TRADES AND LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 134, 8 June 1929, Page 19

TRADES AND LABOUR NOTES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.)

UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. Monday, June 10 —Grocers' Assistants, Painters, Saddlers. Tuesday, June 11 —Storemen. Wednesday. June 12—Auckland Carpenters, Onehunga Carpenters, Gas Employees, L.K.C. Thursday, .Tune 13—Plumbers' Educational. Friday, June 14—Curriers. MEETING OF EXECUTIVES. On Thursday evening, at a meeting of executive members of the local trades unions at the Trades Hall, the findings of the Court of Arbitration in the Auckland Stonemasons' and Auckland MilkRoundsinen's awards, recently delivered, came in for a general protest. There was a good attendance of delegates representing the unions. After an exhaustive report from the assessors concerned, the following amended resolution was carried: —"That this meeting draws the attention of the Government to recent decisions of the Arbitration Court, believing that the decisions, are- not in accord with the weight of evidence tendered. We therefore suggest that the Government inquire into these decisions, and it' it is an agreement with our opinion, that they remove Mr. Justice Frazer from the presidency of the Arbitration Court."

A LONG MEMBERSHIP. One of the oldest members of a trades union in the Dominion terminated his membership on Wednesday last by death, in the person of Mr. George Church, at the age of 87. Mr. Church joined the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners in Boston, U.S.A., and on his arrival in Auckland in June, 1572, he transferred to the local branch, and remained a member till his death. Owing to weak eyesight he had to retire from active work at his trade, and will be best remembered by old Aucklanders as a book lover in his little second-hand book shop at the foot of Grey Street, on the present site of the Town Hall. As a bibliophile, he was always on the look-out for old and rare books, his knowledge of such being very extensive. Up till a .very short time ago, Mr Church was an almost daily visitor at the carpenters' office in the Trades Hall, where he called to see the secretary of his union and exchange opinions on various topics of the day. His funeral at Purewa Cemetery on Thursday was attended by a number of members of the Carpenters' Union, some of whom acted as bearers.

NEW LABOUR HOME FOR WELLINGTON. Within the next month (says the "Evening Post") practically every Labour organisation in Wellington will be housed under one roof. The new Trades Hall in Vivian Street, which has been built to replace the old wooden structure which served the Labour movement for so long, is now rapidly Hearing completion. Already a number of offices are occupied, and other unions are in the process of changing over. The official opening of the new building -will take place on Wednesday next. Office accommodation has been provided in the new Trades Hall to meet the requirements of the whole of the Labour movment in Wellington, with the exception of the railwaymen, who occupy a building of their own. The only other organisations that have not taken accommodation in the new building are the Waterside Workers' Union and the Seamen's Federation, but it is anticipated that the latter body will move in when its present lease has expired. There is some doubt as to whether the watersiders will change over. Unions whose offices Avere previously situated in various parts of the town •and who are now accommodated at the Trades Hall include the Cooks and Stewards' Union, the New Zealand Workers' Union, the Drivers' Union, the Electrical Workers' Union, the Bakers' Union, and the Tramwaymen's Union. Very shortly the offices of the New Zealand Labour Party will be transferred to Vivian Street, and the party's bookroom will be accommodated in one of the five shops in the front of the building.

The new building is of three storeys, and is served by an automatically controlled lift. It'is intended to use one of the larger rooms on the ground floor as a club room. This room will be comfortably furnished ahd will be available for the reception of visitors and for other social purposes. The first and second floors are entirely devoted to offices and the necessary strongrooms and other conveniences, and on the roof the caretaker has been provided with living quarters.

THE PROSPERITY OF FRANCE. It is an historical commonplace that all great wars have been succeeded by a quickening of civil activity (says "Engineering"). Never has the extent of this movement been more remarkable than after that which ended ten years ago, and when the extent of < industrial progress in the various countries is compared none is so much indebted to the war as France for the creation of an industrial Power and prosperity beyond any previous achievement of prospects. France has about the same population as Great Britain, but is about double its size. By far the chief occupation of its inhabitants is agriculture, in which, with forestry, about 9,000,000 persons are engaged out of a total occupied population of 22,000,000. Nearly twothirds of these, moreover, are not wageearners, but independent cultivators, a circumstance which is notable when the industrial protective policy of the country is considered. Of its manufactures, judging by exports, by far the most considerable are its textiles, which in 1913 represented about 40 per cent of the total value o± manufactured exports and have increased substantially in the last four years, in 1927 being nearly half as much again in weight as in 1913 and in gold value nearly double. During the war, to supply the needs both of the fighting forces and the civil population, works had to be enlarged or erected on the greatest possible scale in unoccupied territory. These works were equipped on modern lines and on the return of peace the productive capacity of the country was increased further by similar reinstatement of the works in the occupied area. The addition, moreover, of Alsace-Lor-raine, besides doubling the iron-ore capacity of the country and providing it with potash and oil, placed in French hands highly-developed metallurgical and engineering' industries, besides _ making large additions to textile, chemical, and other manufacturing capacities. ine collieries have developed not only tne extraction of their coal, but also its conversion on the spot into electricity, gas and by-products.

AN INTERLUDE. At the meeting of trade union executive members on Thursday night, Mr. J. M. Baddiley, M.L.A., who is in Auckland on a mission to local unions for support to the miners and timberworkers of the Commonwealth now on strike or lock-out, was given an opportunity of laying the position before the meeting. Mr. Baddiley gave a short and concise account of the trouble on the other side of the Tasman, and a resolution was carried pledging those present to put the case before their respective unions favourably. EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY, FOR WOMEN. Tho Labour movement has always stood for an unqualified equality between men and women. It is pleasing, then, to notice the appointment of Mrs. McCombs to the chairmanship of the Christchurch City Council's Electricity Committee. The appointment was confirmed by the largest majority given to any proposal at the first meeting to select committees.

One councillor, opposed to Labour, said it was "infra dig" for an engineer of outstanding abilty such as they had in charge of the Municipal Electricity Department to be governed by a lady.

Mr. F. R. Cooke reminded him that for the greater part of last century the British Empire was governed by a woman.

Mr. Sullivan said he had never before heard, on local bodies or in Parliament, that women should not be appointed to responsible positions.

Mrs. Annie Fraer, a Citizens' Association candidate, joined with Labour in the appointment of Mrs. McCombs.