NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13796, 8 July 1908, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

BY ARTISAN. Thk Special Board meets .to . hear the tramways dispute to-day. Mr. J;is. Aggers is retiring from, the office v of secretary of the Auckland , Operative Bootmakers' Union, and - nominations are now being taken" for the position. Mr. Aggers has acted as secretary; for the union for 12 years. ■ t • " If I wore not a preacher, with my life work already marked out for me," said the. Rev. R. J. 'Campbell, of "New/Theology'' fame, I would join the ranks of the Labour party, those pioneers of a Golden Age, and help them to fight their battle in the legislatures." ; • - The Waihi difficulty is now ended, and; the Miners' Union may fairly claim to be satisfied with the terms of agreement. The terms practically institute a system of cooperative labour and the men will no doubt obtain better wages all round by the new system.. Further advances in the way of • co-operation may be made when- the present agreement is fairly ' tested. - i The trend of the argument used j> the House of Commons recently in favour of %• Bill to check sweating "was that in the > Seated industries the wages paid are often' be- . low the level of decency and public morals arid health ; that the industiiss themselves are largely of the ''parasite" order, and that if they cannot be mended, society would lose nothing by ending them. The London* Lancet says that in muscular labour no food appears able to give the same powers of endurance as sugar. . . ;. The fact that . sugar is a powerful "muscle food," accounts probably dr.the disfavour into which it falls, for a comparatively small .quantity amounts to an excess, and excess is always inimical to the , easy working of the digestive processes. ; The Independent Political Labour Lealie is now running several. meetings each unday evening ■/ In Swanson-street and also in Karangahape Road indoor meetings rire /hold, while in the suburbs, weather permitting, outdoor meetings are. held. The league is still pushing forward the question of nurses and their training at St. Helens i Hospital, and are asking the assistance of Mr. Massey in the House of Representa--1 tives. '' ; : - "'*'".' .- *- ; --.;.:; During the winter months there is always a large number of men who come in from the country districts to the city, and this influx generally causes the unskilled ; labour market to be .slightly congested. Such a congestion is now apparent in, town, especially since the inclement weather has set in. A ; public meeting of unemployed is called for to-day, at the Federal Hall. : The socialist party is trying to secure employment for a number of men. i The /May report of the Australian Amalgamated Society of Engineers points out 1 how employers evade the Arbitration Courtawards: 'No ?, sooner Is an ? award an- ,' nounced than, a - certain section of em- , .ployere are altering methods, introducing j conditions which did not exist, or other- ; wise? changing the duties of the workers, I so that something outside of the award; is ! l _. created, and then they claim freedom /to > remunerate according to their' sweet'-'.will t The speeches in the Addressreferring y. to arbitration were read " with keen interest by local labourites especi- ' ally that of the Hon. J. T. Paul, M.L.C. • • Mr. Paul may be ; said to have stated i ; the case for Labour , reasonably and well. Labourites are looking with more favour on the proposed industrial ; councils, pro- > ; vided there are no restrictions as to who . may be nominated as assessors. If these 1 industrial .councils could be -made final, and the Court as now . constituted abolished, it would go a long way in remov- ; ing the ' feeling of antagonism to; arbitrai tion that has grown during the last three I ;'. years, and would,materially shorten, the - time in settling disputes that now hang - over for months. Mr. Geo, Ryland, M.L.A.* has a very ~- interesting article in the ; last issue of the £ Brisbane Worker to hand, on "Labour Ob- , / jectives '■ in ; Many Lands." ; "The 'great \ problem of our age," he. says, "is not the V production of wealth, but how to secure its moire equal distribution— problem of ,' full storehouses and empty stomachs. This - problem • organised „'. Labour is called upon v to solve.;, : ' THe vital spark of the common - objectives of, the .Labour/• parties of the r, world is well expressed in the words of ; the: Queensland Labour objective:- "The r securing, the full results / of ; their; inj dustry • to -all "wealth producers." r But the.; ideal way by which this . can be accomplished differs in detail. •. . .2 '. / The : following are extracts from some ,J of rtthe' world's Labour / objectives:— j Germany (Social Democratic Federation) : t Social ■ ownership of; the soil, mines, raw materials, tools, machines, and means of { transport. Belgium (Labour party): The / collective appropriation of natural agena cies "j and . the instruments of 'labour. s England ; Independent Labour party): i- Socialisation of land and capital. Ausn tralia (Commonwealth Labour party): [, Collective {ownership ;of monopolies, e England ; ; (Social Democratic ; Federation): e The socialisation of the means of proit duction, distribution, and exchange. y Queensland - (Labour party): The collece tjve ownership of the means of product tion, { distribution, and '•: exchange. ■;-..; . { . n The collective {ownership of ''land and capital, although necessary, stages on the road to freedom, yet does; not. constitute , the { goal, for; even {with these" socialised . the wages system would still obtain. In "' our /earlier civilisation the . workers ] passed through { slavedom / and serfdom ;' we; have now wagedom, but hope for , r freedom. . ...,■■; Labour objectives have r : a word to say upon militarism, •as fol- . lows ;--Australian - { Social Democrats ■r, "Armed nation; instead of standing ar- '" mies." Engli«h Social Democratic Fede- " ration : f Abolition of standing armies; V establishment- of citizen ■ forces.' 7 AustraI I lian Federal Labour party: "Citizen de- -', fence force." Queensland Labour party: -' ."Recognition of the rights of all workers *»"• and - the wisdom of settling international j{ disputes by a /council of civilised nations," German Social -Democrats (ad- ■: dress 1900 {elections):"Down with the II present cult, of the army and the navy, - which sucks the blood of the people! Let 'the people understand each other r- and be at peace." Labour's objective is [t peace, not ; war, and the settling of in- ). ternational disputes by a council of civi- {:■ lised ; nations, pending the abolition of : . standing armies or any military class, n and citizen forces for defence only, not n conquest. Arid even citizen forces are ti abhorrent to {many,: Labourites. The lg Labour objectives square with the highr. est /ideals contained {in the Sermon on ,f the Mount. Both acknowledge the com- [. mon brotherhood of man, and ask only n: for '* daily bread" from the common j. storehouse. (Ihe -aarly ; Christians held ~ their goods in common.) Both pray to ie .bring the ideal {kingdom and state of ie society to earth. {Both admit that man , . is plastic to environment, and should ( ' have temptation removed. Both look with eyes of faith to the time when the f Q swords shall be "beaten into ploughshares and the nations shall 4 learn war no more. The ' early' Christians in pagan Rome] sooner than join the /Roman legions,; preferred to be torn to death; by wild beasts „• in {the arena. Labour's objective looks >f forward to. the time { '/ { ': : ' is . / , : - \■. -:•-■" '. • a When the ' drum throbs no longer, and la , S l6 s at tle flaß are furled, " « ie to '%" 1^ 1 a i ment of Man the federation of ■ . ;ine-.worja. ;,'./>.----■./;;. ~,-: . -..>- ;;','-..- :■■■' •>..--'';■