LABOUR IN NEW ZEALAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15105, 30 March 1911, Page 4

LABOUR IN NEW ZEALAND

MUNICIPAL ACTIVITY.

SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY MOVE-

MENT.

Two or tltreo matters of general interee in tho labour world were touched on b; Mr E. J. Carey, of Wellington, who is a present in Dunodin in connection with thi hotel employees' dispute, in KAiversatioi with a Daily Times reporter yesterday^ Under section 17 of the Shops and Office Act it was provided, said Mr (Jairey, that i 10 pur cent, of the electors in the combine* district 'obtain the civic authority for i poll to decide the clay of the weekjy half holiday, the question shall bo submitted t< the. electors lor their decision on the dn; on which the City Council elections an •held. This .provision was enacted just, prio. to the time of the municipal election twi years ago. At that time the labour pcopl in the tour centres initiated a movement ti take advantage of this now section. Ii Auckland, mainly .because of the apath; of the shop assistants themselves, sufficicn signatures were not obtained to the peti tion, and it was r,ot presented. Conec qucntly no p'.'U resulted, there. In Wei lington, where the Trades Council had alst taken the matter in hand, tho same resul eventuated. The petition was short of thi requisite number of signatures to the ex tent of some 2000, .but this was due not si much to apathy on the part of those cJa corned, but to "bungling on the part of thi official responsible for getting the potitioi forms filled. In Diimxlin, a.nd also ii Christchurch, tho supporters of the Satur day half-holiday met with a certain moaeun of success in that they wore able i'J secun sufficient signatures to make tho jx-tition effective, and a poll was taken in botJ cities, but in each instance the. siipportcir, of the Saturday .half-iholid.ay movonven were easily out-voted. That vgis two year ago, however, and since that time, main); because of the success of tho innovation h Sydney, tho idea of tho week-end holida; has gained a groat deal .more popularit; in New Zealand. In Sydney, thocompulsor Saturday closing, with certain exemptions Was made law by the Wade Government and has .boon in operation there since Octo ber of last year. In addition, Saturday i made the shop holiday in Melbourne, Bris bane, and Hobnrt. This year, although thi matter has been mentioned in Christclmrol and' in Auckland, it is only in Wellingtoi that, serious consideration has been give] to tho proposal. On tho initiative of th< grocers' assistants in Wellington, tho Trade. Council some two lncnths ago made pre limjnairy arrangements for getting up i potition to demand a poll on the subject Tlio petition was fairly enthusiastically taken up by not only other shop assistants but also by most of tho Inrge shopkeeper in tlio lK.'rtihe.rn city, and a week ago thi Mayor was waited on by a deputation fron tho Trades Council, which presented ii peti tion asking for a poll, and signed by 7301 electors. On the combined district rolls o Wellington there will be from 35,000 t< 38,000 electors, this being a liberal estimate It is possible that wmo of tho signature will bo invalid because of Jion-enroiinciit but tho margin of nearly 4000 names ensure that the 10 per cent, demanded 1 by th< act will bo easily complied with. A pol will bo held on municipal election day, am tho question is now of paramount import anoD in Wellington, and threatens to over shaclc'w in interest the City Counci] elce t-ions. The Shopkeepers' Association i organising in opposition to the Trade Council's movement, and during the n-ex few weeks there will be much debate on tin merits of the mid-week as against thi week-end holiday. The labour people be ' lieve that, although the veto will be a clc» o'n-e, the Saturday half-holiday will even tuiito in Wellington as from June next as i result of the ballot, on the question. Shortly after the last, conference o Trades and Labour Councils, held at Auck land in July* and 1 acting on the recorn mendation (A that conference,, tho Welling ton Trades and Labour Council tcok stop to establish a branch of tho New Zenlam Labour party in its city. The branch ha been "going now for the last, four or fiv months, and, in addition to tho Wcllingtci branch, there arc now nine otjher branche of the party in existence throughout tli Dominion. In the majority of cases tb members of the branches mentioned nr specially interesting themselves in the com ing municipal elections; In Christchurch where tho ward system prevails, there' ar labour ji<vminees run under the auspices o a- Labour Representation Committee fo every one of the City Council seats, and, ii addition, a Labour candidate in the persoi of-Mir T. E. Taylor, M.P., is out for thi mayoralty. In Wellington, where for sorn. yearn labour has ,held two seats on the Git; Council, tho p,i.rtj- is running a ticket o eight, candidates. The Labour party ha been specially active in Wellington. It, ha. hold two enrolment Saturdays, and on tin first, occasion 1600 names were added, ant last. Saturday another 700. or 800 names wero plnoecl on the roll. Tlio selected Labour men .have already commenced a platform campaign, and much interest is being token in the -elections. Labour enthusiasts count on the return of at least two or three Lnbuur men, in addition tc> tho two sitting councillors, who aro seeking re-election under tho auspices of the party. A congress of delegates representing tho 'several branches of the N.Z. Labour 'parly has been fixed to be held during Knstor in Cririste-lmrch, following upon tho clr/sing of thn Trades Council's Conference which is lo l>o hold .in ChrislohiiToh about tho same time. Each branch of the partv is. entitled to send two delegates Tho mam business of Iho conference will be tho question of organusimr a.nd outlining a plan of campaign for tho general elections