THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22479, 25 January 1935, Page 3

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD

By J. T. Paul.

NEWS AND NOTES ■

Some politicians and public officials are conceited enough to think they know better than a business man how to conduct his . business, and boast that they can spend our money better than we can spend it ourselves. It is for the individual to gratify his own taste s and supply his own needs. That is a condition of pleasure and progress. It is essential to personal liberty that_ every citizen, after contributing to the necessary services of the State, should be free to spend his income in any lawful manner that he chooses. Some people are wasteful and extravagant. But, generally speaking, they spend their own money to greater advantage and profit than the State can spend it tor them. There is a good old maxim: “Let money fructify in the pockets of the people.”—Francis W. Hirst. WAGES OF SEAMEN. On Friday next the new agreement covering the wages and conditions for seamen for the next two years will come into force. The new wages and overtime rates will be retrospective to December 1, 1934, and the members of the union who aimed at a 10 per cent, increase are reported to be very well satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations. The increased pay on the principal ratings is .£l 2s 6d a month, approximately 8 per cent. Crews’ attendants’ pay is increased from £9 10s 4d to £l4 6 S a month, representing an increase of £4 15s 8d per month. The overtime rate for all hands ia increased from 2s 2d to 2s 6d an hour, an increase of. over 12 per cent. The sustenance rate is advanced from 8s to 8s 6d a day, and the surfing rate from 9d ! to Is an hour. The stand-by rate is increased from 8s 6d to 10s, the trimming of bunker coal is to be paid for at 3s fid an hour instead of 3s 2d, and numerous other increases in pay and improvements in conditions have also been secured. CHAIN STORE UNIONS. When recently the Arbitration Court granted registration to a union of chain store grocery managers in Christchurch (says the Times), the grocers’ unions throughout the Dominion, who had opposed the application of the managers on the ground that the existing union could cover them, immediately took steps to form managers’ unions in other centres, and in Wellington, according to Mr S. Bitcher, secretary of the Grocers’ Union in that city, have succeeded. Mr Butcher was in Christchurch last week, end told the inside story. When the court’s de cision was made known, Mr Butcher immediately began the task of organising a chain stores managers’ union in Wellington, and secured the names of 150 men willing to become members. Meanwhile the organisers of the Christchurch Managers’ _ Union were also busy, and made application for registration. However, their application was ruled out because only 15 names were attached to it, and the industrial union was the first to register. RELIEF WORKERS’ WAGES. On the result of the poll on loan proposals in Auckland on Wednesday rested the question of improvement in the wages of relief workers. In the course of a memorandum issued by the Mayor it was pointed out that* the proposal to raise £60,000 was for the purpose of converting the No. 6 scheme undertakings into unemployment constructive works. The loan money would be subsidised by the Unemployment Board to the extent of approximately £45,000; Under the scheme the workers would be employed the time allowed for relief works, plus the 10 per cent, time and wages cut imposed two years ago. The men would thus work eight hours on the days for which they were eligible at 14s 7d a day. A threeday man would receive £2 3s 9d, as against £1 7s under the No. 5 rate; a three day and a-half man £2 Us, instead of £1 lie fid; and a four day man £2 18s 4d, instead of £1 16s. Adoption of this proposal would increase the number of men employed by the council on unemployment constructive works to 726. There was no doubt that the increased earning power afforded to this large number 6t men would be reflected in the business done by small tradespeople of the city, rents would be paid more promptly, and this in turn would help the council’s finances by reduction of arrears of rates. CONCILIATION COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS. An agreement on all clauses except those defining overtime, rates of wages, and tea money when overtime is worked was reached by assessors for the employers and workers in the wholesale drug industry in Christchurch when they met in Conciliation Council this week to discuss proposals put forward by the employers tor a new award. The counter claims of the workers were made on' the basis of the old award, and suggested that the wages payable to certain workers should be higher by about 2s fid than the amounts proposed in the claim. The wages claim was for rates from 15s per week for those under 18 years, with graded increases up to £3 12s 9d after four years’ service. After the assessors for the employees had announced that they were asking for an increase amounting to about 2s 6d on the figures named by the employers for workers after the second year and that they were not prepared to agree to the overtime and tea money clauses, the council adjourned until February 13. Except for a clause affecting underrate workers, which is to be referred to the Arbitration Court, a complete agreement on proposals for an award was reached by assessors for the employers and workers in the manure, tallow, acid, soap, and candle industry in a Conciliation Council on Monday. The award will come into force on February 1, 1935, and continue until January 31, 1036. The wages clause provided for the following rates for a week of 48 hours:—Tallow workers, manure workers (including chemical manure, and acid workers), Is 7Jd an hour; chambermen and other workers on continuous shifts, Is 9d an hour; soap and candle workers, Is 7Jd an hour. Workers On extra shifts should be paid Id an hour additional, and men in charge of extra shifts should receive a further Is a shift. Provision was also made for extra payment for dirt-money. The following rates were agreed on for youths:—First year, 15s a week; second year, £1; third year, £1 ss; fourth year, £1 10s; fifth year, £1 17s fid; sixth year, £2 7s fid. The rate of pay for overtime Was fixed at time and a-quarter for the first three hours and time and a-half thereafter, with double time for work on Sundays, Good Friday, Labour Day, and Christmas Day, and time and a-half for all other holidays.

BOYS’ COURSE IN FARM WORK. The Wellington Boy Employment Committee has commenced work for the ensuing year. At present there are slightly more than 300 boys on the roll, representing a reduction when compared with the correseponding periof of last year. The majority of the lads registered are between the ages of 17J and 20, and there is very little immediate prospect of them obtaining any employment in the city. It is the desire of the committee to transfer the interest of as many of these boys as possible from the city to the country, and the organising arrangements are being completed for the third Penrose agricultural training camp, which will commence on February 11. Already a number of boys have intimated their intention of undergoing this course, and provision is being made for successive groups of 25 boys. The period of intensive training will be one month. While the course will have excellent holiday features for the boys concerned, it is emphasised that agricultural training and vocational aspects will be paramount. The Department of Agriculture, through the Director of Agriculture (Dr J. 0. Reakes), has signified its intention of assisting the project again by providing lectures and demonstrations of special interest to the boys. The subjects of these lectures will include soils and manures, grasses, and pastures, stock (cattle, sheep, horses, and pigs), implements, wool, and poultry. The general secretary of the Y.M.C.A., Mr L. J. Greenberg, who 'will be responsible for the training course, recently visited Masterton, and as a result of a conference with the trustees of the Wairarapa Training Farm, complete arrangeMeats have been made for conducting the

course. An excellent property of 700 acres is being made available. This farm site, about eight miles from Masterton, is replete with stock and implements, and an efficient farm working staff will _be available to assist the boys. Practical instruction will be given in the use, manipulation, and care of implements, hand and machine milking, fencing, horse and team work, and sheep work. In addition, the co-operation of nearby farmers has been promised. The boys will be excellently housed, and suitable provision will be made for cooking, recreation, sanitation, etc. This course of training will be open to all boys within the Wellington province, and should prove of inestimable value to boys desiring farm experience as a preparation for future work in the country. Boys who prove successful will be given preference in the selection for farm positions which the committee has available from time to time. The committee considers that there are distinct advantages to be obtained in providing a boy with a brief period of training prior to his being placed on a farm. It has been found in Australia that the advantages of the training scheme over placement direct in rural employment are evident, as an opportunity is given to study the character, and select the type of lads who, it is considered, will most satisfactorily develop for rural employment. They are instructed in the elements of farm work, and becoming accustomed to the work before engaging in it as a livelihood. In addition, their physical development for the particular work involved is increased, and they also become accustomed to undertake a day’s work. They can be fitted to the jobs for which they are most suited, and gain a certain degree of proficiency in the work to be performed, and can command a higher rate of wage than untrained lads. Another advantage is that the period of training enables any physical, mental, or other disabilities which would militate against their successful employment to be detected.

The training course is restricted to boys and youths under 21 years of age, and to qualify for enrolment a boy must give evidence of good character and a desire to work in the country in the event of _an opportunity offering. He must be in reasonably good health, and must have the written consent of parents or guardian. Boys accepted for the camp who are unemployed and in needy circumstances will not be required to make any payment, their keep while participating in the course being provided from funds made available by the Unemployment Board. Suitable arrangements can be made also for boys whose parents are able and willing to make a small contribution towards the keep of ’ their boys while in training. CONDITIONS IN RUSSIA. The/Moscow correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph reported at the end of November that seven of Russia’s leading cotton experts had left for Germany, England, and America to place orders for machinery and equipment, and to study the possibility of hiring the services of foreign firms as advisers to the Russian cotton industry. “The industry, though given the leading position in the second Five-Year Plan of light industry, is still one of the most backward branches of the national economy. < Nearly £4,000,000 is now to be spent in new construction and equipment. The members of the delegation will spend four months abroad, and have been promised every facility for acquiring first-hand information on the runJP’S of foreign mills. They are led by M. Karatkoff, _ president of the Supreme Textile Committee of the Commissariat of Light Industry, and M. Cubotin, chief of the cotton mill construction department of the same Commissariat. “Grave concern is felt about the cotton industry here. Collectivised growing m Uzbekistan, the main native source of supply, i s evidently failing, and there will be a shortage of yarn in the mills of Xvanovo-Vossneesensk, the Russian ManChester. As usual, sabotage is blamed for the cotton position, Sir’managers of collective farms have been sentenced to death, and a number to 10 years’ imprisonment on this charge. At the same time, Pravda,’ the Central Party organ in Moscow, put all the blame on the slackness of the Central Asian Communists. “The real causes seem to be:—Slackness generally, after the feverish years of the first Five-Year Plan; and the sowing of good cotton land with grain by peasants who fear a repetition of last year’s great famine. “ Lumber shortage is also causing anxiety to the authorities. In the northern lumber camps only 29 per cent, of the free’ labour required has been provided by the local collective farms. In the Far East lumber region the position ia just as. bad as in the Archangel and other North European districts. Inadequate food supplies and bad living conditions in the camps, enormous arrears of wages, and the slackness of -local Communists, who themselves shirk going to work in the forests, explain both the failure to recruit free labour and the failure to hold it in the camps.”