UNIONS AND FLAX.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 10

UNIONS AND FLAX.

■Sir,—lt : -is deplorable to lie'ar tho cry of ■tlw unemployed from-.-all parts of the Dominion for work, and no' work to" bo cot: .Has tlio fame not ramo for tW uniOnß'to ro--lax permit their members ittf itako^. work "for the present,. at';any rate, at ; what they can get? "Bettor a half ldhf than no loarth'an stairrafaon to a man, "his..wife,:and chil-' j, that many who have money and _land :m thovtowne would build if they ■could build' ohteper.: Tho cost of building must return, jnterest. Carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers,' etc., would find employment, and ,with at leas cost' rente would come down. .

I havejust got a fetter from the secretary of the 1' laxnullers' Association, in which ho encloses a list' of fresh demdnds for increase' . wages; , that the ~ Flaxmillere' Union has decided..,to submit to the approaching Arbitration' Court, and this at a [ time when no milter can make both onds 1 meet, Md tile whole industry is tottering, l;to a fall. -This is .beyond a joke. ■'Why thew union, should ever have boon recognised at all any mere than the Farm 1 Labourers' Union in the south I cannot imagine. They are on!ly. unskilled labourers, but are moved by plausible men, who I believe are paid for their soheming. by the simple hands, who are being played . upon" towards their ■rum.. ■*- ■' ...... . . It is a time that men should bo allowed to ; take what capital can afford to p3y, or .as iu the: flax industry, ,the industry wili soon, be,a thing of, the past.—l am, etc;, ; ANXIOUS ONE. ; , Palmerston North, July 8, 1909. .