SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6383, 4 December 1907, Page 8

SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

IN GREAT BRITAIN. IMPRESSIONS OF A NEW , ZEALANDER. (Special to tile “N.Z. Times.”) CHRISTCHURCH, December 3. Mr J. H. Tr.ggs, of Christchurch, has returned after an eight months' holiday tour of Great Britain. Having been for some' time ohairman of the Conciliation Board for Canterbury, Mr Triggs naturally examined closely tho social and labour conditions prevailing at Home, and, •in detailing some of his impressions to a ‘Press” reporter, stated that he came back to New Zealand more than ever ■ convinced that our arbitration laws were productive of incalculable benefit to the community, at large. “It is thirty-five years since I was last in London,” Mr Triggs said, “and although tremendous improvements in the social and industrial amenities havo resulted in the interim I found that the working classes are immeasurably behind our people in the enjoyment of those .advantages which make life worth living, I went through some of the large factories in London: and elsewhere, and found that the; work is much harder, the hours longer, and the pay less than" in Now Zealand; and some of the buildings themselves very much interior ■to those here. COST OF LIVING AND WAGES.

‘‘Tho’ cost of living, too, lias increased lately, and proportionately the New Zealander is infinitely better off in every way. Strikes are of 'frequent occurrence, and the formation of onions is going on apace; but the army oi workers is so large that the difficulty of marshalling it effectively seems almost hopeles-. The factory workers at Home look prematurely old and careworn, and cannot afford to dross nearly as well as our people in the same station of life. I saw 'bus driver® and conductors and guards who work from twelve to fourteen hours* a day seven days a week at wages working out at 4d per hour. I wna in a I 1 ergo rope factory where girls made fishing nets, working twelve n d-»y, end earned Gs a.week. I spoke to several engineers in large works who wete getting Eos a week. BELFAST STRIKES.

was at Belfast during the great strikes there, and tb© workers’gained nothing Our Arbitration Act would have settled the trouble without less to anyone. At most factories work on from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with no half-holiday.” DUBLIN EXHIBITION.

He remarked that the Dominiori rmde a poor display at the Dublin Exhibition. The woollen industry was well represented; but nothing else was well shown. It would have been much better, the speaker added, to have left it alone if something worthy of New Zealand could not bo contrived.

Canada, on the other Rand, made a truly magnificent show, far exceeding that at the New Zealand International Exhibition in every detail. SOME COMPARISONS.

Conversing on other topics Mr Triggs said the British railways were run much less punctually than those in New Zealand. Christchurch, ho found, was as well governed municipally, and as well kept, as gny town he visited, and its tramway system compared most favourably" with the best anywhere. “New Zealand is claimed to b© the working man’s paradise,”' the speaker concluded, “and you only require to travel to th*>t <mch is the case.”