LINES ABOUT LABOUR.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 61, 9 September 1905, Page 12

LINES ABOUT LABOUR.

The New York Evening Post refers to the organised labour unions as "our Fifth Estate." The Winton correspondent of the Rockhampton Bulletin makes the statement that kangaroo shooters out that way "are making from £5 to £10 a week." Mrs. Katting, a Queensland labour organiser, at a meeting at Ravens-wood urged the women to "read both State and Federal Hansards." In six Aveeks the Federal Hansard alone has run to fifteen hundred closely-printed pages. The woman who followed Mrs. K's. advice would have to drop all other work while Parliament was in session. A wharf labourer known as Harry Johnson gave his name as "Falk" when called as a Avitness at the Sydney Arbitration Court. He explained that it was only when working on German vessels that he could use his' own name. He found himself compelled to use an English name to obtain work among the other workmen on the wharf. Members of the Kalgoorlie Firemen's Union have decided by 171 votes to 2 to accept the 11s 8d per shift, the rate of wages incorporated in the amended scale submitted by the mine owners' representatives at the recent conference which they had with delegates from the Mine Employees' Unions. The Government Mining Inspector at Broken Hill proceeded against the general manager of 'the Block 10 Mine on a charge of having used a safety-cage before having it tested in the presence of the Mines Inspector. Defendant pleaded guilty. He urged that the offence had arisen through an oversight. A fine of £5, with 6s costs of the Court, and £4 4s professional costs, was imposed. During the hearing of a wharf labourer's claim in ,the Arbitration Court at Sydney a witness referred to "social influence" having a great deal to do with preference. On the wharf where he worked there were two foremen who had the habit of using dreadful "swearwords," and the only men they would employ were those who would put up with a lot from them. "To bo friendly with them," said the witness, "a man has got to submit to filthy language and abuse. If he wants to get any of the labour going he must allow himself to be called disgusting names and insulted. I don't feel up to it. I remonstrate with them if they call me anything." Witness offered to give specimens of the language, but Judge Haydon did not think they were necessary. Labour union questions (says the New York Evening Post) do not have so clear a field in Congress as they ' used to. Formerly the average politician fell on his knees when organised labour was mentioned and begged for an opportunity to know what that august monarch wanted. Of late years there has been a growing perception in Congress that there were two sides to the story, and that each deserved a hearing. This has been true of the proposed eight-hour legislation, and of anti-injunction laws, and it promises to be true of the Chinese question the next time that it comes up. The business classes will have something to say on the business side of the subject. Nobody wants a flood of coolie labour, but there is a growing sentiment in favour of the liberalisation of our laws. A slight hitch has occurred at Kalgoorlie with the of wages question. The filter-press workers asked for 13s 4d a day in their application for a new wages scale, and this uus rejected by the Chamber of Mines, whiiih offered 10s 6d. The mine-owners state that the work of filter-pressers is purely unskilled labour, and that, moreover, it is carried on under better conditions than any other unskilled labour, as the men are being protected in gooq quarters, both in winter and summer. There is no reason, the mine-owners argue, why the men should receive more than other workers in the cyanide works. This opinion ia shared by a number of workers on the mines, who are somewhat nettled at the filter-press men seeking to upset the whole ratio of wages by demanding the rate paid to skilled miners. On the other hand, it is thought that an increase is warrapted from 10s 6d a day to both truckers and cyanide workers, so the workers have decided to endeavour to secure a compromise on the subject, i. The mining wages question at Kalgoorlie is complicated by reason of the Filter Press Union not being a registered body. If it was registered its members would have to stand or fall with the general ballot of mine workers. In the present circumstances H they are not included in the ballot the mineownprs would have to cite them through the Mining Workers' Union, and in such a case a fight would lie with the whole scheme of wages rather than with the filter prees workers alone, as it would be as easy to argue on tho whole list as on one item. The issue was discussed comprehensively at a meeting of the two mining unions, and it was decided that, in order to secure wherever possible unanimity among all branches of workers, tho decision with regard to ballot should be adjourned until tho Chamber of Mines had been approached concerning a possible compromise between the two sets of workers — truckers and filterpress hands. The withdrawal from tho Unemployed Bill of the clause permitting local authorities to acquire land for the purpose of farm colonies (says tho London Daily Chronicle) reduces that measure to a nullity. This was tho most valuable provision in the Bill, and its elimination bhows the insincerity of the Government in dealing with an acute social problem. A great deal of the criticism levelled at the Unemployed Bill was quite beside the mark. If everything else had been omitted from the Bill and the fami colony clauso had been retained it would have been a valuable measure. Wo cannot fathom the objections to a farm colony. An able-bodied man who is workless and destitute can demand either out-relief or admission to tho workhouse. Is it not better alike for tho community and the individual that such a man should be engaged in healthful occupation in a farm colony instead of idling in a workhouse, or losing his self-respect as an outdoor pauper? At the Sydney Labour Council's meeting' a somewhat warm discussion occurred on a motion by Mr. Dugan that the Council should determine the question : "What is a living wage?" A delegate asked : Were they to _fix a living wago for married and single workers, skilled and unskilled, and city and country? Mr. Dugan thought that not less than 7s per day should be fixed as 'a living wage for unskilled .labour, and he submitted a resolution to this effect. Mr. O'Brien: Why discriminate between skilled and unskilled? Did it cost the one more to live than the other? A delegate: If they fixed 7s per day for unskilled labour 'in the metropolis, how much would they allow for Broken Hill? Mr. Dugan desired to withdraw the motion, "because of the hostility displayed by the delegates who apparently did not wish to assist." Mr. Kiley held that tho motion could not bo withdrawn. He moved as nn amendment: — "That this Council believes in a minimum wage, and that the fixing of that minimum wage bo left to the trades unions." Tho amendment was carried by a large majority. A further amendment — "That this meeting is not in a position to express on opinion as to what is a living wage from- the information supplied"— i was reiected.