NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION FOR OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2387, 30 November 1899, Page 13

NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION FOR OTAGO.

PRELIMINARY MEETING. A meeting. of manufacturers and others was , held at Messrs Sargood, Son, and Ewen's office on the 23rd inst. for the purpose of considering tho advisability of forming an j Industrial Association for Otago on lines simi- . lar to those of the Wellington, Auckland, and I other associations which have been in exist- | encc for 6omo years. j The meeting was attended by Messrs P. j R. Sargood (in the chairt, Alex. Burt, Haddock, Fenwick, Morris (Baker and Morris), J. H. Morrison, A. S. Paterson, K. Ramsay, Sise, Somerville, A. Thomson, J. C. Thomson ; and apologies for inability to attend wore received from Messrs Kempthorne, Moloney, Kerr, Farquhar, Theomin, and W. P. 1 Watson. Mr S. Brown, president of the Wellington Industrial Association, -who was present by invitation, at- the request of the chairman, gave some particulars of the working of tho northern associations, in the course of which ho said that the Industrial Association was for the promotion of manufacturing and industrial pursuits, whether manufacturing, farming, or mining. Its aims were so broad that it embraced all classes. Workmen could belong to it at half fees, and also ladies, and it might be denned as an association which endeavoured to find work for two persons where only^work for one existed before. It thus followed that there were numbers who belonged to the various associations who were not engaged in trade, but* took a general- inI teri?st in the progress of the colony. Mr i Brown also pointed out that the Industrial j Association carefully watched acts of'Parliaj ,inent, so^ far. as they affected manufacturers ' or the workers of the colony. As an illustration he pointed out that the Master and ' Apprentice Act of the session before last was 1 laid by on the evidence tendered by the In- , dustrial Corporation. Had that act passed at least 5000 young persons, male and female, would have been debarred getting their living at the trades or businesses at which they j worked before. In the City of Dunedin about 1000 young persons would have had to walk the street because the laws of the land ' would not have allowed them to earn their living, Mr Brown remarking that this was not a matter of opinion, but was taken from the factory returns. The Industrial Corporation, through the president, secured an amendment in Mr Seddon's bill, that boys and girls should have a wage of 2s 6cl per week, getting the wage raised for boys to 5s per week. They also appealed to the House in regard to what was termed tho Workmen's Wages Protection Act, and requested that in any amendment that might be made the workmen should not be put in a less favourable position, than at present, so far as insurance was concerned for the workmen. There were instances as showing that the Industrial Association, in its best and widest sense, looked after the welfare of the workmen as well as the employer. . i Mr Brown also said that, although the Industrial Association was a powerful organisation, it was entirely non-political. i The Chairman moved the following reaolu- | tion: — "That those present, together with ', the Industrial Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, form themselves into an industrial [ association on the lines of kindred bodies ' in other centres, and that power be taken to j add to their number and to draw up a constitution and rules and regulations." The motion was seconded by Mr J. C. Thomson, and carried unanimously. It was arranged that Mr J. C. Thomson ; should act as convener, and that steps should be at once taken to extend the membership of the association.