WOOLLEN MILLS AWARD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12259, 9 June 1914, Page 1

WOOLLEN MILLS AWARD.

(Pep. Press Association.) Wellington. June 8. A .sitting of the Conciliation Council was held to-day to consider the. claims of the Wellington -Woollen Mills Em.ployee.x' Onion -for a new award granting .higher wages and improved--'condi-tions, - The employers desired that the dispute be treated as a Dominion one., owing to having to compete one against .the other, and it. was decided to hold a Dominion conference at Christchurch on dune i2C with a- view to-bringing tin's about, each party to be represented by" six pel-sons, and the conference to lie presided, over -by the Conciliation' I Commissioner, -if a '.settlement is arrived at. a recommendation will be made.to the Cunrt to convert, the agreement into a rieit- award.

I welcome he had received from (fciiiaiu I temperance workers was but lyph'ai of | tlr.it expressed in every oilier eenirche had visited. He fell thai he should preface Ins remarks with something regarding The work being accomplished by iio-lieense woikers in GisborUe and also with his inipiossipiis ( j|' no-license in Oamatu, which wiis the first place under the no-hotel s.\-torn ilint he had had the privilege of ]i\ ie.g in. in C.'isliorne ilioy liad some fine workers, and were «- tromelv foi'iiuiate in having as President the Kev. F. W. Chaf tcrrou. Although lie dearly loved I he town ol' 0;s. borne, and its associations, lie must ladmit that the liquor forces w-oie strongly entreneheil there, and the evil eil'eels of the traffic, were very evident. Then again the brewers were very wealiuy in Gishorne and had unlimited mean:; at their disposal to light against fern-. peraneo reform, and one of their number had confessed recentlv that; "tiles, trade" had spent £IO.OOO in the Gishorne district last election to combat the reform work. Notwithstanding this opposition progress, was being made there, and. the vote recorded in Gishorne last election on both issues was.a magnificent one and augured well

for the future. Jn passing Mr Lochote remarked that the little brewery lh<\v had closed in Oamarn could easily he accommodated in one of the storehouses of the brewery they had in Gishonie, thus showing what a- large trade in. liquor was being done there. Turning to Oamaru, the speaker said he had been in the town some seven weeks, and had now an opportunity of forming a f;uod opinion of the effects of no-license. He had' kept his eyes and none open, and although, having occasion daily to tread our streets lie had in that lirae neyer seen an intoxicated person nor smelt the stale odor of intoxicants. He had . also been in a. large munljor of homes j

iii Oamaru and had .found no evidences of home-drinking. Another good sign was the fact, that during his sojourn hero he had never had a caller for charity, showing that the people on the whole were prosperous and that the money hitherto spent in liquor was going to provide the necessities of life:.' These things were all the moi;e-notice-able when he recalled the fact that ono could hardly ever go down Giishorne's streets without, noticing drunkenness, while it was a frequent experience of his while there to help some - poor wretch ivho, having, spent all in liquor, had -to practically bc-g for the staff of life. Mr i.ochore realised,, however, that no-license was not a perfect system, for it. only maimed the. liquor demon. "What, they wanted to do to have a perfect system was to decapitate the monster, and this'could be accomplished by national prohibition. Despite the' large majority they had had in favor of this reform last election, that vote „ was a long way from ultimate victory, and lie with others realised that to consummate their labor a. reduction was necessary in the three-fifths handicap. Ho- was pleased to see that such a "reduction was promised bv Parliament, and he was hopeful that next election would be. fought on more even terms. .Mr Lochore also dealt with the evils of cross-votiiig—voting for oh one issue and against -on the other. He also exhorted the districts whore liolioense was in force to cling tenaciously I to such an advantage, and likewise make a strenuous bid for ; the largerissue. -Individual effort was' needed on the part of everybody on their side, and lie felt, sure that at the coming struggle Oamaru would once more rally and vote strongly to slay the evil. . The proceedings during the evening were punctuated by musical items, the following contributing to the pro- j gramme —Baptist-Choir, Me-sdames Gibb and Pygall, Misses Tiiit and Gray, and j Messrs Howe, James, and Ewing. I At the close the ladies dispensed | an abundance of refreshments, for which they received a hearty vote of thanks.