TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue LXI, 12 July 1930, Page 19

TRADE AND LABOUR NOTES.

(By INDUSTRIAL TRAMP.) UNION MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. This Evening, July 12.—Fellmongers' Executive. JHonday, July 14.—Painters. Wednesday, July 10.—Plasterers. Thursday, July 17.—Trades and Labour Council. AN APPRECIATION. This week the people of the Dominion pre mourning the loss of the veteran statesman Sir Joseph Ward. That it is a loss, all shades of political opinion concur, hut I am afraid that the present veneration of lahourites have a very faint conception of the great assistance given to the workers of the Dominion aenerally, and to those of Auckland particularly, by the deceased statesman. The older members of the Labour party jn Auckland know that, but for the assistance furnished by Sir Joseph Ward to the Trades Hall trustees, the building and opening of the Auckland Trades Hall would have been delayed considerably. After 1 many years of Labour Day celebrations, with varying success, the trustees had accumulated a building fund of about £1000 with which to start getting a home for labour in Auckland. In 1909 Sir Joseph Ward, then Premier, was approached for a Government loan for this purpose. He promised to put a bill through Parliament that year, but failed through pressure of business. In the meantime, the trustees had called and accepted tenders for the building, and this delay of twelve months was serious. Sir. Joseph, when acquainted with the hiatus, gave his personal guarantee to the public trustee, and the money was obtained, the bill going through in the 1910 session. In as "passed by the House, a loan was authorised of £6000 at five per cent interest, with a rebate of a half per cent for prompt payment, but there was no period fixed in which the principal had to be repaid—a "Kathleen Mavourneen" kind of loan.

At the opening of the Trades Hall in 1912, Sir Joseph was presented with a gold key of the hall. That was how the Liberals under Sir Joseph Ward assisted labour in Auckland. Compare that with the treatment the trustees received from Reform under Mr. Coates, about ten years later, when Mr. Coates, with a big majority at his beck or back—they are both correct terms —put an Act through by which the rate of interest was raised to 6§ per cent, with a rebate of half per cent for prompt payment, and the "Kathleen Mavourneen" tenure was substituted by an engagement to pay back the principal in yearly instalments. Auckland unionists certainly owe much to the active support of the late Prime Minister. WORKING ON SUNDAYS. Should shearers work on Sunday? This was a question which exercised the minds of delegates to the annual conference of . the New • Zealand Workers' Union, held in Wellington. Among shearers who are members of the union, there is much concern at the increase in the practice. It was considered that Sunday shearing should be made illegal, and a "proposal to this effect was urged on the Minister of Labour (Hon. S. G. Smith). Mr. J. Townsend acted as the spokesman for the union in the conference with the Minister. He stated that he was a shearer of 35 years' experience. Until lately he had never heard the argument that Sunday shearing was a necessity. The practice had grown considerably during the past few years. He had known of fully 100 ■ sheds which had carried on shearing operations on Sundav.

"When I have taken inspectors to sheds where Sunday shearing was in operation,", said Mr. Townsend, "they have advised me that no action could bo taken, because these 6heds are not in view of the public. It is behind this qualification in the present law that Sunday shearing is stated to be legal in the ease of many sheds." He urged that whichever was the law which applied to this practice, it should' be amended to prevent this evil practice. - BASIC WAGE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act of West Australia (says the correspondent of the Australasian) a court is required on or before July 1 of each jrear to fix the basic wage for the ensuing year. On this delicate task Mr. President Dwyer and his two lay colleagues were closely engaged recently. After having listened to much evidence and argument the court decided to reduce the basic wage from £4 7/ to £4 6/, and for the country districts, where hitherto it has been the same as for the city, to £4 5/. The chief reason for the court's decision was the present economic conditions, which it felt itself impelled to take into account, though the Act does not expressly require it to do so. The court's decision was not unanimous. It very seldom is. In nine cases out of every 10 it happens that when the president's finding favours the pleadings of the employees, the workers' representative on the Bench 'dissents, and in nearly as manv instances, when the president's finding 'supports the case of the unions, the employers' representative does not concur. The fact is that the lay members of the court are more or less advocates, and function as a kind of fifth xvheel of the Arbitration Court coach.