CANADA'S INFLUX.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 75, 21 December 1907, Page 5

CANADA'S INFLUX.

; IS IT TOO GREAT?' TRADE;. UN IONS; AGAINST ■ SKILLED i , LABOUR,.. i'STKATHCONA ADVISES DELAY, . • . 81, IELBGEAPH—PRESS. ABSOCIATION—COrTSIGHT.-, . (Rec. Dec. .20, 9.41 p.m.) . London, December 20. ■ : Air. Trbttor, a Special Commissioner'sent by the Canadian Trado and Labour Congressto warn" British workers against emigration, adti'ress'cd-'the• Labour party and ■ the Parliamentary Committee of the' Trades Union .Congress at - Wost-rainster. ; He;,declared that the'flood;of skillod. labour , had . attained . alarmipg . proportions Many emigrants wore 'settling in' cities where they wcro not wanted,, and were refusing to go to the country whero>they were.needed. . Mr. Trotter blamed •' Canadian manufacturers, also British .emigration, agencies -and. shipping,,.companies, which ' are working on .commission. , . / ■ '. FACTORIES REDUCING, NO NEED FOR ALARMIST,-VIEWS. ■* > ' 7 (Rec. Dec. 20, 9.44 :: p.m.)' a Ottawa, December 20.-.; Lord St-rathcona,, High Commissioner for Canada, interviewed, ..said • that nobody' needing work should emigrate until . the, spring.. Several Ontario factories Aavo decreased ( their ,output, rendering idlo i(' large number, of-'hands. . The -class affected.' is chiefly those, sent out by'charitable institutions.. r , "Alarmist reports," said Lord Strathcona, "are; grdundiess.'? 'He; admitted, however,, that- conditions of labour 'and business' are less brisk than,they were in 1906. , i " TWO CLASSES. OF IMMIGRATION. . A Committee of-the Canadian Manufacturers'/ ' Association established a labour bureau in -London. for. tho recruiting of skilled labour. •Up to the, beginning of September, sisty-opo . manufacturers • belonging to the Association iiasl applied .for .838 workpeople, of whom-430. 'had'actually sailed. The largest call,for labour'was', for spinners and weavers for. cotton factories at Montreal' and- Valleyfield, centres' of the' Canadian .'textile trade, and 136"0f' the workpeople'shipped'go to theso centres. The cost of 'the London.'bureiiu is' iriet out'df Jees charged- to: manufacturers for . whom labour is plus a . yearly grant -of - about i£sßo by.the Association.. Tho - Canadian-Government's' immigration work is Vo.'.'different thing;! the ' Government mainly ,' seeks for men ■ for the. land. . The. , Association. appeaiedjto tho Government, to encourage, the importation of skilled labour to the' extent' of referring to the Association's bureau any-nien! ,applying to the- Government in'Lbndon for .information and advico as to' tho demand " iii Canada for skilled labour! Tho Government'refused to do this. • "TJio-demand in-'Canada," - said .'.the Government, "is, for to. occupy the. yet vacant:land-of the' oountry,, to 'aid. in,the, cultivation of the .land already occupied, and also to .assist' in pro: viding;, additional transport' .facilities.'... '. To 'go- beyond the attempt .to' meet "those re-quirements-would be, to'use the money'of-cer-tain, classes of' Canadian taxpayers for,the purpose ;-of; securing competitors against, them''in their-' special callings, for which they would naturallv hold'.tho-Government to. account." •

' -Li its'ans'wer,- the Association, said, that' tho Government's rpply. "implies 'a. deferenco to 'the demands of organised 'labour,' nrhiph/sqems difßcult ;-to understand, in 'view-'of tho fact' that unions,-'in;.Canada, represent, less ,than. 10 per cont'.--,of ".the-Worfei?', iii Canadian - industrial establishment's! Moreover, Xto -pay -'a ■commissioii fori'bringing :oiit labourers,' and; to refuse' to pay it, for" bringing', out 'artisans; would . indicate that, in tho opiiiion', of . the Government, the man' who digs a- ditch is worth' more .to Canada than the'man -who builds'a house/' ■ , ■ ; -. i