PEPPER POT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 8967, 18 April 1890, Page 5

PEPPER POT.

Well done, Federated Trades Union ! Although at almost the eleventh honr, the agreement to submit differences with the Woollen Company to arbitration is creditable ' to you. And the stipulations laid down are quite reasonable. Once the arbitrators are appointed and the court opened there must be no drawing back on either side. Each side must be prepared to toe the mark and take whatever gruel may be pre-, scribed. Somebody will be judged in the wrong, of course ; but let us hope the penalty imposed will not be overwhelming. And if this little trouble between two classes of capital is amicably adjusted, it may lead to the establishment of permanent and satisfactory relations all along the industrial line. For it is all industry, after all. Everybody is busy and highly industrious, even the innocents who squeeze 50 and 100 per cent out of the smart men who are always in want of money ! Hemp is going to look up again directly. Millers had better not be in too much of a hurry to desert their holdings ! The Sweating Commission is upon the hosts of Sennacherib ; let the extortioner and sweater tremble ! There have not been any very dreadful Wellington exposures yet, but some shrewd surmising was indulged in by Mr Blair. Of course it’s keen competition that keeps prices down, and competition is the outcome of the ambition of operatives in wagesreceiving ranks to develop into full-blown employers. Remarkable instances of this are on record in the printing line. It is astonishing bow ambition sways the ordinary “comp,” and how a red-hot trades unionist differentiates swiftly into a crafty employer of labour. And then another “cock robin shop” is opened or another country “ rag” is established, and down go prices with a swish.! “Jobs” and “ads.” are taken for anything anybody likes to give, whether .cash or exchange. Everything is fish to the net of the cheap printing tribe, from a coffin to a tenpenuy nail ! And there are other trades nearly as bad. New Zealand is overrun with them, and the throat-cutting practised is just astound, ing. When the people have learnt to distinguish between an opening and none, and cease to covet the bare bread and cheese of their struggling neighbour, trade generally will improve, and everyone not too lazy or vicious to work will exist comfortably. A question for the opponents of the C.D. Act, who say the Act legalises an evil. The drink trade is an evil. Do yon regulate it by legislation or not? Are you going to allow the publichouses to remain open all night, and, when a man going about drunk breaks bis neck, say, “it’s the penalty attached by the Creator to illicit indulgence ?” Councillor Brandon comes down heavily on the naughty newspaper man who thinks we ought to have something resembling a light for our money. If Councillor Brandon only knew how to run an electric light, and something about drainage, he would know everything. , Tenders are invited for the erection of a 100-horse-power lamp to supply Councillor Brandon with a little of the light he badly needs. Bethune and Co. have a very fine sale on next Monday. People in need of household requisites had better roll up. See ad. Somebody. wants to let a ten-room furnished house. See D. H. Maekinnon’s advt. To-morrow the Ladies’ Christian Association holds its annnal meeting at the G. P.S. Lodge, Vivian street. With such laudable objects in view the attendance will surely be good. See advt. “ Drink Red Funnel Tea I’’ With the greatest of pleasure, if anyone will slide along a chest or two this way. Why, it’s the Union Packing Company shaking up the public again. See aeries of ads. Messrs Harcourt and Co. are going to sell some very taking properties next Friday, and we hope the enterprise of the vendors in testing the market will be'abundantly rewarded.