Untitled

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1515, 14 March 1901, Page 26

The Onslow 1 Borough Council has an overdraft of £640. A stum of £l5O is to come in in rates shortly, but, on die other hand, about £2OO will be required to meat interest at the end of April, and, inofeding other revenue, there will be only about £IOO to spend, on roads, - for the n®sfe two months. A deputation from the trades unions of 'Wellington Interviewed the Right Hon the Premier dn Saturday in regard to the establishment of a market garden at the Hutt for the inmates of the Benevolent Home, the price of coal and the need for certain amendments of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Mr Seddon’s replies in reference to the first two questions are published elsewhere. With* reference to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, Mr Allan Orr complained that under the existing conditions net sufficient time was allowed after a case had been finished to get the parties to come in; but Mr Seddon said that the Act provided for reasonable time after an mquiry before the matter could be referred to the Court of Arbitration. Mr Orr asked if the law could not be amended so that it should be within the power of a small minority of employers, where the majority and the unions were agreed, to move the-whole machinery cf the Act against the majority. The Premier replied that that would be a most dangerous doctrine to lay down. • If 100 employers made no sign whilst twenty others stood out and fought, it was quite possible that the hundred were merely lying low and watching the others do rhe fighting. Mr Seddon promised that an amendment would be introduced in another section, which at present requires a majority of .members to be present at the meetings of labour unions, at which important votes are decided upon. It was pointed out that in the case of seamen, firemen and shearers it was impossible for many members to be present at meetings. After a meeting, Mr Seddon pointed out, ihe ordinary procedure of sending out tho ballot papers to all the members would still be followed. The Premier further gave it as his opinion that if a majority present at a meeting decided a question, and it went for confirmation by ballot by a majority of the union, the proceeding would be quite valid, although the majority at the meeting did 1 not represent the majority of the mem-L.-rs. - In every school in Paris there is a restaurant where free meals are served to the children who are too poor to pay.