LABOUR NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 77, 2 April 1910, Page 12

LABOUR NOTES.

(By Unionist.) SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ELECTIONS. The South Australian State general elections are being held to-day. Both branches of the Stato Legislature are constituted on an elective basis. For the Legislative Council tho franchise is a restricted one, only those -citizens posfessed of property qualifications having ' tho right to vote. For the Legislative Assembly the franchise is tho usual one of adult suffrage. As is everywhere the case now, in Australian politics, tho contest is between two parties only — Labour and Anti-Labour. The elections are proving of more than ordinary interest, because of the general indications the results will give as to Labour's chances at the forthcoming Federal elections. Both parties havo been actively engaged in electioneering for weeks past, and it is expected that the polling will' be very heavy. Labour is contesting a majority of soat3 in both Houses. There ore eight Labour nominees for tho Council, but their chances are limited on account of the restrictive franchise. Only two or three of tho retiring councillors aro Labour men, and if their numbers are added to in tho new Coun. cil it will bo at the expenso of tho sitting councillors for tho Metropolitan districts. In tho last Assembly there were twenty^ Labour representatives as against twenty, two members of the fused Peake-Butler Party. Representation in the House of Assembly is furnished- by thirteen districts, entitled to the following quota, of members : — Adelaide 4, Port Adelaide 3, Torrens Ji, Victoria and Albert 3, Burabura 3, Alexander 4, Murray 3, Barosso 3, Wooroora 3, Wallaroo 3, Stanley 3, Flinders 3, and Northern Territory 2; total 42 members. Of Labour's twenty representatives in the last Parliament, no fewer-than fourteen wero returned for the districts in and around Adelaide. Two each from Woorocra and Wallaroo and one each from Flinders and Northern Territory make up the remainder. At the polls to-day thirty Labour candidates, torty-ninc Government candidates, and five Independent* are seeking election to tho Lower House ; in all cighty-thiee aepirantK for the forty-two seats. That tho Pcake-Butler Fusion Ministry has not been able to establish full party control is evidenced by the fact that more than the lequircd number | of Ministerial supporters arc in the field, j Differences between the eirtwhilo supporters of the Peake a.* against the Butler Party, account for the duplication of Government candidates, although now the wholo of the 49 accredited Fusion candidates express their intentions of loyally supporting the existing Cabinet. The bunch of Independents is considered to havo but poor pro.*peets of election. A gain of two seats would enable Labour to depose tho present Ministry. In Labour circles in the State it is not expected that the election? will result in very largely increased Labour representation. The country electorates have proved difficult of organisation, and Labour members are not over-confident of ousting the fitting Ministerialists. Mr. Peako hopes to incrcabo his following at the expense of Labour in the city districts. If, however, Labour retains its hold on the metropolitan electorates tho anticipations of the party will be lealised, and a bare majority of Labourites will enter tho new Parliament. According to its own press such a result would also augur well for Labour*, chances at Federal election time. Already in South Australia Labour has the unique advantage of having tecurcd the unopposed return of two of its nominees for beats in tho Commonwealth Parliament. All the preliminaries have been completed, ana application will be made in a day or two lor the formal registration of the Wellington Wool and Grain Storeß Employees' Union. The union promises to becomo a fairly influential Labour organisation. It etarts with a membership of over thirty. There are, roughly, from 200 to 300 workers employed m the various stores from which the membership of tho union if* recruited. Mr. W. C. Noot has been okcted first secretary, and the other officers have been uppointed from among tho members. Iho main grievanco of the employees which the union will attempt to remedy are low wages and Irregular working hours. Ou an average the pay at present is only Is per hour, while tho men ore called upon to work *l all hours of the day. It i& not inteiubil to formally file a dispute, with the employers if that procedure can be avoided. The union hopes to obtain improved working conditions in an industrial agi cement to he framed at a private cuiifcrcnco with the employers. Mr. T. Long has been elected unopposed to a seat on the Parnell Borough Council. , The Hon. J. T. Paul papst-d through Wellington during the week <>n his J way to Auckland, where he i» appearing t before the Arbitration Court on behalf of the Federated Tailoresses. The half-yearly report of the local Ororern' Union, to be presented at next week's meeting. Miowr that 29 members join?d in the six months', r* a^aiiift 33 for. the previous half-year. The receipts foi the period total, roughly, £45, and the expenditure was within a few pounds of that amount. The election ot officers for Iho ensuing year will be taken at tho meeting. Labour in Australia will bo greatly perturbed over tli3 High Court's deci»iou anent the question of the Federal Arbitration Court's power to override the Stato awards and determinations. Trade unionists on the other sido are striving for the complete transference of all industrial affairs to the Federal Court and Commonwealth Legislature The High Court's dpcifions in this and in tho "new protpcticii" case aie a big eel-back to Labour's t'imb for Fed- | cral control of indu^'.ir.l legislation. | Mr. Justice Hiftgins, President <jf the I Federal Arbitration Co;ut, first raised the point in the WoodwoHuTr*' dispute, and ugam when the BootimikeiV case was beforo him. Altogether five Federal awards have been delivered up to thp present time. The only award likely to be upMet by the decifioi. of tho High Court ia that recently made in the Boptmnkors' di«piito, though the decision might also possibly affect the validity of tnp award in tbo Marine Cooks and Bakeio' dispute. In tho Hootmnkci.-.' ca«e, prior to the Federal Court's investigation of the dispute, there wcro already Slate awards in cxi^tenco in connect ion with the trade. The late«t official itatistio available *how the aggregate membership erf trades unions in the United States to be about 2,600,000. Of this total, 1,586,885 belonged to union"! affiliaied to the American Federation of Labour. This last tiff u re in buFcl upon the j'veratje number of member* pn>iii'_» per rapita contribution to thf ii'dei-alioii. in the preioos yetu the membership of the federation wiia 1,538,970, but ino*t of tho incienep in 1908 was. duo to the readminmoii of a union hu\inK a membership of about 40,000. Apnit fiom those, tho iNire»'c in nn'inberehiiJ in 1908 km re-liitivt-ly small. Of the unions not afriiiiitrd t<> the American Federation of Labour, the inoul important «re the or<(iii l i«ntjo:i}> of lailwuy >>er\anU (277,693 i numbers) and the bricklayers Mid BUp- j 1 poA tWtQQQ pM-mbfirs}.. * '