LABOUR IN JAPAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 206, 30 August 1921, Page 4

LABOUR IN JAPAN.

Japanese Labour unions are concentrating their attention at present on an attempt to secure an allowance for all employees discharged owing to the prevailing trade depression. Hundreds of workers are being turned out of employment, especially in the shipbuilding trades, and in order to prevent widespread distress ithe men are com-bining so as to ensure that those leaving any employment are not left absolutely destitute. In many cases their demands have been met. The Fujinagata Shipyard at Osaka has made an allowance to some 400 workers who were recently discharged, and the Uchida Shipbuilding Yard at Yokohama has given £4000 to provide what is known as discharge money. Many other industries arc making similar allowances, and this in itself shows how great is the depression existing. The fear of discharge through 'bad times is dictating the policy of most labour agitations in Japan, and 'the workers are haunted by the fear of being thrown on their own resources after long years of service. So great lias the demand 'become for these allowances that the employers are considering a scheme by which the workers, the employers, and the Government shculd contribute between them towards building up a fund out of which these sums might be paid. A new departure in the way of unions is the recent formation of an organisation known as the Salaried Men's Llnion, and this union already possesses more than a thousand members in Tokyo alone. It has not ibeen formed to get shorter hours or higher pay, but merely to protect its members against arbitrary dismissal, and to secure monetary compensation in cases where they have been discharged. Apart from securing certain financial 'benefits for their members these unions are exercising a great influence in the direction of supporting all movements which make for a limitation of armaments and the discouragement of the militarist spirit. At first this agitation was largely confined to the workers, many of whom under the Japanese franchise laws had no vote; but the enormous increase in taxation involved in the recent military and naval estimates has caused the agitation to become widespread. A Japanese trade paper says, "The militarists are not in the majority. There is the great middle class, the salary earners, who have to pay the heavy taxes which result. 11 is they who are in revolt, and who form the driving power in the agitation for the reduction of armaments." The 'business men of Japan are also up in arms against the present crushing load of taxation, and they are ascribing much of the present trade depression to the huge sums taken for the naval and military estimates. Under these circumstances the Government will possibly give favourable consideration to any proposals put forward for a limitation of armaments. The past history of Japan has given considerable prestige to the Militarist party, and for a long time neither the Liberal nor the Labour party exercised any greajt influence. But of late years the trade unions have grown grea-tly in power, and thr?y have attracted to their ranks the professional as well as the working classes. The limited franchise and the undemocratic manner of appointing the Ministers of War and Marine have hitherto limited their influence in politics, but this limitation cannot last, and unless the Government calls a halt in expenditure in armaments it may find itself faced with something like a revolution.

A deputation of representatives of ' sporte bodies waited on the Hon D. H. Guthrie, Minister of Lands at Wellington , yesterday, and urged the necessity of ,amending legislation empowering domain iboarda to close their grounds and make a charge for admission to csporuj meetings on 10 days annually. The. Minister expressed tri-s agreement with the request of the deputation, and said he would have no hesitation in introducing a clause he had had drafted to meet the case. Tho Board of Managers of the Technical College last evening considered, in committee, the rnabtor of leave of absence for the director of tihe Technical Cal'legie, Mt. G. George. The subject was introduced in a letter from the Education Board, in which definite information was sought as to the director's intention. After discussion it was decided that the following reply should in; «ent to the Education Board:—"This board lias no ollieial knowledge of the intended resignation of die director, and, in view of the terms of his a.pj>ointinent requiring six months' notice before termination, it is not felt that there is any need for further action at present." Prohibition of the publication of the names of three youths, charged with theft, was ordered by Mr. .T. \V. I'ovnton, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday. When application was made''to the magistrate by counsel for an order for the non-publication of accuseds' names. Mr. I'oynton said he intended to abide hy the rule that names should not be pub- j lished in cases where the offenders were under the age of 21 and had not made a previous appearance before the Court. In accordance with this an application by counsel for the prohibition of the publication of the name of another of his clients failed on the ground that the youth had previously appeared before a magistrate on a trivial charge. Records of Australian savings banks show that the credits of d-epositi/rs were increased materially (luring June last. The Commissioners of the Crovrrrancnt Savings J*nnk ri iNew South Wales have supplied figures of tihe various State Savings Banks of Australia for the j month mentioned. They give the total of deposits net-caved as £8,833,806, and that t>l ropayenents made an £8,088,924. The increase in depositors' 'balances .dliring the month was th.us C 744.8.52. The amounts at credit of depositors on June :W. \jcS<rrc addition of interest, was C 113,524,451; interest on open accounts to that date being £3.<>92,5<1:5, »o hat the balance at credit of depositors amounted to £117,217,044. Accounts opened in June numbered :>3,2(jn, and those closed 23,81:!, an increase of f1451i, making the number of depositors 2,359,095. A scheme to encourage honise building was brought forward toy Mr. H. Hliolltind at a rwoiit 'meeting of the Christuhuroh Unenvplovment Co-nmiittce. lie gave notice of motion:—"'With a 'view (k> ewoua-afring the .buiWing of houses in rural districts, thk committee Jtpprovee of the (kwernment giving a substantial si.'bsidy to every builder of an approved dweliingliouse of a less value than £ 700, such subsidy to 'be refunded in the event of the stile of such 'house, or the property irpon wliioh it is erected." Prior to the tabling of the notice, the R«v. F. N. Taylor bad asked if anything could be done in connection with the housing problem. The uliu.iTman replied that it was chiefly a question of finance-. The unveiling of the portrait of the late Mj\ R- J. Seddon at the Seddon Memorial Technical College ivill take place some tisne in November. T:hie decision was comic to at a. mwting of the Board of Managers last evening. A letter was received from Sir. T. E. Y. Seddon. M.P.. stilting that he would endeavour to faJl in with any arrangements the board might make. It was decided that the date of unveiling should coincide wrfch Mutt of luiveiling the college roll of honour and the laying of the foundation ston-e of the new workshops block, the Gm-ernor to be asked to perform the unveiling ernvmonies, and fehe Minister of Education the laying of the foundation stoiro, and the forementioned period was fixed uponTho Van.urn Oil Company is about to erect at .Minuua.r, Wellington, two steel tanks to hold four million gallons of crude oil. The taj\ks are located on a six-aore block, which is banked up &H round like a cycle track in <-ase the tanks spill over —which they cannot do, as they are ■conittillv roofed in heavy plate steol. In addition to the two big tanks, there is a stop tn.nk (33ft x 25ft), ■with a capacity of 70,000 gallons, which 'has a speciaJ function. It is not generally known that crude oil contains a certain percentage of water, which, ■being (heavier than oil, finds its way slowly but surely to the 'bottom of the tank or bcurrel in which it is contained. 1 Probably the whole of such water is never extracted, but in the interest of perfoot firing no effort is spared wJiilst the oil is in store to get the water away. This means a somewhat elaborate system, Ac-counting for much of the work to l>e done on a storage field. 'So a small pipe is provided, leading off from the big tanks a few inches from the ground, to top tiie water as it settles. ' At given timvs a valve is opened, and the water i≤ run ofl'. j Tlu! New Zealand who travels from his own homeland has a natural r.ride in New Zealand, but this at times receives some sad jarh. Mr. K. C. Oaniells, of Hamilton, who recently toured bymotor some f>ooo miles through the United States and had pointed h\ large letters across the wind screen ''New Zealand," and -while standing outside the Capitol Building of om; of tire States, a Yankee had a good look at the na.me, and then said: ''Excuse mc, stranger, but tell mc, for I cannot rcmwn'ber, what part of California is NewZealand?" Later on, while Mr. Darnells was waiting at a gar-age getting some re- j pairs done, the manager stated that | "they had one of your fellows -working here." Of course, :Mr. ]>aniells sakl, "What part?" "Oh, from Sydney." At a public meeting held in JTapier last night, the Rev. Howard Elliott was presented with a wallet of bank notes in appreciation of his good work on behalf of the Protestant Political Association. Tlie address accompanying the presentation indicated it was from men and women in every walk of life. Mr. Elliott, whose health has lately not been of the j best, after a visit to Auckland proposes to visit Australia to recuperate. Cecil Augustus Victor Ilete/.zt dc Cortando, Baron yon Blarenibe.rg, who died at Patmcirston North at the age of 78 yeairs, wa.s well known in Wellington over forty years ■ago. The decesujed was known as Mt. Blurembeig, ami conducted a. large privsLte 'boarding school in lngestre Street. He was one of the j first- headmasters of the Terrace Eml \ β-ehool, in which position he succexyled j tlie present Minister of Lands, Hon. D. I I!. Guthrie. : The jurymen summoned to attend the I Supreme Court on Monday are not required until the following day. An ! advertiseniftit to this effect appears in to-day's "Star."'

When houses are scarce, rents are not usually allowed to accumulate. At the Magistrate's Court this morning, however, a solicitor stated that possession was wanted of a house because the rent was £40 in arrears, even though the bailiff had been put in. It was stated for the other side that the tenant was a widow with eight children. Mrs. Lucas, who disappeared from Uaetihi recently, her dead body being subsequently recovered in the river, was not an elderly woman, as appeared from our account of the occurrence. She was a. young woman, and was married only three weeks previously. The Clevedon district war memorial was unveiled on Sunday, the Rev. Thompson, chaplain to the forces, conducting the service. Mrs. J. A. Munro unveiled the memorial, which is on a central site in the township, and many floral tributes were placed at the base by relatives and friends. An address was delivered by the Rev. W. C. Wood, vicar of Papakura. Tlie band of the 3rd Auckland Mounted Rifles played selections, and a firing party was provided from B Squadron of the regiment. "1 don't wish to appear facetious: I am .perfectly serious In this," said Mr. J. R. Cun.ning'ram at -a Christenurch 'meeting of -,rom<:n concerning social reforms, "hiit I must say that in these I days of exceedingly abbreviated skirts, wbout to the knees, and the "buster Brown" cut of the ihtair, I can't for the 'life of mc toll the age of a girl. She I might be anything from 12 to 30." Mr. <unnini;l.;i.m hinted that it might be a good thing if a girl should be compelled to wea.r her 'hair dawn l/ntil she was 17 or IS years of age. A youth of IS years, a former employee of the Kaiapoi Woollen Co., admitted in the Police Court yesterday that he stole £00 worth of clothing from his former employers. A written statement made 'by the accused to Detective Meiklejohn showed that he had disposed of practically all the stolen property, comprising suit lengths, felt hats, hosiery, blouses, overcoats, collars, and ties. The accused was committed jto the Supremo Court for sentence. He was represented by Mr. Jordan, who asked the magistrate to give instructions that the accused's name be not published, as he was under the age of 21 yours, and had not appeared before the Court previously. Mr. Poynton acquiesced. The change in his political "colour" was the subject of a personal explanation made by Mr. C. E. Statham, M.P., in the course of his address at the Town Hall last night. He said he had joined the Reform party in 1911, believing it to be "ultra Liberal," but its subsequent policy had caused his disassociation, and in 1011 he stood as an Independent, as there was no party with which he could ally himself. He had been accused of severing his connection with the party disgruntled for not having received some of the plums of the Cabinet. As a matter of fact he believed he could have joined the Cabinet if he had sunk his principles, but he was a prouder man now for not having done so. Exports from New Kot/th Wales during last month were valued at £3,264,----.'itKi. As tire importr. for the same period were assessed by the Customs Department at £3.002,109, the balance was against the State in Uie amount of £337,740. That is an breprovoment of .C95<V52t5 on the position disclosed by the records for July. 1920. A leoture on '■'Mendelssohn"' will be delivered at the Grafton Library Hall to-night by Dr. W. E. Thomas, in connection with the Grafton Library winter course. New season's goods now being displayed in all departments marked at our well-known low cash prices.—Smith and Caughey, Ltd.. forty years' famous for good value.— (Ad.) Last chance of buying ladies' high grade boots at half price closes on Wednesday. Select your summer pair now. The Firm of Fowlds. — (Ad.) New season's goods now being die- i played in all departments marked at our well-known low cash prices.—Smith and Caugbey, Ltd-, forty years' famous for good value. — (Ad.) "