THE LABOUR WORLD.

Southland Times, Issue 16786, 14 July 1911, Page 7

THE LABOUR WORLD.

TSOBISMS AND DISCUSSIONS. (By "Worker.’) Brief contributions on matters concerning the Labour B'tovcment are iu*lted ; local items are particularly coma. —Meetings. — Friday—Carpenters and Joiners. There is groat dissatisfaction in Labour cirlces regarding the neglect of Ministers to reply to communications, and to carry out promises which have been made. I have heard several complaints in this connection, and why some of the matters mentioned to me have not received attention passes my comprehension. I understand that there is a probability of Air A. A. Paape, who stood as a Labour candidate for the Invercargill seat at last election, again having a try for parliamentary honours. The Bluff Waterside Workers’ Union now has a membership of about 225. Great credit is due to the secretary (Mr Haywood) for the manner in which ho has brought about such a satisfactory state of affair . The preference clause was, of course. Ids strong point, and it must also be said that the shipping companies threw absolutely no obstacles in the way. Indeed the attitude adopted by the employers has been a most commendable one, and while the present good feeling prevails there is no danger whatever of any unpleasantness arising. Those who had remained outside the Union until the preference clause was enforced tried by every possible means to escape from joining. A meeting of non-members was held, and there was some talk of forming a non-unionists’ union, but this did not catch on. A solicitor was also consulted, but he advised that he could do nothing in the matter ; and Judge Sim. President of the Arbitration Court, was also communicated with. However, finding that nothing could be done, the men submitted to the inevitable, and agreed to come Into the fold. It is to be hoped that, now that things have turned out so well, developments will in the future 50 on swimmingly. The Union is now the third largest in Southland. Mr L. Neil, well and favourably known In Labour circles, is again actively associated with the local branch of the New Zealand Labour Party, and it is not too much to say that the branch Is extremely fortunate to have a man of Mr Nell’s ability to boost It along. Mr A Glass still keeps adding to the membership of the General Labourers’ Union, and the manner in which he has worked the Union into the fine position It is now in Is really splendid. No better testimony of Mr Glass’s organising ability can be advanced than his performances in connection with the General Labourers’ Union. It Is on the cards that the local branch of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners intends to break away from the parent body and form Itself Into a Southland Carpenters’ and Joiners’ Union. In Canterbury there is a Carpenters’ and Joiners’ Union distinct from the Amalgamated Society, and a rea’ live, union it is. The trouble with Australasian branches of the Amalgamated Society is that the constitution and policy have been, and are, governed by British conditions, and these are not always palatable to Australasians. A movement has been on foot for some time to bring about a change in this respect in so far as Australasian branches are concerned, but up to the present nothing has materialised. In connection with a complaint made by Mr T. O’Byrne in regard to an immigrant being unable to obtain farm work, mention of which was made in tills column a fortnight ago, Mr Richard Allen, secretary of the Southland branch of rhe Farmers’ Union, states that he asked the man to call on him later on In the day. In the meantime he spoke to several farmers, and two of them offered to give the man employment. As the man did not again turn up, and as he did not leave any address, Air Allen says that he was unable to communicate with him. Mr D. McLaren addressed a big meeting at Petone recently, his subject being "Liquor and Labour.” Mr McLaren pointed out to his hearers that the only distinct political party that has on its platform a proposal to determine all referendum issues on a bare majority .vote is the Labour Party. I have to acknowledge receipt of the “N.Z. Railway Review” and the “Loco. Record.” Both publications are well up to the mark, and give one an idea of the discontent that is at present prevailing in the Railway Service. The annual conference of the N.Z. Railway Officers’ delegates is at present sitting in Wellington. Mr J. G. MacPherson, station-master, Woodlands, Is the Southland representative. It Will be interesting to note how the deputation, which is to wait on the Hon. J. A. Millar at the conclusion of the conference, will fare. At the social tendered to Mr A. M. Anderson last Thursday evening, mention was made of the number of resignations that were happening in the Railway Service, and it was urged that tliis fact alone was sufficient evidence of the marked unrest which at present pervades the employees in the Railway Department. Apropos of the foregoing, the “Loco. Record” says:—“ The New Zealand railways are managed on the most conservative system in vogue in the whole of Australasia. Class distinction is rampant, and everything is done to make the men feel as if they are merely machines. Smoke that !” Railwaymen have a fairly good con'ceit of themselves at-times. For Instance at Mr A. M. Anderson’s social Mr W. G. Hartle said that from the General Manager down Neve Zealand railwaymen were second to none in the Southern Hemisphere. Mr Hunter said that New Zealand railwaymen were equal to those in Australia ; and the drivers and guards on the Southland section were equal to anything in New Zealand : it might be wrong to say that they were better. Mr G. R. Whiting has been selected as Labour candidate for Christchurch South ; Mr Hiram Hunter for Christchurch East : Mr I). J. Sullivan for Avon, and Mr A. C. Russell, the present Mayor of Greymouth, for Grey. Anglican Bishop Mercer, of Tasmania. lias been nominated for the position of chairman of the bootmakers’ Wages Board, the fir-’t to he established in the Island State. Bishop .Mercer, by the way, Is a socialist. “The poor ye have always with you,” eaith the Book. This is probably the reason why some people are so much opposed to any change in the social system. There is a movement on foot to establish a Southland branch of the N.Z. Journalists’ Institute. EQUALITY. Equality is the thing that is next to all our hearts. With the exception of those whose natures have been corrupted this does make an appeal. Economic Socialism does not warm the heart. .V man may say it is theoretically all right, but the demand for nationalisation does not awaken religious enthusiasm and it is only by religion in the real sense of that word, that you can get at people. Man is a coward by nature. If he were not afraid of being run over he would not hesitate to throw himself in front of a motor car. Our whole system of self-preservation is founded on fear. There is only one tiling that takes fear out of men, and that Is religion. I do not mean this sect and that. I do mean that a movement will only become irresistible when it gets a man out of his own miserable fears and tauses him to identify himself with the Life-force of the Universe so that lie feels his complete union with the human race. Then you take a man out of himself ; then you suddenly find that you have a man who wilt rush on bayonets and bullets. A man who is brave Is not a man who lias no fear. He is a man who is alive to all dangers, but with an ideal before him which overcomes those fears. I believe equality tan create that ideal. —G. B. Shaw. It is estimated that eight thousand »ea are out in Philadelphia (U.S.) in

connection with the Baldwin locomotive works’ strike for shorter hours and better pay. It is now certain that the British trade unions are about to carry the gospel of Unionism into India. The slaves of India under the law are prohibited from organising, but the Trade Unionists of Great Britain have realised that exploiters shots’ no hesitation in importing the slaves of India to every domain over which the flag of England floats, and placing such slaves in competition with the labour of union men. Necessity has forced this action on the part of the British Trade Unionists. The members of the Victorian Trades Hall Council decided, by a large majority, to meet, as usual, on Coronation Day. Several members said that the business of the council could not be interrupted by such an event. In the House of Commons recently, Labour member Lansbury introduced a bill providing for a weekly day of rest, making May 1 (Labour Day) a bank holiday, and securing a week’s holiday for workers, with payment of wages on all public holidays. In South Africa the trade unionists consider the Government their worst enemy, the State railway shops being the biggest factor in lowering standard rates, and the indiscriminate immigration which is allowed is becoming serious, because many of the big construction jobs taken in hand after the war are nearing completion. The expression "Cattle market” Indicates that cattle is a merchandise ; the "Money market” Indicates that money is a merchandise ; “Sugar market” implies that sugar is a merchandise ; and “Labour market” stamps labour as a commodity, either “on the hoof,” like cattle, or In jute bags, like sugar. The “Economist” (a London financial organ) declares that the Commonwealth land tax as it stands is in many respects contrary to the elementary principles of justice. Mr Fisher’s reply to the deputation on the subject is considered by the “Economist ' to have been entirely unsatisfactory. By the way, what are the “elementary principles of justice” in this relation ? Isn’t It to bite more than you can chew and swallow more than is good for your congested liver ? Who has not met the man whose "blood boils” (he tells you himself It does) when relating an Instance of a wrong dsne or suffered by his fellow man. And when you hear a portly gentleman (or more probably lady) declare at a “benevolent” gathering that “our hearts bleed for the poor,” you can’t help speculating as to the speaker’s age : and how long the bleeding process may have been going on ; and what a dangerous thing it must be daily carrying a bleeding heart about without doing anything, in particular, to stop the hemorrhage.