INTERNATIONAL LABOUR.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20028, 9 September 1930, Page 7

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR.

GENEVA CONFERENCE. PROFESSOR TOCKER RETURNS. [SHU MUSM BttcM B«rrfe«.] AUCKLAND, September 8. Labour legislation enacted in New Zealand nt the beginning of the century is now just receiving attention from European countries, according to Professor A. H. Tocker, Professor of Economics at Canterbury College, who ctt rived at Auckland by the Niagara to-night after attending the International Labour Conference at Geneva. Professor Tocker was one of the three Now Zealand delegates, the others being the Hon. T. Shailer Weston, M.L.C., representing the employers, and Mr J. Roberts, secretary of the New Zealand Alliance of Labour, who represented the workers of the Dominion. Professor Tocker said he hnd already sent a long report on the conference to the Government. "The Conference is mainly concerned with European conditions," Professor Tocker said, ''consequently any measure of protection given to labour by European legislation or any invention of t'.io Conference likely to be ratified by Kuupean countries "S, generally speakinp;, far behind that already given in Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, conditions of production, standards of living, and customs of peoples differ so widely that standardisation of labour conditions, at which the Conference appears to aim, seems attainable to only a very small extent'" „ « * Objects of Conference. The Conference was attended by 400 delegates representing 81 different countries, Professor Tocker continued. Its object was to pass conventions supposed to form the basis for international agreements concerning the protection of labour. The conventions, of course, had to be ratified by the particular countries before they could be enforced. Since the first Conference in' 1919, over 30 conventions had been adopted and there had been about 400 cases of conventions being ratified by individual Governments. If every country represented at the Conferences had ratified all the conventions there would have been about 1500 ratifications. These figures gave some idea of the practical value of the conventions. Three conventions were considered this year. One aiming at the abolition of forced labour and another fixing the maximum hours of work for salaried workers were adopted, while the third, aiming at fixing hours of work in cpal mines, was rejected. It was found impossible to secure any reasonable measure of agreement between the leading coal-producing countries of Europe. New Zealand is not directly concerned in any one of the three conventions, Professor Tocker said. Samoan labour conditions were excluded in the scope of the forced, labour question, and the salaried workers' convention was an attempt to gain for European workers what was given to New Zealand workers in the Shops and Offices Act more than thirty years ago. Unemployment Problem. Commenting on topics outside the Conference, Professor Tocker said that the unemployment problem in Europe was still acute. The International Labour Office in England and the Economics Section of the League of Nations at Geneva were attempting to find a solution to the problem by concentrating on efforts to stabilise the value of money, and as a result a general price level, through co-operation between the central banks. There appeared to be a general feeling that the unemployment difficulties from which so many countries were suffering could not be solved until reasonably stabilised prices were assured. ROBBERIES. TWO WEEK-END CASES. Two cases of housebreaking occurred during last week-end. In one instance a dispatch box was stolen from a private house, and in the other the warehouse premises of a factory were ransacked. Mr William Scott, who is a Justice df the Peace, returned to his houso at 13 Halton road, Papanui, at midday on Saturday, expecting to find all the doors locKed, as he had left them earlier in the morning. The back door, however, was open. Mr Scott investigatedj and discovered that somebody had forced his way into the house, and had made a very thorough examination of all drawers and cupboards. Fortunately everything was intact, and the only thing missing was a dispatch box, which contained many of Mr Scott's privato papers. The second case occurred _at the pickle factory of Messrs Hayward Bros. Ltd, 52 Peterborough street. The warehouse premises were entered bv a back window, which was broken and forced, but although various drawers showed signs of having been opened, and an empty till had been displaced from its position and left on the floor, nothing was stolen. HEATHCOTE RIVER. ——♦ —— FOOTBRIDGE REQUIRED. Residents in Ashgrove terrace are desirous of having a temporary footbridge erected over the Heatheote to replace the old footbridge, which was washed away in the recent floods, stated Mr G. Clarke at the monthly meeting of the Spreydon Burgesses last evening. Mr P. Hennessy presided over a good attendance. The lack of a bridge, said Mr Clarke, was a great inconvenience to residents wn» wished to make use of the tram, and, as it was understood that some time would elapse before the permanent bridge would be built, it was thought necessary to have at least a temporary footbridge in the meantime. It was unanimously decided to write to the City Council asking them to look into the matter immediately) and also to the Tramway Bonrd, pointing out the loss of revenue while the present state of affairs existed In reference to the proposal to erect a traffic bridge over the Heatheote at the end of Hackthorne road the Town Clerk wrote stating that the City Engineer had reported as follows*.—The transfer of the land for the bridge approach on the south side of the river (in the Heatheote County) had been held up owing to legal difficulties. The City Solicitor, however, had stated that the matter was nearing completion, and as soon as the land was dedicated the plans for the bridge would be prepared. This had been placed in the loan schedule at an estimated cost of £2500. Although light travels 186,000 miles a second, the light seen from the constellation known as Ursa' Major started on ,its journey to earth 2,000,000 years