NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13846, 4 September 1908, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

BY ARTISAN. ■ Tm , Japanese Government have raised the wages of artisans, engineers, and shipwright* employed in the Government dockyards to Is 3d per day. ' ' In the course of an address at pebbleton Mr J. Thorn said that he had received eters from one district showing that where a month ago the wages offer in* for four-horse teamsters had been Ms and 27s 6d a week the best offer now was 20s a week. This he ascribed to the decision in the farm labourers dispute. The grading of "wlrkere \ia * tr « nu ° u . s £ opposed by the trade unionists of the United Stat^. N Most, the unions.embody in thesr constitution a declaration ot principles, and the following^prmcipk rw laid down in the majority of them We are opposed to; any system «f ,8^ d »"B;, license, or wages, as we deem the *ame demoralising to workers and a further incentive to useless competition, having the ultimate tendency when work is scarce to allow first-class men to offer then-labour at second and third-ciues prices. We hold the plan of fixing a minimum price lor a day's work to be the safest and beet, and Bay that employers should grade the wages above that minimum." In a lecture on " The Unrest of Labour," in Wellington, Mr. A. R. Barclay,. M.1., said that labour in New Zealand, in conjunction with labour throughout-the world, was altogether dissatisfied a dissatisfaction brought about by the unsatisfactory conditions allowed to exist. There.-.was always the consciousness before it that the wolf, though not at the door, was not Jar away; and while this was so the speaker thought that labour would not cease to agitate to have the great uncertainty removed. Reference wa« made to an article in the Nineteenth Century, with a. comparison of the poverty hero and in London. ine speaker said that the only way m which poverty and irregular employment could be prevented was bv the State employing labour and managing the productive industries in the interests of the public and the workers. This would ensure decent wages and regular supply* In the course of his address, Mr. Barclay mentioned a case ot alleged victimisation, where, he asserted, with but 12 liours' notice a trade union secretary, after 20 years' service, had been dismissed with but a colourless testimonial. He believed that socialism was the only scheme that would ensure to all a fair and honest living. A perusal of the report and balance-sheet of the Otago Typographical Union shows that the union is something more than a body solicitous only about conditions ol trade (savs the Otago Daily Times). The union is one of the oldest in Otago, having been in existence for 35 years. The total funds amount to £731 9s sd. of which sum £468 10s stands to the credit of members as retiring allowance, the amount put to the credit of each member being at the rate of 10s for every 26s paid in. Besides this, unemployed members are granted an allowance of 10s per week. The number of members on the books of the union is 144, and the total arrears of subscriptions stand at the small sum of £2 lis 6d. It is sometimes said of unions that a, majority of the operative*) are not members. This cannot lie said of the Typographical Union, as there is not a person employed at the trade in Dunedin who is not a member of the union. It is also worthy of mention that since the Arbitration Act came into force the union has come to terms with the employers on every occasion on which it. has been necessary to register an agreement. Certainly disputes have been referred to the Court, but an understanding was come to before the matter had been gone into. During the currency of the five agreements registered, only one breach of award—more, in the nature of an interpretation than a breach-f-and one interpretation have come before the Court for decision.' ] ■ ;