THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15748, 26 April 1913, Page 7

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

NEWS AND NOTES. BY 188 HOH. J. T. Paul, M.L.O. Items of information and briel comments on qncstions ojming under (his heading, arc alvray3 welcome. Books, pamphlets, etc., sent to the author ot iliis column will also bo noticcd. ■DATES OF MEETINGS. Monday.—Painters; Butchers; Elcctrical ' Workers (committee). Tuesday.—Woollen Mills; Saddlers. Thursc'ay.—Trades and Labour Council. Friday.—Carpenters; Moulders; Drivers. THE LATEST FLAW. the effect of tho latest flaw discovci • »y tho Arbitration Court in the amenuing .Conciliation and Arbitration Aci of .2911, a northern Labour writer says:— " This is a serious blow to. tho principle of, mutual conciliation, and tho Government will havo to remedy the error caused fcjy careless drafting during the next session. Tho judgment of tho court is very .clear, even to a layman; tho section provides that if within ond month after tho settlement is arrived at no notico of this agreement has bceai filed, tho clerk of awards shall give notice to the parties of tho fact, and the recommendation shall, as from seven days after the dato of tho notice, operate, ajid bo enforceable in the same manner as an award duly executed and filed by tho parti<a. As the judgment puts it, "there aro .!o awards executed and filed by tho parties; therefore tho recommendation is to havo tho effect of something which does not exist-'" The 6ame writer goes on to say-that the Auckland and Suburban Local Bodies Labourers' award has been declared to be no award at all, and not worth the paper it is printed on. Tho employers can pay what wages they like, and tho mast stringent preference clause over agreed to by the employers is simply unenforceable. Tho first, award made under this act of 1911 was tho Canterbury stonemasons in April, 1912, and since then nine others have bean mado in various parts of tho Dominion. THE POLICE AND ORGANISATION. "Tho talk of the past- week has been tho organising of the Auckland Police Force into an association for mutual protection," writes- " Industrial Tramp " (" Trade and Labour 'Notes") in tho Auckland Star. "Two meetings havo been held as yet, and the men are evidently determined to band themselves together, for their own defence. It is claimed; that of late tho regulations havo been administered in such a fashion that tho men havo kicked. Even in tho palmy days of Gilbert and Sullivan ' the policeman's lot is not a happy one'; but it is said that the members of thb. force who had to contend with 'The Pirates of Penzance' wero on a bed of rosos compared with their modern oonfrercs of the dominion. Men aro drilled in batches of 14 or 16 in a narrow station yard on their days off. Wet towels and diaving brushes must not be left out to dry, but must be put into tho clothcs chest, thereby having a distinctly insanitary effect on tho other clothes. These may be ' pin-pricks,' but soores of other instances of 6uch trivialities are cited by the men, who also complain of irritating charges being brought against them, to say nothing of promotions withheld. Tho members of tho force in other centres aro also moving in the direction of unity, and tho secretary of tho Auckland Association has written to Australia for information concerning the formation of a New South Wales Police Union as a guido to tho local movement." THE NEW POLITICAL WING- ■ One of the duties assigned to the Unity Congress Committee by the January Labour Conference was the preparation of a draft declaration of principles. The statement of principles has just been published, mid on' account of their interest to the movement I reproduce them in extenso:— The Social-Democratio party stands for the common ownership of all the collec-tively-usod agencics of wealth production and the control of all industrial affaire on the basis of production for use. It affirms: 1. The greatness of a nation depends oa tho greatness of its peuple. 2. The greatneas of tho people depends on tho physical power, the mental capacity, the moral character and the economic indepeneability of its average individual. _ 3. Thcso qualities elcpond for their highest development on the best educational facilities and the best economic advantages lor all, aad tho largest sense of social responsibility on the part of all. 4. TJie present- Capitalist form of society rests on tho private ownership, and henco tho private monopoly of land (the primary source - of wealth production), and of the machinery and tools with which wcaMi is produced. ' . ■ 5. This form of ownership, with its resulting lack of equal opportunity, divides society ill ail countries into two distinct and opposing classes—the workers who by brainand hand produce all wealth, and the exploiters who by the power of monopoly based on the private ownership of things oollectively used are able to appropriate without service the products of the toil of others. 6. The workers, by far the larger class, aro brought into industrial dependence on the exploiters, by far the smaller class, with consequent political subjeotioii to them. Tho workers produce all wealth. The exploiters appropriate it and return to the workers only a fraction of their own products im wages of some form. ' 7. It is because of thrse conflicting class •interests between the workers and the exploiters that class antagonisms are generated and the world-wide ckss war is mado inevitable. ■ 8. The Social-Democratio party does not ;nake this class war. It is compelled to recognise its existence because it understands its historic, and economic causes. It seeks to make an end of the economiccauses of the classes in order to make an ond of the class war. • 9. Because of the monopoly power of the exploiters, in spito of the multiplication of labour-saving machines and improved methodsof industry—which cheapen the cost of production—the ■ sharp of tho producer grow 3 ever less, wliilo tho prices of all tho necessities of life steadily increase. The high cost, of living is felt in every home. Thousands of wage workers'havo seen the purchasing power of their wages decrease until life has become a desperate battle for a inero existence. .The working farmers are plundered as ruthlessly as are other workers. The extortion of tho money lords, of the transportation companies, of the land monopolists, and of the commercial combines, with their ever-increasing prices cxactcd for land, tools, credit, transportation, and for household supplies, aro rendering tho working farmers' lot unbearable. 10. Becauso of tho monopoly power of i'he exploiters the workers are exposed to unhealthy conditions in their homes, to frightful and needles perils to lifo and limb in tho placcs whore thoy work. Biased Arbitration Court decisions and unjust laws' hamper the workers at every turn, while measures which are designed to Yiclp tho workers aro often so juggled with that ihey become instruments for their oppression. 11. Because of the monody power of the exploiters tho educational opportunities' of the workers and their families are limited. The schools, especially the secondary schools, fail to teach the honour of eocial a/rvice, the dignity .of labour, the shame of usolessness, and tho sense of loyalty to the common good, while they foster snobbery and promote class distinctions of the most hateful nature. 12. In the face of these evils, so manifest that all thoughtful people aro appalled at them, the old Parliamentary parties are able to offer no relief; instead they defend and perpetuate the very things that have created these evils. Tho growing unrest in New Zealand bears eloquent testimony to the inability of tho old parties to satisfy the neoplo's needs. 13. This is true becaua: all. parties arc the expression of economic class interests. AI! other parties than tho Social Democratic party represent one or other group of tho exploiters. Their political conflicts between each oi'nor represent merely their superficial business rivalries. However they result. these conflicts have no issue cf real advantage to the workers. Whether Liberal or Tory win, the exploiters are always victorious. 14. The Social Dem-ocratio party is the political expression of the workers. Its defeats are their defeats. Its victories are tho>!/ r/iHsrics. It is a party founded on t'ne economic needs of tho workers, and is tlie outgrowth of tile laws of social development. 15. 'In tho f.-ieo of the industrial and polit/'cal aggressions of tho exploiters, the only defence and the only means of emancipation left to the workers is the power of their industrial and political organisations. The Social Democ.ratio party urges the wage-earners to combine for industrial action into one industrial organisation, and all wage-earners. the working farmers, and all other useful workers everywhere, to combine for political notion into one political party. ]6 Sri organised the workers mav not only wrest immediate and temporary eoncessions, but tlifiy will bo able to abolish industrial exploitation for ever, and to sub-

stituto the industrial and (social administralion of collective interests by the people, of the people, find for tho people. Tho workers in achieving their own deliverance will emancipate Mie rate, and in this tho Labour movement will transcend all other movements in human history. IY. The workers of New Zealand must take their place in line with_ tho organised workers of all other countries. is no deliverance from tho rapidly-increasing evils of Capitalism short of its complete overthrow, and I'iiis can be accomplished only through the industrially and politically organised strength of the educated and united workers themselves. , 18. The Social Democratic party therefore cnlls upon all (lie workers of New Zealand to forthwith enrnl themselves in tho ranks of ihe United Federation of Labour on t3io industrial .field, and in tho ranks of the Social Democratic party on the political field. JOTTINGS. The French Socialists have laid a Bill before the Chamber of Deputies for the introduction of the free Saturday afternoon for all workers. Out of iv vote of 9000 unionists taken at Broken Hill, on a motion to refuse to work with -non-unionists, only 20 voted against it. In Melbourne recently seven men were required for the distribution of leaflets. No less than 72 answered the advertisement. And tho remuneration was tho princely sum of 4s 2d per day! The A 7 iotorian Builders' Labourers' Wages Board's determination lays down tho rate of pay for ordinary workmen at 10s 4d per day, or £2 16s lOd per week of 44 hours. For scaffoldcrs and men carrying material over 20 feet in height lis per day, or £3 0s 6d, is awarded. Storemen engaged in drapery, boots, and stationaryi stores have fixed a wages board claim for a 44-hour week for male workers and 42 hours for females. The minimum wages claimed arc £3 6s per week; casual hands, Is 9d per hour; haul storeman and packer, £4 10s per week. In Germany there are ■ 50 central unions issuing official journals. The total circulation amounts to 2,497,700 copies. Weekly journals number 35, fortnightly 8, seven monthly, and several twice and throe times a month. Constant relations arc maintained with 42 control .unions. At a special mooting of the Barrier Labour Federation the following resolution wasoarried: —'"That the B.L.F. recommends all affiliated unionists to avoid all race meetings, football and cricket matches, and other sporting fixtures, .together with all places of amusement, where non-unionists take part, after March 31." i; In Berlin in 1911, 9906 horses, and in 1912, 12,389 horses worn slaughtered for consumption. In order to comply with the demand for meat many town authorities imported moat from Russia in spito of tho. protests of the butchers. In Berlin tho authorities handed'over the ealo of_Kug6ian meat to the co-operative societies, which 'have now 44 butchers' shops, besides HO other shops. The Belgian Trade Unions' National Centre has recommended affiliated organisations to commence, an energetic agitation for tho free Saturday afternoon. The morn bership of the trade unions affiliated to the National Centre rose from tho beginning of 1912 till October 1; 1912, from 78,815 to 129,334. Since then t'.iere has been still further increase, a clear proof that the political movement in Belgium dors not draw tho workers away from tho task of building up their trade unions organisation. As a matter; of fact activity in all phases of the Labour movement has bepomo more vigorous and fruitful.