, to say nothing of our own expenditure in lives and money in a war that was forced upon us. To talk about peace at the present juncture is foolish, and only worthy of a Henry Ford. The job is" only half finished, and until the woric is "done, and done well, there should be no cry of HoH! enough! THAT BOAPJ) OF TRADE. It is now over four weeks since the last day for receiving application for positions on the Board of Trade. Are the members of the Cabinet too busy to make a selection, or are the 200 applications too many for them to make a choke from? The fact remains that nothing has been done, and exploitation is still going on. There is no chance of the cost of the workers' Christmas dinner being reduced by anything the National Government are "doing. The Imperial Government has earned" and ia receiving the thanks of the householder for intervening in the sugar market. The Socialistic policy of State intervention has resulted in so marked a reduction in price that the housewife is wishin" the came system could be extended to other commodities. Of course, the Imperial Government has adopted pure Socialism in the matter. Th&re wa» nothing else for it. When war broke a BUgaT

panic occurred, and prices soared from , IT/ to 45/ per cwt. As the Government had been compelled to rescue the railway management of the country from the hands of Private Enterprise, so were they compelled to protect the food supply of the people, and sugar to the extent of £15,000,000 was purchased at ! once. There have been other purchases I since. Speculation and exploitation have been stopped, and the Government has become the sole importer of sugar. The price has been fixed by the authorities, and the consuming public have been saved millions of pounds as a consequence. This is a clear adoption of the ; most extreme principles of Socialism. It |is all Bhe Socialists want the country do. Also, it is what the country has been compelled to do by national emergency. The policy which is necessary to . pull the Empire out of the mud in times lof world-wide calamity ought to be 'worth adopting during times of peace.— [•Veterans Labour Notes. "Dunedin iStar." Over WOO Chicago girls employed on I canvas gloves and ladies' garments won I a strike in Xew York last month. Three hundred glove workers struck lir~t, and they were quickly followed by nearly 700 garment workers and milliners, suspender workers, and employees in the shipping room. The agreement calls for a 10 per cent, increase in wages of all garment -workers earning le*s than 3">/5 a week. Fines are abolished, and glove workers will not be charged for needles. The firm agree to recognise the union and give preference to unionists when employing workers. An arbitration system is agreed to, and a wage board is established. Decisions are to be retroactive, and will date from the day the workers returned to work. A ballot has just been taken by the Australasian Typographical Union of members of typographical societies afiiliated to that organisation, with the object of ascertaining whether it is the general desire to adopt a constitution which would permit of all sections of j the printing industry 'becoming united in lone big union and eventually registering |un<ier the Federal Arbitration and Con- : ciliation Act. The ballot resulted in 2133 voting "Yes," and IS9 voting "No." In every instance there was a large majority in favour of the new constitution, the lowest affirmative vote being greater than 4 to 1. In one instance the whole membership of an affiliated society voted "Yes." The adoption of the new constitution will mean that all sections of the printing industry will be attached through various branches in one big printing trades union. BRICKLAYERS' FEDERATION. The annual conference of the New Zealand Federated Bricklayers' Industrial Association of Workers was held in Wellington last week, commencing at 10 a.m. on Monday, the 20th inst., at the Trades Hall, Cuba Street. The remit paper was lengthy and important, and dealt with vital matters connected with the trade. The delegates were W. E. Gibson (secretary Auckland Union), A. Wootton (vice-president Auckland Union), T. Skilton (president Wellington Union), H. Hanton (secretary Wellington Union), S. Southam (secretary Christchureh Union), W. Roddick (secretary Timaru Union), A. Thorn (president Otago Union,), J. Hilton (secretary Otago Union). Among the items were remits dealing with the A. and C. Act and requiring amendments, whereby advertising in the local papers wherever it was desired to form a union, or citing builders as parties to a dispute, or adding parties to an award shall be sufficient, instead of the present roiyid-about expensive manner. That the Government should be parties to awards, and it shall be mandatory to attach every person or public concern who employ workers in the industry, whether in competition with employers or not. It was al*o defied to formulate a scheme to organise all the workers enga;ed in the tfade throughout the. Dominion. Altogether the conference was a decided success, and at the close the retiring secretary, Bro. Hanton, was presented with a case of pipes as a mark of esteem and appreciation of his services during the past two years, that time having been strenuous on account of the strike and the award, and it was chiefly owing to his efforts that tihe No. 2 Union, iformed after the strike at the Grammar School in 1914. cancelled its resistration and amalgamated with the parent union. The recipient replied, thanking the unions represented by the delegates, and the conference clOvSed on Thursday, the 23Td, at 12 noon. It was decided that conferences in future be annual, and that the next conference, unices something unforeseen occurs, be held in Dunedin in the second week in November. 1917.