GENERAL LAGOURERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue XLIX, 13 January 1916, Page 6

GENERAL LAGOURERS

PROPOSALS FOB fOFXTRY

Demands have been filed by the Wellington General Laboareis' I'nion for a new award, to apply to Napier, Hastings. and Wanganui. and local bod its in the district. The pr.posnls embody the following main joints:—A forty six hour week, and, in wet places, or goal a:r In tunnels, a six-hour day : wag. s to be as follows: —Labourers emph yed in connection with the erection, alteration or demolition of any buildjng. ■ r :.•: excavatiu" or preparing the ground for a building .Is sd-a:s hour: tunnclm.-:, and timber-men. -Is 6d an hour ::•.'. other underground workers. Is 6d an hour. Workers engaged in getting oi:t stone roughly squared to measurement ; powderipeit, hammer and drill men, an.- iumperment. Is 6d per hour all other w i kers fciigaged in or about a quarry. Is 5d an hour concrete work, pick a"in shovel work, sewer work, kerbing and channelling, lay :ing an,.! cleaning drains. Is 4id per hour; asr.hait and tat work. Is 5d per hour. One shilling and sixpence per hour shall be paid to workers working in wet places, but tliLs provision shall o"!i!y take effect when a worker is engagecL in one jilace for the greater part of the day. and doss not apply to in-" termittent work in wet places. Overtime is sought- at tn"e rate of time and a quarter for the first two hours, time and aJiah" thereafter until 10 p.m.. and double time from 10 p.m. : for commencing work between 6 a.m. and the ordinary hour. time and a quarter ; work done on Sunday." Xew Year s -Day,- Easter Monday, Labour Day, Christmas.Day, or Boxing Day .double time on holidays, rime. and a-half. Youths unde. 18 years of age may be employed in the proportion of not lrfore than one to every five men, at the following rates: Up to 17 rears of aire. £1 IDs ~per week, up to 18. £1 16s a week. There are the usual clauses relating to suburban and country work, urider-rate workers, and preference.

The dispute will be heard by the Conciliation Council at Napier on 25th January, and at Waiiganui on 27th January. Assessors nominated bv the Union are : Messrs J. M. Campbell, F. Scott, and M. J. Beardon.

Colonel G. 6- 'Shit-Ids, President of "the League of American Sportsmen, £ ays the destruction a ■ the birds costs the United States £200.000.000 a year. Cotton .growers lost £20,000,000 a year by the boll "weevil.. because quails, prairie chickens, meadow' larks, and other birds which formerly were there in millions have been swept away by thoughtless men and boys. The chinch ■hue" costs wheat growers another £20,000,000 and the Hessian fly £40,000,000Colonel Shields added that potato growers gay £3,400,000 a year for spraving poisons, and remarked that a quail slain in Pennsylvania had Hi" :,fi..:Lbugs in its craw. The following is from the current issue of the "Nursing Times" : —"lt has bseii suggested tnat some enquiry should beheld into the Marquette disaster, with a view to learning whether the lojs of mi hiahyi. ngrses was inevitable. It is a fine tiling- for women in the first shock <>i" disaster to stand aside and insist- that fighting men must have the first chance of life,-but after that first shock, when the tragedy wore itself out through seven or Sight lone hours, and the heroic wo-men-gradually'succumbed to exhaustion, was there no "possibility of helping thc-m'r Every nurse will subscribe to the rule that"the fighting man is of first importance, but those "who look on at the wastage of ■ war realise that the nurse is as important as the man, for it is on her that his power of resurrection depends. It- is- she who draws him back from the jaws of death." At a recruiting meeting in' Newcastle. New South Wales,' the mayor said lw was not in favour of conscription. There was. however, he said, a number cyoung fellows who. he was prepared to say, ought to be "shanghaied." because they -were .no use here. Fellows who would not woik should be made to go and fight for country. (Applause}. Only the other day he was travelling ::; a tfam, when one of those shirkers in and sat opposite a "pal." The !ati»/iT' remarked, -"Where are you working jnow?". The other said nothing for :t----while, but grinned, and then sni-i. "Working? " I don't work while the, o'd man's got his job." "That's the sort <~. fellow," said the mayor, amidst ap?jlaus. j . "who should be drummed-ont and made io'fieht." "**''.■-

Som any women's ■ idea of beincc "smart" is to talk too -much and wear too little. "Vorwaerts" fqrgan of German Socialists) vouches for the following siory, and; publishes it without comment (state? a London piper):—"The other day'a woman travelling from Bremen to* Oldenburg had a terrible experience.' In thf compartment ■ into which she mouii'cil two young girls and a. man accompany i».g a woman were already seated. Th-.-woman began almost at once to count <;n her fingers 'one. two. three,' repeating these words at short intervals. The two jjirls tittered and made remarks to one another about, the extraordinary behaviour of the woman. EveTy time the vr«man. counted ner three fingers uie girls, -without thinking- that probably something .was "behind her strange cor:<fnr*, renewed their giggling. The ma a who.accompanied the woman, irritated at their silly laughter, turned to them with remark: 'You will pernios rct:-e yonr st np:d giggling wh»n .' i t?"l yon that this is my wife, and that she has Jost~ three sons in biU'e. I am taking her-to an asylum.* It was terribly quiet in tin* carriage."; ; To be married at the Registry Office is evidently bcomin? r.onnlar among the youth of Wangauui (says the "Herald"'). for the registrar reports that there has h<-en "v considerable increase in the num b :• of marriage ceremonies performed at "Registry Office this year compared -with "ast year. Whether this is due to ihi-* yreed of economy dne to the state of war. or to the growing disinclination for the more public ceremony, is a problem yet to be solved, nevertheless 65 couples this* year preferred to have the knot tied in the Registrar's office, whereas in the previous year 32 couples were united in vhat way.