NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13456, 5 June 1907, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

BT ARTISAN. There is a possibility of the employees in ! the brewing trades being organised into a union at an early date. . - -..>.■■■..:■ ■ :■-■.:■■ _____ .. Thomas Atkinson (Eng.), who is 96 years of age, has been a member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers for the past 80 years. The Sydney Labour Council has taken steps to make it known in England at once that there is no scarcity, of labour in Australia. ' '*■:' '

:e J {- Whatever may be- done to ameliorate th< a sailor's lot . whilst at »ea, his thorough re clamation is impossible so long as he is lefi unprotected on shore.—Syren. r- ■- 1 ' ; ie There are to be four stores in Chicago i, controlled by the unions and organised farmers, from which farm products anc union-labelled manufactured goods will be •e distributed. * > 0 —— . . l * Since 1899 the Northumberland Miners Union, England, has secured for its mem bers, at different times, advances in it amounting to an average increase of 30 pei d cent. ' i- • • — . 3, The sweated industries exhibit will bf on exhibition from to-day (Wednesday) al the City Council Chambers, and should b< ii visited "by. all who earn their living by el labour. It was one of the most instructive »- exhibits at the Christchurch Exhibition. Union meeting for the current week: — Curriers, 6th ; furniture trades, 7th; fell d mongers, 7th; seamen, 7th; carters, Bth; y butchers, 10th; painters, 10th ; carpenters d 11th; engineers, 11th; waterside workers © 12th ; Trades and Labour Council, 12th. A two years' agreement between tin i, masters and journeymen plumbers o: g Chicago lias been signed, under which the !- wages are to be 20s per day for the firs) t year and 21s'per day for the second year. > The men swear that their union contribu . tions are the best investment '■ they know of. ■ • • • • v — 1 7Recent awards are being unfavourably 1 criticised by unions and the. Employers . Federation. Girding at the decisions o: i the Court is not likely to help either party. The Court has to give its decisions on the evidence adduced, and under the presidency • of Mr. Justice Sim equitable decisions may - be expected, according to the evidence tenj dered. t The, Metropolitan Tramways Company employees (says London : Justice) are demanding a nine-hour day with rates of i pay ' from 5s to 6s 3d according to term •of service, spare" men to be paid a re--5 taining fee of Is per day in the event of i not being required, time and a-half for I overtime and on Sundays and public holi- • days. ' ; At the. Arbitration Court in Sydney it was' found that girls preferred to .go 'into shops at lower wages than they Could get in domestic service. Judge Heydon re- ' marked that the objection would be removed if girls were properly treated at service. ' " No self-respecting girl," said His Honor, " liked to be called by her Christian name by everybody who called at her employer's ■ house." . _ ".The , recent rapid rise in the price of wheat and the consequent increase in the price of bread is a. serious matter 'to the workers. According, to present - • indications, the price will -go still higher, and consequently press more heavily on the poorer- classes. Parliament will, it is understood, be asked to interfere, but in what manner is not apparent, unless it is to remove the'duties at present levied on flour and wheat. ...Traduced, misrepresented, and lied about as, it: was, by both the Government and the.Opposition; betrayed by some of those who were, its leaders, deserted by many wfy.O were/of its : ranks ; -Laboiir has' nevertheless, on the . straight issue of its platform, ranged 18 members behind it, a feat which is rightly described by Labour leader McGowen, of New South Wales, as a glorious victory for the principle of solidarity.—The Brisbane Worker on the recent elections in Queensland. According to a correspondent, writing in the London Mining Journal, the GordonHellman rock-drill promises to solve the labour difficulty in the Transvaal. It may take the place of the Chinese, reducing the number of s toping boys required . from six to one. One man can do only one hole in a,.'shift by the usual method, while the machine, costing £40, with one man, does from six to nine holes in the same period. It has been calculated that the expenses will be cut down 2s per ton by this drill. If the new drill only does 50 per cent, of what is claimed for it, the result should be to appreciably add to the benefits from low-grade ores. - >•» % "Concerning British methods, the London Police Review writes:—"They keep a great, force of policemen employed to protect life and property, and to make it easier for the citizens to do right, and more difficult for them to do wrong. ; / And one of the practices that has promoted; the health, wealth, and happiness of the people has been, that of Sunday observance. The Home Secretary was asked the other day whether he, as the head of the police forces of, the country", would encourage the experiment of allowing the police to rest from their labours one, day a week. He replied that it would cost 20 per cent, more than it does now if that right or privilege were conceded,' and that he was not able to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to provide the money. Poor old England!" A correspondent of the Times emphasises the fact that the silicious dust, together with blasting- operations, in the Rand gold mines is the cause of fearful mortality among' the; Kaffirs. The dust engenders consumption of the lungs at a truly alarming rate. This, he .says', partly explains the hesitation of the Kaffirs to return to the mines. The water moistening of the air is only a very slight remedy, and it brings, in its train the terrible anchylosis disease. It, appears that at last a method .has been found by means of which the dust from the drills and the fumes from the blasting cartridges are caught at once. IKis gives promise of a great improvement, so,; far as the health of the miners is concerned, and will also, if it makes Kaffir labour more obtainable, lessen the wage cost. .