NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14250, 22 December 1909, Page 11

NOTES AND COMMENTS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS.

• ■ mm-: BY ARTISAN. wm?M§& fas Bricklayers' Union has decided to withdraw 'from the Trades and Labour > (toancil. ' — ■ Thero were 4820 persons employed on <lil<HOperativo works in New Zealand during ft Vovember. the last meeting of the Stonemasons' JJnion Mr. Kemp was elected secretary, '; jjee Mr. Phillips, resigned. '' «V • It is reported that over 100 men are to bo put. 011 at the Arthur's Pass tunnel Biwto at the beginning of the New Year. ' Mr. K. Manning has got the Fishermen's Union well underway. The rules arc now king ' printed prior to forwarding to the 'registrar for approval. ,0- Xo less a sum than £658 was paid to unemployed members of the Victorian OperaIPtiW' Bakers' Society during the last halfvear. The subscription to the society is 2s ill» week, which allows the payment of 15s a ■ ffce to those out of work. ' —- '. n 'It is stated that the Berlin waiters have •< formed a union, with the object of making 'if"tip ß " compulsory. The restaurant-keepers consider that the granting of the demand fpuld interfere with their business, but the waiters refuse to give way. •;. • • Most of the workshops, factories, and buildings in the course of construction will «hut down this week for the usual Christmas and New Year holidays. Quite a number of the factories take this opportunity* of "1 having their machinery and power plants > overhauled and put in repair. ' The executive of the Trades Council has ' formed the employees in the fruit preserving, confectionery, and biscuit factories in- , to a union, with a very large membership. p,; The union is now engaged in passing and [ adopting rules, and when these are ready H formal application will be made for regis- ! • tration. i;»; The Clerks' Union is making good prowess in New Zealand, and many new members are being enrolled in the various centres. In Australia the union is growIljng rapidly in each State, and it is anticipated that" the various unions will be fedeCrated shortly, and the first application for • | a Federal award by the federation will bo on behalf of the station book-keepers and the bank clerks. Interviewed by a representative of the •'Press Hank (the"official organ of the Flax„mills Employees' Union), Mr. Will Crooks ii'-jsaid: "Tell them from me that the man who takes the union wage, and does not contribute to the union, is like a man who sneaks into a graveyard at night, steals a floral wreath from a dead man's grave, then takes the flowers to the local flower »how, and exhibits them as his own pro- ' duction." ,; -a The American Federation of Labour, through Vice-President John Mitchell, who , , is also chairman of the trade agreement department of the National Civic Federation, • lias issued a statement declaring that certain steamship lines are encouraging undesirable immigrants, and suggesting that American wage-earners advocate the incor.V poration of the following restrictions in the immigration laws:—First, that, in ad--1 dition to the restriction imposed by the kws at present in force, the head-tax of ' four dollars, now collected, be increased to . 10 dollars; second, that each immigrant, ;r unl'sss he be a political refugee, should 'bring with him not less than 25 dollars, in | addition to the amount required to pay transportation, to the point where he expects to find employment. Third, that immigrants .between the ages of 14 and 50 |; years should be able to read a section of i) ■ the Constitution of the United States, whether in our language, in their own language, or in the language of the country from | rhich they come. m;- „ -— . A peculiarity of the Shipping Act of 1908 Iras the fact that if a seaman was in- • valided on shore with illness, contracted in , l!» service of the ship, and was laid up . for not less than 14 days,! lie would be en- , titled to claim and recover from the owner his full wages and medical expenses, and maintenance up to the end of three months, ■ the termination of the articles, or date of '.'recovery, whichever of those things first £ occurred, but if it so happened that the ■ waman died, as the result of such illness, tven though.he might be laid up for two w three months, tiie owner was not liable lor the aforesaid payments, not even, for the tost of burial; in other words, the owner , r could only he made to pay if the seaman ; recovered." By the Shipping Bill that finally J,-pawed the House the other day it is made ■ perfectly clear that if a seaman dies the Owner will have to pry the cost of burial, ; without anv deduction from the wages of Hie deceased; and in the event of the owner lot paving promptly the Minister for Mafiile is authorised to pay the cost, and jharge same to the ship. For this material ,;innrovement in the shipping laws, masters, nfflcers, seamen, and apprentices are indebted to the Hon. «T. A. Millar, through • the efforts of the Seamen's Union.