TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 89, 16 April 1927, Page 17

TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

iliy INDUSTRIAL TRAMP, i

UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. WEDNESDAY, April 20.—Flasterers, Auckland Carpenters, Onehunga Carpenter.-. JPLUKAL VOTING REINSTATED. Years ago, in New Zealand, in common with other British countries, the law allowed a system of plural voting at elections, thereby giving to landed proprietors and house owners an advantage over the person who only possessed one vote, a distinct handicap in i'a\ our of wealthy persons. (Sir George Crey, the great Liberal reformer, did more than any other politician to remove this great blot from the New Zealand Statute Book by the introduction of the principle of the ''One .Man one Vote," afterwards further by woman suffrage when it became "One Adult, one Vote." Until last year this obtained in the Dominion in Parliamentary and municipal elections. Under the old law any person who possessed property in a borough, no matter to what extent, had but one vote to cast in municipal elections, and one vote only. If he were a managing director of a business firm in tiie city, which owned the business site on which the premises of the firm were situated and paid rates thereon, and, at the same time, paid the rates on his residence in the city itself, he could choose which property he could exercise his right to vote, but could not vote for more than one qualification. This is now altered, and under the "Local Elections and Polls Amendment Act, 192(3," passed last session, the principal Act has been amended by a new clause (4) added to section 13, which provides:—"Any person entitled to vote by any such appointment, or who votes in a representative capacity by virtue of his being the occupier of any property as provdied by section twelve or section thirteen of the Rating Act, 1925, shall not thereby be debarred from exercising any right to vote to which he may be entitled in his own behalf."

On the new Auckland Municipal Rod, to be used in connection with the municipal elections on April 27, there are names of voters who will have two or more votes to give in the one election. And on the supplementary roll not yet issued, I have heard of one person who will have as many as six votes to cast in favour of his particular candidate or party. There are several who have less than that number, but more than the one vote hitherto available. Why, '"'lndustrial Tramn," himself will have two votes at his disposal, on account of being the secretary of a "corporate body" in addition to his qualification as a ratepayer of the city, but whether he will violate a cardinal principle of the Liberal party and the Labour party also—"One adult, one Vote"— by using both his votes, is a matter that requires some consideration before polling day arrives. But this consideration will not deter other parties exercising: their legal right to use all the votes they are entitled to by the amending Act.' Thus, the Reform Government has reversed the clock by the reinstatement of a most undemocratic principle, abolished by "the Great Pro-Consul," years ago.

AUSTRALIAN LABOUR. A most strenuous time has been exr pcrienced by the Labour party in three of the Australian States by recent general elections. In South Australia the Labour Government has been displaced by an anti-Labour Cabinet, but, as if to make amends for this reversal of form, the "vice versa" has happened in Victoria,.where a Conservative Government has been replaced by a Labour Administration by a narrow majority. The Victorian elections too place on Saturday last, and despite a Redistribution of Seats Bill, which has been passed avowedly with the object of "keeping Labour out," Labour on the latest figures available, appears to have, defeated the existing Government. This demonstrates that such schemes as the Redistribution of Seats Bill gan» aft agley. In West Australia the elections were completed last Saturday, when the sitting members for the four North West seatg were returned by substantial majorities. The state of the parties in the new Parliament is: LaVour 2s, United party IG, Country party 1, doubtful 1. ■ SOME JOINERS' HISTORY. s. d. Feb. 0. By 1 quire o" paper 1 6 By ale 4 glasses S If this entry does not impress vou, hla,me yourself—not me, says a writer in the London "Daily Herald." Beer at twopence a glass is impressive enough, but that is not-what I mean. The two sentences printed above were written in 1809, and are still clearly legible, though the ink is brown and faint. They are the first entries in the account book of the Preston Joiners' Society. To the best of my knowledge they constitute the oldest remaining document of any trades union in his country, and, therefore, in the world. Later, the Preston Joiners' Society was swept up in the great Owenite movement of 1833 and 1834. It shared in the riso and fall of the Operative Builders' Union, and, after the crash, restarted as a local society.

THE BRITISH STRIgE LEADERS. Anion? the leaders of the miners' strike, Mr. A. J. Cook, secretary of the federation, has almost monopolised public attention, but several observers have suggested that the dominating influence has actually been that of Mr. Herbert Smith, president of the federation. A writer in "Industrial Peace" says; "Mr. Cook, as the leader of the extremists in the mining industry, travelled up and down the country shouting a 'slogan' which did infinite harm. C At that time Mr. Smith, because he remained silent, was popularly regarded as a moderating influence, and Mr. Cook was the one who was attacked in the public Press. Nor was the attack undeserved. But, as the weeks passed into months, and the cause of the miners became increasingly unpopular, and their position steadily" weaker, Mr. Cook's attitude changed. He published the first reasoned defence of the men's claim and gave the public room to believe that his executive would be prepared to accept a settlement based upon the economic needs of the industry. Ik has since become evident, however, that Mr. Cook, though now desiring to exercise a moderating influence, was not the real power, and that Mr. Smith was the more extreme and powerful of the two. Of the extreme elements the most extreme are to be found among the delegates who jiave secured control of local lodges but iiave had no experiences as responsible administrators. They will be defeated m the end, in their own districts, though not before they have done irreparable ifWy to their own'union and the cause 9i $03 miners,"