WHAT LABOR IS DOING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3184, 1 April 1911, Page 11

WHAT LABOR IS DOING.

[Secretaries of the various local Unions are requested'to forward c.opies of their union engagements to~‘‘Franchise,” ‘'Gisborne Times” Office, and a list of union meetings will be furnished at the head of this, column for each week. Secretaries are also asked to forward any news of interest .to workers generally' for publication in this column.]

UNION MEETINGS. Typographical—Monday, April 3. Freezers (special meeting)—Monday, April 3. General Labourers —Wednesday, April 5. , Carpenters—-Thursday, April 6. , Drivers—Monday, April 24.

{By “Franchise.”) A meeting of the' Gisborne branch of the New Zeaiaud Labour Party was held last night in Townley’s Hall. Mr Duncan occupied 1 the chair, and there was a fair attendance of members. The meeting dealt with business in connection with the coming municipal and Harbour Board elections. It was decided that the campaign should be opened with a public meeting at the Sievwriglit memorial, at which candidates would express their views to the electors. Lateron, probably during the last few days before the "poll, a public .meeting will be held in the Theatre or some other hall. „ x At the meeting of the Labour Party last night it was decided not to send a delegate to the conference of Labour parties at Christchurch, as it would calsh with the election. Mr Turner, who had been appointed delegate to the conference, was a candidate for a seat on the Harbour Board, and it was thought he would be of more use in Gisborne while the actual campaign was in progress than far away from the seat of operations. A special meeting _of the Freezers Union is to be held in Townley’s HalL on Monday night next for the purpose of electing officers for the ensuing year. A meeting of the Auckland Labour Party and delegates from the various unions met in the Labour rooms, S’wanson street, on March 24th, for the purpose of selecting candidates for the forthcoming City Council election. Mr Proctor occupied the chair, and Messrs T. Walsh and E. Cronin were selected as the Labour ticket. The planks of the party are as follows: —(1) Pure and efficient administration; (2) municipal markets for fish, fruit and a municipal milk supply; {3} sanitary improvements, with regular, systematic and rigid inspection; (4) road improvements and better street lighting; (5) workers’ dwellings; and (6) municipalisation of the gas and ferry companies. A committee was appointed to further the interests of the selected candidates. “One of the saddest sights of the world is to see a man who is willing to work unable to find any work to do.” — Carlyle. It has been decided by the local branch of the New Zealand Labour Party to ask permission of the Borough Council to place four or five tables in the streets' on Saturday next, at which someone would be stationed to enrol those voters who as yet are not on the municipal roll. Some of the illustrations at the Town-planning Exhibition opened in London recently afforded a striking example of good town-planning, followed bv ill-considered schemes of expansion. Thus the ' city of Edinburgh, _ about 1820, invited schems for laying out Newtown —the district between Edinburgh proper and Leith. No one plan was wholly satisfactory, and in the end a composite scheme, combining what were considered the best parts of several plans, was adopted. But no adequate provision was made for industrial expansion, with the result that factories and workshops sprang up in wrong quarters. At the present time Newtown has consequently become prematurely old, for much of the smoke from these places darkens its once fair prospect. The picturesque and historic city is not unmindful of the lesson thus learned. Many houses, for sanitary and other reasons, have been pulled down, leaving delightfully open spaces in what were tremendously crowded districts. It is worth noting that very pleasant recreation is provided in these miniature parks for children, who are employed in simple planting under careful supervision. The English Labour Party represents 1,342,610 individuals, and the Labour Party is Mr J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P! That is the exact position to-day (says a writer in a London paper). Today Mr MacDonald’s position is unassailed. He lias laid the mark of his supremacy on the Labour world and although there are many men who are more than -doubtful as to the end of the journey on which he is urging them, there is none among them who possesses either the ability or the courage to force the party into a different path. Pamphlets descriptive of the new Workers’ Dwellings Act, and explanatory of the regulations made under the Act, are now available on application at the office of the Department of Labour. Mr J. Lomas, Secretary for Labour, informed a representative of the “Press” recently that lie expected that a start would be made shortly in Christchurch under the new Act, as the Department has 17 or 18 sections, some in the Walker settlement at Addington, and others in the Camelot settlement in Sydenham. He added that it Avas intended to give those who have Avorkers’ dAvellings on lease the option of acquiring the freehold under the provisions of the new Act.