NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12523, 16 March 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

[BY, artisan.]

Tint annual picnic of tho flourmills employees and journeymen bakers takes place to-day at Motutapu.

The sufferers by the recent accident at Chelsea are progressing favourably. Two of the men have been discharged from the hospital. '

The remarks of Mr. George, director, of the Technical School, re local painters have given some offence to the members of tho local union. The question was to have been discussed at the meeting held last evening. - A number, of shipwrights .proceeded last week to Taumarunui to build house-boats for Messrs.. Hatrick and Co. for service on the Wanganui River. There is at present a scarcity of bricklayers, good men being at a premium just now. There is at present a fair amount of building going, op in the suburbs, noticeably at Takapuaa, Epsom, Mount Roskill and Onehunga. The dominant cry in the Queensland industrial world— "We've got no work to do, but want it badly." ; ' The Seamen's Union has changed its offices from Railway Chambers to Palraerston Buildings. ' ' '.VV;V : - One of our larger unions at a recent meeting adjourned for a quarter of an hour at five minutes to ten p.m. The employees of the Wellington Corporation are to ha% a -holiday to-morrow (St. Patrick's Day)..-* ' His Worship the Mayor has, at the request of the St. Patrick's Day Celebration Committee, invited the business people of Auckland to observe a half-holiday. The inspector of factories has • agreed to shopkeepers, closing on Thursday instead of the usual Wednesday afternoon. .An order has come through from the Public Works Department for a number of firstclass men to go to the Main Trunk line. Preference'is to be given to married men. The annual registration of ' factories falls due on Good Friday this year. Notices are now being sent out to all employers notifying them that registration must be effected on or before Saturday, April 2. The bureau .will be -open all day Saturday to meet the convenience of the employers. ~ , I understand Mr. & ; Tyson is about to leave Auckland at an early date for the South, where he has received a lucrative appointment. Mr. Tyson has acted as branch secretary to the local A.S. Carpenters and Joiners for a number of years, and has taken an active interest in all labour matters in Auckland. At the present time Mr. Tyson is secretary for about half-a-dozen unions, and his departure will leave a gap that will not be filled easily. Mr. H. Field, organising secretary of the New Zealand Emnloyers' Federation, is visiting Christchuroh, and was to have addressed a meeting of the Canterbury Employers' Association last night. He is to visit the larger centres in Canterbury during the next fortnight. : • In answer to a deputation from trie Cairns Waterside Workers' Union, Minister Browne said that the Morgan Ministry were in favour of an Arbitration Act, and were prepared to see it through, providing they succeeded in passing the Electoral Reform and Finance Bills. If they could not pass these measures they were prepared to go to the country. He advised the union to wait fo>" j the Federal Arbitration Act, which would benefit the waterside workers, as they were j federated. ' './--■'■■' ,-'

, George Dean, who made a big sensation in Sydney a few years ago, will be liberated at the end of the present year. He is now assistant to the electrical engineer at Goulburn Gaol. Dean put in eight years at the tailoring trade, with a longing always for the engineroom,* which longing the Department at last gratified. In 1898 34,4-22 pairs of boots, valued at £27,737, were imported into Victoria. In 1902, after the Commonwealth tariff had removed a part of the protective Victorian duty, 78,100 pairs, valued at £69,585, were imported. . The increase was thus over 100 per, cent. The result in knocking off a.few pence duty resulted in Australian workmen being deprived of the manufacture of about 44,000 pairs of boots in the year, the money for' the labour, leather and other materials going to Germany, France,'or America. " The appearance in the lists of a Labour candidate at the by-election at Norwich is of a significance far beyond its personal bearing. Hi . affords. fresh proof of the resolve of the. labour classes to push their claims to direct representation in the House of Commons, irrespective of the interests of their old friends, the Liberal party. - Students of the times, knowing how labour representation works in Australia, and in less degree in the United States, recognise that at the forthcoming general election, whenover it takes place, and upon whatever issue, Labour candidates will have a direct influence upon the balance of power. \ They would be a still more potent influence in Parliamentary life if they could only bring themselves. to work in 9 condition of discipline under an acknowledged leader."— Henry W. Lucy, in the Syndey Morning Herald. . ' Recently, the Daily News (London) had a little difficulty with the Compositors'_ Union in respect to the working of the linotype machines. The proprietors summarily dismissed the compositors, giving a fortnight's wages in lieu of notice. Fresh hands were brought into the office, chiefly frorr the provinces, but after a day or two's experience it was found that the paper could not be issued in time to catcb the early trains. Meanwhile, several meetings were held by the Compositors' Union, who showed a determination to call out every printer engaged in all other newspaper offices if the Daily News refused to restore the unionists to their employment. Mr. Cadbury, the chief owner of the News, however, struck his flag. He called in the assistance of Mr. John Burns, M.P., and under his influence the old hands were restored to their work at increased rates. Mr. Cadbury further premised to take the. men to his country seat for a day's outing. He was still more generous to the non-unionists, who by these proceedings found themselves suddenly without employment. He gave each of them six months' wages for half a week's work. Some of the lucky ones took away as much as £200, and none less than £90. The Compositors' Union is /a, strong and wealthy body. This incident will make it stronger still, t and it will also make' Mr. Cadbury's exchequer about £500 C poorer.