WORK AND WAGRS

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10106, 3 August 1893, Page 5

WORK AND WAGRS

rSISOIAXt TO FbbM AjWOOUMOW.'S L LONDON, August %. ■ The Belgian miners offer to co«j operate with the English strikers] with the view of bringing on an international strike. The burners have joined the strike. A section of the Yorkshire mine-: owners offer to withdraw the notice* reducing wages and give a pledge not* to attempt a reduction for a year. , Agitators assert that there are 100,000 unemployed in London. They have written to the Premier, and a he does not reply they Will hold meetings outside the residences *>» members of Parliament.

[Per Prims Association.] WELLINGTON, AUWJW 0. . The opinion of members of the loosSj Seamen’s Union who are employed by thflj Union Company is not unfavourable to thcf £1 reduction announced by the Company)*! but they strongly object to compulsoryi joining of the Company’s Benefit Society.; The reduction was not altogether without, anticipation. A circular was lamed to members of the Union, and the result U to accept the reduction of £l, it compulsory) joining of the society mentioned is not «Uj forced. It is probable that a conference will be arranged with the Union Company's officials. Exception is taken to the last paragraph of the Union Company’s circular, the opinion of the men being that in the event of revival of trade the present rate of wages should be reinstated. At a large meeting of employers tonight, it was decided to wait on the Minister for Labour protesting against compulsory closing on Saturday afternoon: as provided in the Shop Hours, Bill. A: petition against the clausa is in circuit tion, and In a few hours one hundred names were attached. RAILWAY INSURANCE SCHEME. . DEPUTATION TO THE PREMISE. [from our special correspondent.] WELLINGTON, August 3. This morning a deputation waited os. the Premier with reference to the Railway, insurance scheme and the constitution oil the recent Conference on the subject. Tb* ! deputation comprised the Hon J. E. Jenkiason, M.L.C., Messrs Sandford, Tanner, Earnshaw and J. Kelly. M.H.E.’«, and Mr; Hoban, President of the Amalgamated Society of New Zealand Railway Servants.; Mr Tanner, in introducing Mr Hoban to the Premier, stated that that gentleman had compiled a mass of information, relative to the constitution of the recent! Conference, and wished to bring it forward; in no spirit of hostility to the Commit’ eionere, but solely in the interests of fair play to all. Mr Hoban said that the Railway servants of the Colony had many grievance*, and he wished to urge upon the Government the passage of the Industrial: Conciliation Bill, and the inclusion of Railway employees under its pro*' visions. As for the Conference that' lately sat in Wellington presuming toj represent the railway employees, he said that the facts as to its representative; character were as follows There were 4462 railway employees in the Colony, most of whom were wages men, yet at the Conference there were five stationmasters, one traffic inspector, one night foreman, one yard foreman and iiwoi from the clerical staff against five wage* men. Further, the wages men had only single votes, whereas the other dole-; gates by virtue of extra representation,, wielded eleven votes against five. Then) the manner in which these delegates were appointed, did not give representation to the body of the employees. At Christchurch; only thirteen were present at the meeting called a few days before the date of thti Conference. The men in the Addington work* shops, numbering 400 or 600, knew nothing at all about it. At Auckland the men had! only short notice, and at a small meeting! three prominent officials were suggested as delegates. At Otago, where there awl nearly 600 employees, three delegates were) appointed who did not represent 6 per; cent of the men. At Invercargill only, nine men were present at the meeting, and by five votes to three the Chief Clerk was appointed delegate. Ten! attended the meeting at Palmerston North, and a Committee elected by that] meeting appointed the station master at delegate, and he was Chairman of the! Conference. Mr Hoban went on to say that out of the whole railway service, the meet] ings held to elect delegates were attended' by less than one hundred persons. Ha controverted the impression created by the; recent Conference that the Amalgamated! Society of Railway Servants was averse! to an insurance scheme, and he' asserted that so far from the Society! decreasing in membership it was increasing both in membership and in' contributions. As for the petition in favour, of the Commissioners* insurance schema, he assured the Premier that in Christ-' church at least many signatures were' obtained through pressure by superior officers canvassing. ' Mr Earnshaw. as President of the Otago Branch of the Society, endorsed ell that Mr Hoban had stated. The three delegate*! who sat for Otago were, he said, not! men who would have been chosen bad the employees been consulted. The railway men as a whole were not averse to an insurance scheme, but any scheme to satisfy them must allow them to participate in' the benefit after they left the railway sets vice. There was a strong impression! among the men in the Otago district that! daring the coming recess the Cornmlu-' eioners would endeavour to foroe soma insurance scheme upon the men without Parliamentary sanction, but on the line* of the Bill that was before the Conference.! Mr Tanner said that he wished to emphasise the desire of the Baihray employees to have some independent tribunal before which their grlevanoea could he heard, and ha reminded the Premier that in 1891 the Public Petition* Committee made a recommendation tine such a tribunal should be set up for the' railway servants. The Hon J. E.' Jenkinson confirmed Mr Hoban’s statement as to the method In! which the Christchurch delegates were chosen, and added that the signatures to the petition in favour of the Oommbiw misaioners’ Bill were simply bogus. Speaking from his own experience, be showed that signatures were obtained by false pretences that the petition was in favour' of some insurance scheme, and not specially that of the Commissioners.

The Premier remarked that when lib*' - delegates to the recent Conference met him there was some talk about circulating th* Bill among all railway employees. H* wished to know if the present deputation; approved of the proposal, and if bo, what' would be the beat means to-ascertain the; views of the railway employees regarding! it. -

Mr Kelly suggested that as the men could not conveniently meet to discuss the; ( measure, a copy of the Bill should be sent to each mau in the service, along with » % voting paper, returnable to the Premier! direct without passing through the hand* of any official. In that way, he said, the independent opinion of the employee® on the subject would be obtained, - without being filtered through the hands of their superior officers. It! would, no doubt, be more satisfactory if; the men could meet in a body in the different districts and discuss the matter; but it was well known that large number*! of men could not do so, and therefore he’ suggested voting papers. Mr Sandford agreed that it was desirable to have the employees* individual opinion! of the measure, and the other member* $ I the deputation all expressed approval the proposal. The Premier said that he supposed that these voting papers should oo&* tain three things:—(l) Are you iQ favour of the Bill as it stands? (2) If; not, state where amendment is re«i quired. (3) Are you already insured -1 or in a Friendly Hev

listened, with interest to the views of the deputation on the important question of an insurance scheme. It was the desire of the Government to do everything that was fair and just to all concerned. Ministers’ first concern was the interests or the Colony as a whole, and after that came their duty 'to the servants of the . 'Ha was' nOt prepared to say at present that - ha' would adopt the suggestion made about taking i a vote of the employees on., tho,-Sill. He would in toe first place lay. the matter before the Railway Commissioners and his colleagues, ine proposal On the face of it appeared reason>able, and ought to be adopted unless there were grave reasons against it. The cost would be trifling, as copies of the bill would cost only 30a per ■ thousand. Tho takipg Of tho vote would certainly sab at seat the divergent statements made as to the wishes of. the railway employees in the matter of the insurance scheme. He took it that there was a general consensus of opinion that there should be some scheme. It might be founds hat the late Con- . foresee represented, the.ytews of the men, hut in the meantime* as the delegates were sot chosen by the employees as a whole, •ad as the latter did not know what had hem done, it was impossible to say whether or not they approved of the Commissioners’ scheme. <He would take an early opportunity'of asking .the Railway Commissioners to meet, him, when he would lay the proposal before them. ' The deputation thanked the Premier, and withdrew.