The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, MARCH 12, 1901 LABOR MATIERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 60, 12 March 1901, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, MARCH 12, 1901 LABOR MATIERS.

Tiie labor troubles in the North again give force to the question why should distinctions be made in regard to the Government or a company as an em. ployer ? Tho Waihi Daily Telegraph points out that it is an interesting and singular coincidence that just‘at the moment the Waihi miners are demanding higher wages from their employers the co-operative laborers at the Karangalialce tunnel are on the verge of a strike from precisely the same reason. They say not only that the wages are too low, but also that however hard they work they cannot make sufficient to keep them and those dependent upon them. After pointing out how awkward is the situation, the Telegraph justly remarks :—“ It would be both anomalous and inconsistent of the Government to interfere in a wages dispute botween private employers and workmen at Waihi if at the same moment their own workmen eight or ten miles distant were striking against a lower wage for tho same class of work. And from all the accounts that - have reached us, it is a much lower wage. One man declares that no matter how hard they work they cannot make more than 6s 8d per day at the Paeroa end of the tunnel, where the conditions are the more favourable, owing to the light country they are in. At the Owharoa end, their earnings are alleged to be oven less, because, owing to the slope in the level, the further in they go the more water they get. This latter difficulty raises the whole question whether the Government should not be subject to the Conciliation and Arbitration Act j ust as other employers of labor are. If these co-operative laborers were in private employ, they could cite their employers before the Conciliation Board and secure an equitable adjustment of their wages, but being in the service of the Government they have no right of appeal.” The mining field journal declares that the way the principle is at present adopted is wrong, and then proceeds to make out a strong case in favor of the State as an employer being dealt with j ust the same as any other employer. ‘ When the Government undertakes public work by contract labor,” continues our contemporary, “ t enters into competition with the ordinary contractor, who is subject to the conciliation and arbitration law, and is compelled to pay the ruling rate of wages. Subject to no such law, and possibly guided by the advice of an official of too economical instincts, the Government might easily become a greater- sweater than any private employer in the country. Singularly enough, the strongest opposition to bringing public servants under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act comes from the very Government that brought this Act into existence. Surely a singular inconsistency ! There is a strong feeling, however, among the labour members that the law should apply equally to private and public employers, and Mr Gr. W. Russell made a strong point of this in his speech at Riccarton on Saturday. Probably another determined effort in this direction will be made at the forthcoming session of Parliament. In this Karangahake matter, Mr Jackson Palmer, M.H.R., is interesting himself, and will probably secure some measure of consideration and justice for the men. But, all the same, it is the law of the land that disputes concerning wages shall be settled by a board or court, and there is no reason why any class of men should be deprived of the riglpt qf appeal and compelled to bring the pressure of political influence to bear just because they happen to be co-opera-tive labourers in the pay of the Government,” The disputes have served one good purpose in giving such prominnce to the relative condition,' by which State and privato employers are to be bouud in case of disputes among employees.

A number of the latest books are referrod_to by Mr Thomas Adams in his new advertisement which appears in t-liis issue.

A problem given by a correspondent in our last issue is dealt with by G.G., who states ; “ The quantity of metal is 21*3 cubic yards.” Mr H. J. Bushnell is at present taking orders for In Memoriam numbers of Illustrated London News, London Graphic and other papers. On and after the Ist of April, the price of white pine in this district will, in keeping with the prices ruling for other timber, be sixpence a hundred feet above what is now charged. A budget of cablegrams and telegrams is given on the first page of to-day’s Times, and on the fourth page there is a report of the inter-district crickot- match played at Ormond yesterday. Messrs ‘Williams and Kettle kavo just received a shipment of the famous Corryckoillie and Dewar’s special whisky. Other lines are also mentioned in the firm’s new advertisement, which appears in another column.

At last, after years of neglect, the Car-narvon-street jetty is being repaired, and in a few days persons bathing in tho river will bo able to make use of it. The jetty has been replanked in places and raised atboth ends, and generally put into a state of good order.

The annual treat to the children attending Holy Trinity Sunday school took place on Saturday afternoon at Cooper’s creek on the Wainui. Tho children were driven out in two brakes, and had a very pleasant time, returning to town shortly after five o’clock in the evening.

Messrs Common, Shelton and Co. announce the arrival of their autumn and winter shipments of drapery. In view of the openiug of the shooting season next month, the firm are at present opening up a splendid lot of double and single barrelled breach-loading guns.

Copies of tho Waihi Daily Telegragh are to hand. Tho paper is well edited, excellently printed,and a bright and newsy sheet, years in advance of Waihi. Tho Waihi people should be proud of the Telegraph. We extend to the proprietors our congratulations and hearty wishes for their success.

The Bishop of Melanesia is to preach three times in Holy Trinity Church next Sunday, a special service for children being held in the afternoon. His Lordship will also deliver a lecture on Tuesday, March 19, in the Theatre. This will, it is hoped, be illustrated by limelight views of Norfolk Island and the Melanesian Islands, particularly the Solomon Islands, where the head-hunter pursues his cheerful occupation. A suggestion which is meeting with considerable favor in rowing circles is that a banner should be procured and competed for by tlie-tWo clubs at the end of tho season ; that each club should select crews for the several events to be arranged, and the one scoring the most points in tho competition should hold the banner for twelve months. The idea is a good one, and wo hope to see it given effect to. It is stated that tho profits of the Daily Mail last year were 1180,000. Mr Alfred Harmsworth (the business head of the house and brotherhood of Harmsworth), who is now in America, in the course of an interview published in a New York newspaper, stated that more money is made by English thaivby American journals. This, he contends, is partly due to the more lavish payments of English journalists. “ I pay my best man F 15,000 a year. I do not haggle over the price with a good man 1” It is reported that Mr Harmsworth recently offered to purchase The Tunes for soven millions sterling. This offered was declined, which prompted an American paper to congratulate England on having one thing that could not be bought. Mr Walter Wethered, writing from London on January 19th to the Mayor, says : “ Enclosed herewith I send a poster of one of tho oldest, and certainly most respected, evening papers, a paper in no way given to sensational journalism. As a New Zealander, I need hardly tell you that it was extremely gratifying to mo to sec our men so prominently noticed, and I therefore secured one of the posters and sent it to you, believing that it will be of equal interest and gratification to yourself and the citizens of Gisborne and the Bay generally, Although the Poverty Bay contingent is not expressly mentioned, I know you will agree with me that there is but little doubt that they bore the brunt of tho fighting. Taking this opportunity of wishing you personally all good wishes for the New Year, yours sincerely, Walter Wethered.” When the Dalhousie was at Dunedin some of the Lascar crew visited a shop from which a waistcoat disappeared. The owner of tho shop (a woman), accompanied by a policeman, went to the train. The Hindus (says Truth) had all crowded together into a second-class smoking carriage, and thither the lady made her way, still accompanied by her burly escort. The lady had previously said that she could identify the supposed thief. The men were accordingly paraded, but when they all exhibited the same complexion, and assumed the same expression, displayed the same white teeth, and spolco the same incomprehensible lingo, the owner of the waistcoat was not so certain as to who was the man. The constable thereupon adopted a more indelicate method, He made each man open out his upper jacket, but beyond a covering of shiny black skin, nothing else could be discovered, certainly nothing resembling a waistcoat. The carriage by tliis time was in a state of indescribable confusion; the Hindus wero trying to talk English, and the constable was trying to talk Hindustani, but his accent did not appeal to his hearers. In the midst of it all, tho train started to move. The constable, neglecting his duty, darted out of the carriage, and jumped on to the platform ; the Truth reporter, always willing to copy a good example, followed with equal velocity, and when both had regained their balance, they found the lady on the platform, proclaiming her loss to a crowd of callous spectators.