NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 781, 2 April 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Minister for internal Affairs, the Hon. D. Buddo, has aroused the anger of the people 1 ' of Aramoho by his .attitude in .regard to' the proposal to form Aramoho into, a separate borough. •. Apparently the Minister favoured the proposal that Aramoho should be absorbed by the Borough of Wanganui. We know nothing of the merits of : the two proposals, but if; will be seeii.from a letter on the subject published elsewhere that Mr. Buddo has'. behaved in a'very remarkable manner. The letter which is. addressed to the Minister, himself _ has.been forwarded to us , for publication, and -we would commend it to the attention 1 of our readers. . ■•.■,' ■■'■" '•' ■■ ■-■ '. ; "; . .-."'

- The Clyde Quay Wharf, • made conspicuousby its-longitudinal; line- of reinforced concrete arches (a provision, for a travelling crane); is all but completed. The. wharf is now being wood-blocked, which work should be finished in about a month. Othorwiso there are only a few odds and ends to do before the wharf is ready for duty: So far. it has not been definitely announced what that duty_ is, but in view/of the restrictedservice done by the Taranaki Street Wharf, it is quite within the bounds of conjecture that it is included in Dr. Newman's "littla list , '. of,-un'-, necessary works. .The new wharf js anathema to the yachtsmen who use the Boat Harbour (for which. use they pay_ an annual fee)..', What their position will be when steamers intrude on the fairway into the little harbour can only bo expressed in language too tstrone for print. Apparently there will never be peace for yachtsmen in this fair harbour of ours.

Oue evening contemporary has throw nfurther'light on- the-disputed point as to the offer made by a Labour Conference to a shorthand writer for a report of its proceedings. The indignation of the conference at the comments on .its strange idea of what constitutes fair payment if or shorthand and typewriting work hardly seems justincd in face, of our contemporary s statement of the position.- We extract the following from The Post version-, of • the inci,dent:— ■ ; :■■•'. ';

Assuming that the report could 1 hare been oondensed (to the satisfaction of the conference) to, say, threa columns for the day, the :requirement of twelve typewritten copies would have involved the reporter in .an expenditure of at least IBs. to secure the'assistance necessary to complete the task overnight. After the offer of 15s. for this work had been put to the reporter, he sought advice from a member of.the.Journalists' Institute (attached to the staff of "The Post"), and ''The Post" representative necompanied tie reporter to the Trades Hall. The position was explained in detail to the conferences secretary, Mr. Iteyling, who professed to know something ■ about typing. He said : that when it was proposed to get twelve typewritten reports of the day's work, he had remarked' that tho cost would be. about 305., and the delegates replied that they could not afford 30s. They offered 15s. It was explained to Mr. Eeyling that this offer could leave little or no profit to tie reporter, even assuming that he did several hours' typing himself, at tho close of the day's reporting. As a matter of fact, subsequent inquiries made by the reporter showed that he would bo probably out of pocket on the deal.. As an altornativo it was suggested ,to Mr. Eeyling that the reporter should provide a good longhand report for 155., and leave the conference to make its own arrangements for typing. Otherwise a minimum of 255. would be required for twelve copies. Mr. Royling undertook to place the proposals before his colleagues, and said no would give their answer at 12.30 on Wednesday: "Tho Post" representative was not present when Mr. Eeylißg announced tho reply to tho reporter, but the reporter said he had gathered from Mr. Eeyling's answer that the delegates oonsidered that 15s. was ill tho work was worth. This evidence, hoivevor ,is not corroborated. In an; case, tho plea of the conference tlul if could not afford more than 15s.—it is a etnferenco supposed to bo representing pnetieally all tho painters' unions- in Now Zealand, and tho worti was to bo for only two or tlireo days—is no excuse for offering sweating terms. The only possible excuse that could bo advanced would be utter ignorance of the work entailed in roporting tho meeting and furnishing twelve typewritten copies.- Employers, in general, are not exonerated on a charge of sweating when they plead that: they cannot afford to give their employees better treatmont. Our contemporary appears-to have placed the Labour Conference in an 1 awkward .BOBJtiinru-