THE LABOUR WORLD.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1211, 17 May 1895, Page 31

THE LABOUR WORLD.

Alt thb lisiiai Weekly ffieetiiig of. the Trades Council last -freek-fth'o presi'deiitj Mr A. Ward, iff the BMir—lt Wds Jollied that the Ahcl secretary wait upon M# BbMlchamp, candidate for the Harbour Soard, and Messrs Sniith and Worth, 'Candidates for the City Council, and ascertain their views Oh the fair tender question; The Minister of Lands wrote promising on his return to town to receive A depufcdtibn <on the subject ‘of th'O he'd-essity fof feghlatSng the burning of bush. The Council endorsed a resolution passed by the Knights of Labour in favour of legislation in the direction of rating the unimproved values ■Of land. The Southern ’contingent of the second hatch of unemployed Who are Beihg seht to the road w-orks at (Mlatea (East Coast) arrived by the Rotomahana on Friday, and Were joined by the Wellington contingent of ten men, making tip the total number to 48. They went on by the Rotomahana on Friday afternoon, and will be joined by 10 men at G-isborne and 10 more at Auckland. Next week a number of the unemployed of Oamaru are to be put on the Otago Central Railway works, and some of them will be brought up to this island to be employed on the road-making operations in the Awaking "Valley. The Rcemier has received irom the Agfenta Copy ef the Mines (Eight Hours) Whiftfe. Was prepared and introduced vd thb House of Commons, iii February l&St, “to restrict the hours of labour in mines to eight hours per day/’ Amongst its sponsors are Sir Cfiarv, J 3 iltco and Sir A. Rollits it is A Vory in'dirt Bill of only four b? Which the second, or operative clausevihads as follows : —“ A person shall Wob in any one day of 24 hours be employed under ground in any mine for a period exceeding eight hours from the time of his leaving the surface of thb grot\nd ; to the time of his ascent thereto, ekeep’t- in case of breakago of machinery', 'explosions of fire'damp, or Any A’eei'dbhib causing the entire the Working of the mine.” Clause $ prescribes a penalty not exceepihg 40s for "each bSrehce, recoverable from any emjployer hr his agent who permits w.di’knieh to be employed in contjraVentiofi Of clause -2. Clause 4 provides that me A.ct shall ■come intb operafedii on the Ist of January £iext. .

■A: deputation of 41 unemployed compositors has whited upon the president of the Typographical Union to urge the hoard to take some action on their behalf in connection with the engagement of hands at the Government Printing Office for/ the session. They represented that there were enough unemployed here to meet the sessional demand. The board has decided to wait upon the Colonial Secretary in •connection with the matter, and to send a list of the unemployed to the other typographical societies in the Colony. The board has also agreed to open the establishments of Messrs Edwards, Russell and Co. and Messrs McKee and Gamble to Society men. The New Zealand Workers 5 Union is asking the Government to Accept the names-of unemployed from the secretaries of unions, instead of having the men visiting bureaux and police stations day after day.

Oamaru, May 10. The Workers’ Union has received intimation that all the branches must register under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act before the general body can apply for registration as a representative body. The Union has also been notified that there is no land at present available for settlement on the alternative scheme $ hut that surveying will be put in hand as quickly as possible.