LABOUR MATTERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 44, 20 August 1908, Page 2

LABOUR MATTERS.

[BY TELEGRAPH. — PBESS ASSOCIATION.] DUNEDIN, 19th August. At the meeting of the Hospital Trustees to-day it was stated that* the Financa Committee had considered a letter from the secretary of the Engine-drivers' Union,, which stated that the boiler in the institution must be in charge of a certificated engineer. The chairman, Mr. Solomon, pointed out that the Hospital engine must be worked twenty-four hours every day, and the engineer under th© award must only work eight hours. Therefore, they would have to employ three engineers. Besides this, they were liable for about £160 back wages. It was decided to pay the back wages and conform to the award DUNEDIN, 19fch August. The Dunedin branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, the largest union afiihated to the 'Otago lrades and Labour Conncil, has decided to endorse the resolution passed at the Trades and Labour Conference, urging workers to vote no-lioense, with a view of placing the trade under the control oi the State, on the understanding that this would occur only if no-license proved a failure. ARBITRATION COURT. tu a Oi DU . NE I>IN, 19th August. lhe Arbitration Court heard the Allandale coal miners' dispute to-day, the principal questions involved being deficient places and wet places. The court has now concluded its sittings here, and leaves for Wellington on Saturday. It has disposed of eight trado disputes, one compensation case, and a number of enforcement cases. All business here has been cleared off. UTTER DISREGARD OF LAW AND ORDER. AUCKLAND, 19th August. In the course of a report presented •to the Auckland Provincial Employers' Association this afternoon, the executive committee drew special attention to the deplorable and utter disregard of law and order, which had been so much in. evidence of late amongst several sections of workers throughout the Dominion. No fewer than 18 strikes had taken place in as many months. These strikes, and the action of the Government in regard thereto, proved beyond all doubt that the Arbitration Act in its present form' could neither prevent nor effectually deal with law-breakers who left their .employers in the lurch at a moment's notice. In speaking on the subject, the president (Mr.' Goldie) said there was evident reluctance on the part of the Government to offond those who would carry_ the largest voting power at the | elections. Organised labour, under the "leadership of professional agitators, wm doing its best to ruin the industries of tha Dominion. The employers must become an aggressive force or else one by one their rights would b© filched away, and that spirit of enterprise and earnest enthusiasm which tended to make a country great and glorious would have departed from their midst.