NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13683, 26 February 1908, Page 11

NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

'..' -"■ ■■ " mm 1.1», ■■■'*■■■ "-':■* ';o : _, J:[;:v^;j|^ bt autisa;.', Mb. J. F. AwMAn. SLH.R. is expect!** in Auckland at the end of too present wiwk.,' ° Mr. Geo. Davis leaves for Wellington on the 7th hut., on busings connected wiilh ih* Carters' Union, In Westphalia, Germany, no coat ni.ncr is • allowed to reciain more than eight nut]-*... half hours underground in one shift. Com-, plete provision is also mads at the pit h«itd. so that miners can change their wet work- ■ ing clothes for dry ones Jose titty &> home. ; * The Queensland Worker hr,.i been etiiasa«d and improved. The paper has ptMlioiilv • ■ doubled in size, and new features have been , - added to its literary column*. '1 no paper has led a strenuous "existence for 18 v**r», "*. and is now one of the moat influential in Queensland.' In Illinois 4000 miners went out ou strike because their employers announced' that they would be paid by cheques. As the miners knew the banks had not the money fc cash the cheques they preferred to quit work, and have their pay stopped, rather than continue working for the mere promise to pay. The "unemployed problem is so acute in , Canada that Mi. W. K. Trotter, genera! if? organiser of the Trades and Laboiii." Congress, of Catwda, recently visited England to make public the sad condition of thousands of skilled hut unemployed men in the , «. towns «4ul industrial centre*—a condition which lis describes a 1? everywhere prevalent. j The Commonwealth Minister for Trade and Customs has issued a proclamation forbidding:the.exportation <■'•? grain baj£s containing more than 2001b of grain. A similar -r regulation was once issued in New Zealand, but was withdrawn before being brought j into active '-.operation.- In the interest!! of I those who have to handle the grain it should be re-enacted. The Tramway .Band''performed its JSm ' and last public engagement last Wednesday, when it supplied the muMc at the Grocer*" picnic. Owing to the great difficulty the bandsmen have had in obtaining the necessary leave, it was decided to disband, and , the instruments have now been handed in to the committee, who will liquidate all claims, etc., against the band. The Auckland Operative Bootmakers" Union recently decided to- allow a rebate of ' 25 per cent, on subscriptions to those members who are clear on the books at the end of each year. The rebate is placed to the credit of the member for'.the ensuing yew. One result has been that a largo quantity of arrears has been wiped off, and most mem- ,: hers have availed themselves of the option; : The Christehurch Union allows its members a small "out of work" allowance. The Auckland Tramways Company has had many hard things said about Jt'ouring*? its existence, whether deserved or not, but there is one thing that they deserve credit :■ for, they are the only employers in Auckland at the present I inn? who are paying the first-class award rate to their engineers. In , one instance they are paying over and above the rate, thus proving that there aire lirst* class journeymen engineers in Auckland,, despite the denial of this fact by the remaining employers of this city. During 1906 the strikes which occurred in France were 1309 iu number, as compared with 830 which took place during the pre; . ceding year—-being an increase of 50 per cent, In 1905 each person taking part in'." a strike lost on an average 14 working days. In 1906 the days lost increased to 19. The results of the strikefl were as \ follows:—-In 21 per cent, of the 'cases the ■ workers were successful in galninig their ["''' points: in 41 per cent, v tho workers were partially successful; In the Temaininc; 58 " per cent, the employees gained the' day. i , The resolutions adopted by the American " ! Federation of Labour , at its recent'' confer--1 ence included a dermoid for an eight hour 1 5 day for all nationalities engaged on the Isthmus of Panama; pledging all poiwibte aid to working men of Cuba; urging; the , organisation of women wage-earners of th* United States; declaring for universal federation of trades union;* as calculated to',.; bring international peace quicker than inter* national peace courts with no backing, and calling on Congress for legislation to pre- " vent the evils of: injunction rule agmnst strikes. * _' ; ;

The practical brotherhood of tirades unionism lias lately proved its power, to' break down the barriers between " Orange - and Green" in Belfast, and now comes word of the even more difficult harrier between "white and black" races giving way under the same brave influence). Eighty-six uegro • carpenters, who formed a temporary organisation in New York city, iavo been admitted as a local branch of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. This is the first '") instance in New York of negroes being affiliated with regular trade union bj'gfcm«& ' •."'■'■ tions/

"So cheap" ate women in Buda Post!), > the capital of.'Hungary, that we learn from an "article in Wilshires Monthly '.'that the hours worked by the average' servant! girl are 16, seven days a week, under a la*" S that allows her employer "to whip and punishes her severely if she leave* her place before the end of a month, or with. less than two weeks' notice. Every brick, layer is provided with two women asi hod carriers. They work 'barefooted and bare-' ' headed nine hours' a day for Is 4d. All of them belong to the Bricklayers' Union. Nearly all common labour, such aw the pulling down of buildings, is done by women. For its size,'also, we read that Bud* * Pesth contains more fallen women than any city in Europe. "Morally the city is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the world." It remains only to Bay that the workers of Buda Pesth are outside the franchise ; and that the trade union movement, and socialist movement there are one and v the same, able only to carry on their pro*.' pagajida by "direct action" in strikes and < threatening demonstration*.; By these meaning several useful labour tows, especially the. laws protecting the children-—there is no ' child labour in Hungary— providing for Sunday rest, have been forced from the ; governing classes. .