World of Work

NZ Truth, Issue 507, 6 March 1915, Page 2

World of Work

V J {Y^?ithy Points for Proletariafi Plugs— 1

•>r||^:.-.^;-..-. 4 ,;;"''''.' :— BY "HONESTAS." —- —^-— . }\

The... Massey -Tarty, evidently not quite? satisfied with the bitterness they Infused into the recent parliamentary elec.tionfi,;;B_nd,AßL account of which 'the 191,4 qftrnpiW^vWill be memorable, inrtend going -.one .be.iter.in Dunedin per J one {William, -Bonecki, described as a j "Unionist." ;i It, jappears that Mr. H. Brasch, a lawyer, and a prominent De- J former, has .-.notified tho , Executive of the p.unectizi {Painter^. Union, indlvi-dually-.^nd collectively, on behalf of the said "Unionist" William Boneck'i, to name a solicitor on whom to serve writs, claiming to have refunded to the said Union, the sum Of; £9 7s 6d. All this is -interesting,!. and something luminous will bi' the result. The William Bonecki mefitlohed, says he is a "Unionist,'Vand; while :beTng that, he was all ;■ the . .- same, a* -canvasser for Mr. Ddwnie Stowart, one of the new Mas-sey.-members for. Dunedin. The £9 7s 6d *was paid -oven to the Labor Representation. Committee to assist the Labor candidates: m Dunedin, which courseYwas >: deeided by the Union at a spediaLrneetihrgfr'thd, money being raised^by':ay;lfiV3K:ofy3d'*:per week for five weeks. •;• Boneckiialsp asks that the Executive ot- tho- Union be restrained from collecting same. The Union Executive has appointed Mr. H., D. Bedford/.to-- act -on their behalf. In ' vlew-'iof • therXisbornb' judgment m the Ol^oDartjrfLnctjithV.'S'ubsequent amending, legislation, Yth^ucase. will be interest^, j- The caafe^iilf it comes off, will striken wew note? m the affairs of Trades ...Unionism ...in -the Dominion. Apart from this, jji;. also goes to show the lengths .tiki 'Square Deal will go to bury its fangs m Labor. ■Vy::^ ; .*'^-. 'ti:^ ■ "ft * A "hutribdr^df ago "Honestas" reittteU , ■th i 6"shti'ck;lng , conditions among wWch*'tH : a~ : 'sh^r*rs and v shed hands on a certain sta'tfoli {down South had to toirand'exiist';' IvAt1 v At that timo "HonesteS M "thdUJ6lit.;lt %a!s, and described it as, ,r absoluteiy-rthe^ worst station from thef jibiiit of 'vi&wY'df 'sanitation, sleeping accommodation ahd salaries, m Gorzonc. It seems, hpwever, that this Bcrlbo was not, speaking by the book. A proletarian pi ilgj; writing from within a v hu'n'dred'' mlleV'of Poverty Bay, Bays"that i^i^cbptior'- of tho' Dominion, though^^levo^lsi'-mishamed when the a_tflui.nca>.of >th'e~4i)quattocracy is considered Aeverthfeles3j-.^ Poverty Bay to the ichap-who hiis to yakker.' In some- caseV'.itho- Conditions areas bad and ;in < .otoors.-^vofso'{than m Hold HohglingY.^whiqh; wt'he{. squattocracy are so ;fond{^o£Yhoismg..up as a 'orrld • hexajaiple -of wqti Sbi*t*'Of pit yd were digged fromJ -*.« Gni'/me (and there ara b. lot^mofre ft&riilar) tho hum of tho offdl from tfco killing pen Is awful, it nearly blinds the shearers even when a6leep" : fH7tlieif-'btinks, tho same bunks being Just wherever, they can get them. Whenever: 4sakehtl 'Objects to tbe con-' dltions ho is superseded by a. Maori who isn't soYp.er.ti'c'lar^ Jf- proper supervision „s;us instituted and theso dis-cip,ltj^-*Of;^uaT^Bal,fcompelled to live, up to the Labor'laws and sanitary conditions enforced. ln. city workshops and factories,, tjicy . would be mulcted of more Rti£B&'J£znitrAih than would keep their odor-cars irt petrol Sorayear. On another place thefe is ho sanitary convenience whatever, unless an old rifle pit used ' duHtig the Maori war and wit&lri s t few 'yards of, the "galley." The Minister fbt^ : t,abp'r can imagine the healthy conditions under which the workels "*b"ti" that itdtion toil, and the oomfort they enjoy m performing their morning ablutions under heaven's doom m a sheet of driving sleet. The money power behind this particular ; plat of land takes tho forn> of a rich mercantile firm. „ The shearers here about are forced to "sheah" whenever I

the squattahs decide the sheep are "fit." That -is, when a squatter says his sheep are •* "dry," they are dry enough to be shorn and they must be ; shorn at the expense of rheumaticky limbs of. the jumbuck barbers: Many squatters employ, m preference to white men, Maoris from- the Urewera country. The Tuhoe from that wild back country are not at all familiar with the labor conditions "enjoyed" by the workers m more civilised parts, and every year they descend m hordes oh to the stations on the chance of making some utu. These Ureweras are seml-cavilised and content, and well content, at that, to. submit themselves to almost any conditions imposed by the holders of the earth. They I bring their wahihes, who do the cooking, pick the fleeces, roll the wool and do all the rouse-about work that is the last thing bn earth MacGrabbit would consent to his daughters doing. True, compared with- their own whares the shearing shed life, is a luxurious one. The Maoris usually get their mutton from their employer, but it is not unusual for them -to eat the entrails of the sheep and so save "meat." The wages on a few of these stations are not bad, but on others — wot ho! On one station m the district referred to there are strong hefty individuals as big as overgrown John Hops, who have worked for years for half-ia-quid a weeklt Let us be just and not forget to mention .that these workers also receive their tucker. YAnd these are the kind of men who ask the workers to send them to Parliament so that they can. further enslave them. "Honestas" hopes the Farm and Station Hands' Union will sail m here and get busy. Are you listening, Banjo? * * •''■#.' Some of. the British Labor Ms.P., having swallowed their own resolutions about tho cause of the war, and having gone recruiting with their erstwhile enemies among the working class, seem determined to dig deep for fresh dirt to eat. Mr. Brace, M.P., is on tour with a song ln his mouth about the heroism of "Our Noble Families" '(the phrase is his). Our old friend, Will Crooks, of Woolwich, is m great demand among variety entertainers for his excellently rendered: "'Owl ham sorry I proposed the Kaiser's 'Ealth"; but Mr. W. Tyson Wilson, M.P., seems m a fair way to out-class all his com-' petltors for tho favor of the Primrose' League. He is not content with suffocating the International spirit which Trades Unionism was wont to . make such boast about; he must needs say this • about Trades Unionism, m the "Carpenters' and Joiners' Monthly Journal": May I 1 suggest to our members that m this great national emergency, when the country is m danger, when work .of all kinds is being • done at high pressure, and under very difficult 'conditions, thoy might allo*.v' a little elasticity in' their working rules. Wo should remember that our fellow workmenin the trenches are lighting our battle; that they havo got. no tlme-arid-a-quarter • or time-and-a-half v or double-time for Sundays; that thousands of men are discharged without a moment's notice, and that they will never want a job again; therefore, let us try and do our duty hero as bravely ahd unselfishly as our brothers at the front are doing theirs. Surely this Is the limit. Surely no one will affront us with anything worse than that! exclaims the Glasgow "Forward." At a time when Monoyocracy gets big Interest: at a time when Contractors aro smiling over hdgo profits: at^a time when every Capitalist, with anything to sell to tho Government, is slapping on extra plunder, a Labor M.P., a representative of the disinherited nobodies comes out with a suggestion to tho nobodies to — well, what? •• . » On Tuesday morning the day-He papers left tho heading, "Another Great Russian Victory," on the "bulk" for one morning and treated us to something new ln tho caption "\Vnr nnd Wages." Every son of Demos eagerly scanned the columns to see "Wot the blighters 'ad to sigli übout wlges," and what had they to say? Simply that Lloyd George, the Llttlo Chancellor had grandiloquently declared that "lives wero being imperilled for a farthing an hour." But surely Lloyd Georgo has not Just awakened to that fact— whloh is no now fact? Lives have beon imperilled; for less than ono farthing an hour m British mines and factorios for generations, and little or no notice has boen taken of the damning fact. Of course, ln tho cases referred to, it was the lives of the workers engaged ln the making of profits that wore sacrificed, and there wns always nn over supply on hand. In the hypothetical caso referred to by Lloyd Cieorgo, It is tho lives of thoso who are fighting m a wnr m which two gangs ot Capitalists aro contending for the trade of the world. One paper had as a sub- bonding the words "Lloyd Georgo Speaks Out," but If ho did, there was llttlo or no evidence of his outspokenness left m the roport of his speech as printed m tho cablo columns of tho Pluto press. "Lives aro being sacrificed for a farthing an hour." True! Hut who is responsible for tho cheap sacrifice? It is easily seen from tho uso our unprincipled Pluto-pen-pusners hijvo made of tho British Chancellor's lipt phraso that said Outers for Fat, arc of opinion that the workers should suffer the loss of that farthing. Tho Boodlo Bugs may swell their profits and plunder by raining tho prices of foodstuffs and thus reduco the purchasing power or tho workers' wages, anti the Welsh Wonde* say's nothing about the sacrifice of life consequent thereupon. Hut let tho workers mako the slightest movo to seek tho even Ing- up of relative values nnd lo! tho Chancellor i "speaks outs" He denounces the parties i responsible as "blood guilty," and a lot lof other things besides. This Is all 'very audacious but woefully unconvincing.