INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17657, 21 June 1919, Page 14

INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

NEWS AND NOTES.

Bx thi Hok. J. T. Paul, M.L.C.

TO (XOIRESPONDENT. " Cornstalk."—Tho Paddington by-election was won by tho Laboxr candidate. Tho voting was :—L. J. O'Hara (Labour), 2613; Captain W. Harris (Nationalist}, 995; -Lieutenant J. Thomson (Soldiers' and People's Party), 869; J. Jones (Independent, 19 Absolute majority • for CHara, 73a TASMANIAN ELBOTIONS. _ Tho Labour Party hag improved its position as a result of tho recent elections. The party was weaker in the Houso just dissolved than for many years. The 1916 elections igavo Labour 14 (seats out of 30, but two members left the party when tho Australian split cam©, and two others resigned their State scats to take part in the Federal contest. The result was that Labour wont to tho polls with 10 sitting members in a Hocse of 30. It has conio bnok with a party of 13, which is one loss than it numbered when the poll was declared three years ngo. Tho following: ligi.res show tho position of Labour in the Ta.sman.ian Parliament after the various general elections :—

CLOTHING TRADE ORGANISATION.. The recent agreement in tho wholesale clothing trade covered workers engaged in tho manufacture of tweed, waterproof, and denim clothing and ladies' apparel (twocd costumes). The throughout Now' Zealand are now being asked to agree to simikir conditions for workers engaged in the manufacture of cotton ;ind silk clothing, iroludng shirts. When those proposals receive tho sanction of the Arbitration Court it will mean that sovecal hundred additional ■workers will for tho first time be working tnder award conditions. The only union •covering shirt and white workers has previously existed in Auckland, and tho award has been restricted' to -Jiat city. Now, hovevor, tho Tomato workers hitherto enrolled in that union are members of the Tafloresses and • Other Femalw Clothing Trades Union, and tho T-orkers in other centres are similarly situated. Tho ideal of uniform working conditions and wages for all engaged in tio industry shou.'d soonbe an accomplished fact. INCREASES IN CLOTHING PRICES. During the hearing of on© of the oases in "the Arbitration Court at Auckland last week a comparative price-list covering clothing was handed to the court. Tho list was carefully compiled, and f.hows an increase approximating 100 per cent. The prices are based on the average of Auckland prices ruling at present, and the .-tender cy is towards still higher prices. 'The years covered are 1914 and 1919, ajid the items follow:—

ECONOMY IN UNION ADMINISTRATION. A sub-committee of Auckland Labour tn.cn has been considering the business side »f the movement in that city. In the eourse of the committee's report it is pointed out that under the present system Httlo or no organising is done, and a considerabl6: amount of unnecessary expense is ini curred by overlapping of secretarial wages, office rents, and other office expenses generally. "We estimate," reports the committee, "that the lowest possible cost of administering trade union affairs in Auckland; is, in round figures, £7000, with no •provision for organising work at all. The estimated cost of the -secretarial and office work, under the suggested central office, with an efficient office staff and also eight ' organisers continuously on the field, would -be about £3000." , The committee has evidently given considerable thought to the whole question of reorganisation. It would appear from its report that thero is something approaching flagrant waste in the multiplication of secretaries with separate offices, separate telephones, and separate typists. The sub- - committee's report means that the work which is now costing £7000 a year in Auckland could be more efficiently done on a sum : much less than half that amount The committee adopted the constitution of the local Central Labour Office practically without alteration The report will be considered by those interested in the near future. * THE BRITISH ELECTIONS. Immediately prior to the British elections I expressed certain forebodings, and these seemed to me to >be confirmed after the elections took place. Some criticism resulted, but the subsequent events have fully justified my view. The Round Table, holding the- advantage of writing two months after the elections, was also disappointed as witness the following from 0 the last issue to hand:— ' The spirit in which the elections\ were fought showed small a-pprecktion of the ■ true qualities of the British people or of that faith m democracy so frequently proclaimed during the war. The Prime Minister went out of his way to heap unworthy abuse on his opponents, while the chief , issues on which he and his followers relied lot support were the punishment of the .Kaiser and the exaction of indemnities, the latter demand involving a violation of the .Peace Terms which formed the basis of the Armistice. Seen at a two months' interval these war cries seem utterly unworthy; of the situation in which thecountrv finds.itself planed.. The odious character of the Prime Minister's election campaign J °m cr , • the reputation and increased the difficulties of Britain abroad, at the moment when the role of a Lincoln lav open to British statesmanship. . . . The conservative predominance in the new House of Commons does not, however, mean that at. the; very moment when a wave of revolution is-sweeping over the Continent, the people of this island are drawing in their skirts rn horror, like their ancestors in the days of the Jacobins. AN, ARBITRATION GRIEVANCE Every advocate before. the Arbitration •Court has at times felt that thero is something unequal and unfair in the method ■•• of examination of the respective sides interested in certain industrial disputes. For instance, an advocate must be very wary : in probing into an employer's business, but there is no limit to the details sometimesrequired, from tho worker's side of the case. Another complaint now comes from ' Australia. In the Commonwealth Arbitration Court (says a, contemporary) witnesses for the unions : continue to be subjected to most humiliating questions as to how they live In the case of. the clothing trades, before Mr Justice Higgins, a female supervisor in a shirt factory stated *at her wa<*o v,as 28s per week. She rented a room at ?? ,I^ r wcc . k - Paid Is 6d per week for gas lighting and cooking, allowed herself 5s per weok for meat, and paid on the average 3s 3d weekly for groceries,' Is for milk, W for bre^land Is for vegetables, making her food bill 10s 9d weekly. She firri nished the room, and at the rate of 5s per wees had paid £10 10s off tho co?t. !bh» expected to pay it all off in another year. Having had clothing in stock and been given certain articles she had not boucht any outer clothes during 1917 exI oepting hvo hats at 5s Id each and'two ■ pairs of boots at 17s 6d and 18s 6d per pur. She spent 4s 9d on boot repairs, from flannelette she had made certain garni 3nts; but had not in 1918 been able . , bt jy^";" v . underclothing. She was not paid for holidays.

'1903 1906 1909 1912 1913 1916 1919 Labour Mombera. _ ... 3 ... „.. 7 12 ... .„ 14 ... „. 15 ... „. 14 ... „. 13 Total Members. 35 35 30 30 30 30 30

8. d. 2 men's under shirts ... _ 11 6i 2 boys under shirts ._ .„ 5 11 2 men's pants 13 H 2 boy's pants " '_. ... ... 12 9 3 men's shirts .„ _. ... 11 4 2 boy's shirts 5 4^ 4 pairs men's socks ... ... 5 4 1 pair boy's school stookirigs 3 1 1 boy's school shirt 6 1 8yds twill flannelette 6 1 2 ladies' undorveste (Roslyn) 17 3 2 pairs woven combinations 25 0 2 pairs ladies' stockings ... 4 8 . 1 man's overcoat 48 4 1 overcoat 31 2 1 pair blankets 29 8 Syd'5 sheeting,' double twill 10 8 s. d.' 22 7 9 ? 25 4 •tA 11 18 11 8 11 9 6i 4 2 10 10£ 13 1 22 4 65 ? 8 10 79 8 50 8 52 6 31 6 248 2 429 0 £12 8 2 £21 9 0