TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7864, 15 May 1891, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The state of trade in Melbourne at present is very bad, and the outlook is more gloomy than has been the case for a long time. The coming winter consequently is expected to be most severely felt by the working classes, large numbers of whom are in the ranks of the unemployed, and one has not to look far to discover the cause of this sad state of affairs. The Age, the leading Radical newspaper of Australia, is very outspoken on the question. In the course of a special article, if says:— " Disastrous as the late maritime strike proved to all sections of the community, and far reaching as were its visible results at the time it existed, the individuals whose hot-headedness was the cause of the crisis being precipitated probably never realised that the evil effect- of the calling out of the trades would last so long, or that the train of attendant evils that always follows a displacement of commerce and industry would react so severely on the working classes. That this has, however, been the case is now generally admitted, and there is every reason to fear that severe as were the sufferings of the working classes in the past, they will, if anything, be worse before the winter of 1391 has gone. From all sides come the same mournful tales of the slackness of trade, the paralysing of industry, and the consequent dearth of work for the laboring ola_9es. . . . There cannot be the slightest doubt that there will be a great deal of unemployed labor in the market within the next few months."

A reporter of the Age has recently been interviewing the leading business men of Melbourne, and out of more than twenty whom he saw only one thought that the winter might be got through without the working classes feeling any unusual distress. All the others agreed that trade was bad now and would be worse, and that building and manufactures were partially paralysed.

" This (says the Age) is mainly, if not entirely, due to the distrust felt in tho present leaders of che working classes, and the fear that they may at any time cause a dispute between employers and their workmen. If this feeling exists, and that it does is beyond contradiction, it naturally follows that employers will not risk their money, but will prefer to accept the smaller return offered by the banks to placing it in any enterprise which requires labor, the value of which can be affected by any strike or other labor disturbance. . j. . . The Unions themselves admit that trade is even now very bad, and there are thousands Of -U-tl Ollt Of Wor_ _U Melbourne.**

__.___&-.-nisi-(HIP

employed in the various trades is put down approximately at quite 5000, distributed principally as follows :—Aerated water makers GO. bakers 50, boiler makers 50, bootmakers 400, brickinakers?oo> bricklayers 300, carpenters 250, cigar makers 20, coach and rolling stook makers 50, ironfounders and moulders 100, ironworkers 150, masons 50, plasterers 140, plumbers 200, typographical 200, furniture trades 50, tobacconists 70, unskilled laborers 300, wharf laborers 500, tailors 160,. fellmongers 900 • total, 4200. Add to this the number of non-Unionists out of work, which is estimated at nearly the same figure, and we have 10,000 working men unemployed at the present time. Although the compulsory cessation of borrowing by Victoria and the consequent collapse of the land boom may in certain ca.es have had something to do in bringing about suoh a lamentable state of things, "there is reason to fear," say the Age, "that the strike has exercised a baneful influence on the industries specified." One significant feature is that the Gas Stokers' Union, which numbered between 400 and 500 members before the strike, and was very prominent during that unhappy time, has now ceased to exist, many of its members having done no work since they "came out" at the bidding of their leaders.

Thjb employers of labor upon whom $he Age representative called were, as has been said, very nearly unanimous in support of the views of that paper, mentioned above. Mr J. Pigdon, the contractor for Parliament Buildings, said he was positive that the present state of affairs waa largely doe to tha late strike, and the present feeling of insecurity that had been aroused by tha actions of the so-called labor leaders. There was no lack of money in the oolony, but the men who had it never knew at what moment trouble would arise, and thus speculation was seriously injured. There would have to be a better stamp of men leading the workers before the investing public would regain confidence and trade be allowed to flow into its legitimate directions. Before the last big strike Mr Pigdon was paying JBSOO to X6OO a week in wages—at present he ia not paying more than -S3O or £40 a week. Mr ,D. Mitchell, a well known contractor, told the same tale. Hfc too did sot think then

was the least possibility of ' aa improvemont nnder the present leaders of the Trades Hall, and tha 80 o Qef that the working* daises recognised tha better it would be for them. Mr R, C. Brown, President of the Builders' and Contractors' Association, said the pr oa . pects of the building trade during thi coming winter wero exceedingly bad and the Trade Congress being held at Ballarat, was doing _, lot of __jg_ chief. The present leaders of the labor party had mainly contributed towards the untoward outlook by causing wen to de. clino to invest their money. Mr G C Inskip, President of the Viotorian Institute of Architects, whose remarks corroborated those referred to above, said the Trade sHall had been a curse in fixinn one nnitorm rate of wages. What, he asked was the use of a man being an extra expert toand if he could not benefit by it. and a man much inferior to himself conld earn just as much. Mr T. Hartle, tha general manager for Messrs W. H. iaaV and Co., furniture dealers, said—

"Things havo now gone to this state that if labor begins to come at us a ?ai_ we will let it come and clear out If W a have any trouble I will close the factor? and let tbo first loss bo the chief loss Wa have hitherto been paying _.50u a week in wages, next week we shall only pay .£320 and further reductions in our ataff* wi_i have to be made, because we do not feel justified ia undertaking any wo j. that ia not ordered. We do not know when tho Trades' Hall poonl. will again become aggressive, and while they retain office tliat spirit of in security will exist. Suoh a state of tbinm can only be most disastrous to the colony and the men who suffer first are the work* men who are in the main responsible (•» the officers they have appointed,"

Mb J. C. Bbdgoood, boot manufacturer who claims to employ more nio_,t_an__j other firm in the trade in Victoria, said fcg was iv a position to know that thaUd strike was one of the great factors o! da. pressiou, as he visited the whole of tha Southern Hemisphere about twice a year.

" The beat thing," he said, " which can happen to the colony isau alteration in the loaders of the labor party. The present leaders are ruining tins workmen. I have it on che best authority that men with money wiil not invest it while the present Trades' Hall leadois are in power. They do not believe in tho men. In tha boot trade the feeling with which those men are regarded is shown by the fact that more than half the operatives in the colonies are non-Unionists, and one of the largest manufacturers has do* ciared that he will put up 'hia shutters before he will again snb__i_ to the Unions. Thero ia a terribly bud winter before the artisan classes. Work will bo unusually scarce, aa the employers will not do more than they can help; no fresh undertakings will be entered into, and a state of stagnation will exist in seme lines. Thai is wholly the fault of the mon who havo allowed, themselves to be misled by the individuals who were fittingly described as 'parasites upon the industrial classes.' "

Refr_!se*-tativb employers in tho brick making trade spoke to tho same effect, as did Mr Peacock of the Jam Factory, Mr D. Y. Syme of the Melbourne Coal, Shipping and Engineering Company, Mr fl. W. Langlands, managing director oi Langlands Foundry Company, and Mr J, McDongall, managing director of Sand* and McDougall, printers and stationers Mr Felstead, a member of the firm of Beath, Schiess and Co., clothing mann faoturers, said; —

■'The strike and the mischief that it has occasioned will cause t\a capitsiis. and the enterprising business man to think before he goes into any new enterprise. Another effect of it is the purchasing public are not in a position to spend nearly as much as they have been in the habit of doing, because they are distrustful of tha leaders of the labor party, and do notl know what difficulty may arise at any time. . . . The present labor leaders

are regarded with much suspicion, and tha season is going to be a trying one for the workers. There will be a tremendous number of unemployed before the winter is •over. . . . . " The feeling of insecurity is entirely caused hy the labor agitators. Any trouble that we have had with our hands has been caused by them. Ourinea have never grumbled until the agitators came round and insisted on their doing certain things, and while these men havf any power trade will be in a bad way."

The last interview waa with Mr Jatnej Service, a prominent Victorian politician who said : — " The want of business is duo ia tUt first place to the large number of men Wbo were thrown out oi O_l_>loy_lo-fc <l_.ri_.ff _v____ __£t-er- t-ie afcx-itee, men who in sooao <CXbSe3 ___wcL t>o-_>__ twenty Ebx_c_ -fc-wd__try-_IVo years in settled sttuaiious. 1 say UtlliHll* tatingly that there is a strong reeling of distrust in tha leaders of tho labor party, aud the action taken by the Ballarat convention -will intensif y taac two or threefold. We go by the acta done and MflOltt* tions passed by the representatives of t-9 workiug men, and we miwb reoogniae them aa the representatives ot tha laboring classes until that body repudiates their actionß. If any feeling were created in minds of employers that there waa a reasonable prospect of a eettlement of the labot trouble I think we should start afresh upon a career of prosperity. . . . • • If the laboring claaaea separate themselves from the rest of the community) and declare that the whole colony is to be ruled, not by the demooratio form « Government which exists, but by ol* 9 * Government, then I say there is no end to our trouble. Clasa government is alw«f» objectionable, whether by the upper, oi lower clasa. The action taken by W Ballarat Convention is bound to accefl" tuate the evil, and whatever is the rem' ot the ensuing winter, the working classes themselves will alone be to blame-

It will be interesting to see wh»t reply the labor leaders in Victoria will make t« this tremendous indictment of tbatf policy.