INDUSTRIAL PEACE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 118, 14 November 1925, Page 16

INDUSTRIAL PEACE

MAN WITH 250,000 EMPLOYEES.

In the forest araag of the parish of Lyel, about twenty' miles southeast of Bendigo, there. \s a jn.an who,}e»d.ti an ideal existence, write? H.P.B, in tho Melbourne "Argus.." Jle has 250,000 employees, Not one of theip has ever known a d.ay of enforced, idleness, there hag never been a Strike, and there lias, never been a Stpprwprk meeting. There h»S never be§n an appeal to the Arbitration Court or any other tribunal, When their, employer is prospejpmi they share his prosperity, and in lean years they attach up blamq to him. The m^n !s name is Charleg Jones, ixis the 250,000 employees are housed in £ccprd.anee with the Bees Ac% J9i§. With the cowing of thtf ac^ tho old form of beehpuse died out, and ihg wasteful and somewhat cfucJ method of breaking up the comb and strain^ ing the hojiey was abandoned. Public opinion had been against it for a long time. Wherever the Bee? Act iq proclaimed it is now an pffencg {p. use any other boxes than ( those, pre* scribed. Bees must be housed under healthful and hygienic epßditioni, and the honey is extracted withput the destruction of the cpmb. Thus the bees are spared much labour and the killing which resulted under tho ojd njethod is obviated.

In a yery small house in the forest Mr. Jones leads tho simple life, Be pays his forest license, and wherever tho blpssom looks abundant he sets hjs beehives down. Mr. Jones obr tamed the chassis of a motpnear, an 4 with his own hands has built a bpdy capable of carrying about 50 bee? hives. He has various hives and colonies about tho forest. Whou the blossom becomes scareo in one area ho loads the hives on to his lorry and travels to spme portion where tho bees have a better foraging ground. lie never contemplates the possibility of his hives being stolen, and his confidence so far has not been; misplaced.

His desire is to obtain tho necessaries of life. What is over he give? to some deserving individua.l or institution- During tho war hs found him_r self in possession of mijch n^ore honey than ho required. He loaded the balance on to his lorry and distributed it among the charities pf Bendigo. Some time ago the rate collector of ths Shiro of Strathfjaldaaye made a demand for $ome rates for land in the vicinity. Tho property was owned by one Jones. Mr. Jones wrote a polite note in reply. He said that there had been some mistake. He did not own any land in the vicinity, but he frequently used tho roads. In the circumstances, therefore,' he had pleasure in forwarding the amount demanded. The shire officer does not gay how the amount appeared in the ratetbooH, or whether pr not it was returned,

Later an officer of the shiro went to 'Lyel to investigate ft copnplaint in regard to a portion ef road which was suid to be in very bad order. The ofijeer found tho rouil in perfect order. It had recently been repaired. Inquiry elicited the fact that it had been ro* paired by Mr. Jones. After h'S visits to his bees, he said, he had sopie time to spare Ditch day, and he devoted it to 'putting tho TPsad }iv prdgr, He <ti<l not uiiderstand why people did not repair the roads in their spare time. The roads belonged to everyone, ajjd jt was everyone's duty to keep them in order. He made no suggestion of requiring paymeat.