LINES ABOUT LABOUR.

Evening Post, Volume LXVI, Issue 16, 18 July 1903, Page 12

LINES ABOUT LABOUR.

* Over 1000 unemployed men are said to be registered at the Kalgoorlie (W.A.) Oioveniment Labour Bureau. ,, M , r - Tou * Mann has reported' to the Melbourne Trades Hall on Jiis organising woik m Western Victoria. He said that he had not done much in the matter of industrial organisation. In Geelone he certainly did a little, but there was no trades hall there, and consequently he was handicapped. At Colac, Camperdown, and towns further west there was a distinct coldness to commence with, and there was also an element of open opposition, but before the meetings were over a great number of converts were wori over, and many branches of the Political Labour Council were formed. If only reasonable attention were given to the whole State a large vote would be given to labour members at the next State and Federal elections. But he wished it to be understood that the work he was doing was utterly inadequate to meet the requirements of the case, and it was necessary that that fact should at qnce be realised, otherwise they would" not achieve the good results they so earnestly hoped for. Mr.- Watson, leader of the Federal Labour Party, delivered an interesting lecture in Melbourne recently on "The Ideals of the Labour Movement." A choice had to be made between the coldblooded doctrine of the survival of the fittest or a humane policy of State con^ trol. The desire to stand well in the opinion of our neighbours would be sufficient etimuius to secure initiative under socialistic conditions. The Labour Party aimed adeeming equal opportunities for all — -not that ail men and women were equal in ability, but that all should be equal before the law. They • advocated the nationalisation of all monopolies, the regulation of industry by means of compulsory arbitration, and Federal old-age pensions. With these ends in view, and with the assistance of women voters, he was hopeful that before long Australia would set a lesson and an example to the world. The Rev. H. A. Crawford asked whether it was true that some Continental writers on the socialism Mr. Watson approyed had advocated the abolition of marriage. Mr. Watson said that so far as the views of the Federal Labour Party, and, he believed, all the Labour Parties in Australia, were concerned, they regarded the sanctity of marriage as the basis of society. The decisions by the West' Australian Arbitration Court in the cases of local saddlers and carpenters, the goldfields butchers, and the Norseman miners, give dissatisfaction to the workers, several meetings of whom have been called. Indignation is expressed at the action of the Court in allowing piecework. In regard to this point, Mr. Lobstein, the workers' representative on the .Arbitration Court, dissented from the finding of bis colleagues. Speaking in regard to the claim of the Norseman miners for increased wages, Mr. Justice Parker expressed the opinion that it would damn the field, and add hundreds to the unemployed. Mr. Lobstein, referring to this statement, said the only company on the Norseman fields that would have been affected by the increase, had paid £88,000 in dividends on a paid-up capital of £14,625. In the case of the carpenters the minimum wage has bpen reduced Is per day, being now 10s 6d. In the case of the saddlers, the minimum wage was fixed at £2 10s a wegk. At the Melbourne Trades Hall Council recently Mr. Roberts moved "That a conference be held of members of 'the Trades Hall Council, the Christian Citizens' Association, .and the Council of Churches, to discuss the aims and objects of trades unionism." He said that he had attended a 1 meeting of the Christian Citizens' Association at Malvern on the previous night,' and experienced the humiliation of hearing a letter --read from one who called himself an influential member of the Council, in which he stated that the labour movement was nothing more or less than mere selfishness. (Cries of "Shame," and "Give us his name.") Mr. Roberts — He is here to-night, and can speak for himself. It should not be necessary for any member of the Council to have to repudiate statements of that kind' made by one of their number. However, he (the speaker) succeeded in disabusing the' minds of those present, and left them with a good impression of the work the Council was doing. Mr. Loughnan opposed the motion, as he 4'd not believe in "smooging to that crowd," who had not the slightest sympathy with the workers. Mr. J. W. Fleming, the unemployed agitator, was extremely averse to such a proposal, as parsons only lised their power against those who toiled. "Why," he asked, "should I work to make a living for them? I am not going to confer with those who are living on my labour.' A voice — When do you do any? (Laughter.) The motion was carried. At a meeting of the Outtrim Howitt Coal Company of Victoria the oilier day, the Chairman gave a full account of the recent strike. The new men, he said, were giving entire satisfaction. The new system of day work, he felt sure, would prove successful, and he ventured to think that many other coal mines would shortly be worked on the system, as it j seemed to be the only means by which a» breakaway could be successfully made from the hampering and embarrassing conditions associated with the system of winning coal by contract, with day wages. The occupation of agitators would be gone, and the wages offered of 8s per day of eight hours would undoubtedly attract good men from every port of the State. The Chairman of the Jambunna Company, who was present by invitation, pointed out that the company had not locked the men out, but had given them several months' grace to reconsider their decision. At the Melbourne Trades Hall Council meeting the other day complaints were made that the Minister for Public Works (Mr. Bent) had called for tenders with and without the minimum wage provisions. For some years past all Government contractors have had to make a declaration that their workmen had been paid the minimum rates of wages. This was done on a resolution agreed to by the Legislative Assembly on the motion of Mr. Trenwith, M.L.A. Mr. D. Martin, Secretary for Public Works, states that lately Mr. Bent gave instructions that, tenders should be invited for work to be jjone without the minimum rates provisions, as well as with them. Mr. Martin on Saturday said that the object of the Minister in taking this cour*e was to obtain information. •From time to time complaints have been made in regard to the congestion of business in the New South Wales Arbitration Court. The matter Avas again referred to yesterday by the President, Mr. Justice Cohen, during the hearing of a case in which a breach of an award of the Court was alleged to have been committed. His Honour said that the heavy accumulation of work in the Court was in a large measure due to the issue of so many summonses for alleged breaches of the Court's awards. T^he time had arrived, in his opinion, when the Court would have to take into consideration the necessity of inflicting heavier penalties when cases involving breaches of the awards -were proved. The awards of the Court would have to.be obeyed. It appeared to him that the practice hitherto obtaining of inflicting light penalties contributed somewhat to the recurrence of these actions.