EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 100, 27 April 1912, Page 6

EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS.

COMPLAINT FROM FLAXMILL HArJDS A deputation from the Manawatu Flaxmili Employees' Union waited on the Minister for Labour (Hon. G. Laurenson) this afternoon. The deputation first of all heartily congratulated Mr. Laureneon on having obtained Cabinet rank, and then went on to represent that the accommodation provided for the workers at the mills was not sufficient. The deputation asked for two new rooms, wire-woven btretcheis, and mattresses, bathrooms, lavatories, and co on. At present, said one hpeaker, the accommodation was insanitary, and in -many cases indecent. At one mill there weie twentythree men in one room and no provision for privacy of any description. Unless the accommodation was set out in regulations they would not get wh*t they ought to have. The deputation, also objected to the system, of contracting for labour only, which cut them away from the advantages of the award and the Accommodation Act, and put them outside the Compensation Act. They -urged that the Arbitration Act should be amended co as to make such contracts illegal. Another request of the deputation was that firet-aid appliances should be provided at all mills on account of the frequency of accidents, and that there should be a common sitting room for each mill. "I have been in several industries," aaid one speaker, "and 1 think that the accommodation in the naxniills is the worst I have ever seen." The Minister, in replying, eaidi that Mr. Robertson, M.P., had on many occasions brought the matter under his notice. The lequests of the deputation appeared to him very reasonable, more especially in regard to bathrooms and shelter from draughts. It was abominable that men should be compelled to associate with those whose very presence was an offence. He would get a report from the Secretary for Labour and bring; the matter before Cabinet without delay.