Taranaki Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1908. A LABOUR PROBLEM.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13748, 10 September 1908, Page 4

Taranaki Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1908. A LABOUR PROBLEM.

The President of the Trades' Union Congress at Nottingham, in seeking a solution of the "unemployed* J problem, declared that the first effective alteration must be the reduction of the hours of labour. The idea is, we assume, that the industries pfrovide only a certain amount of work and wages, and that these slioifld be divided as equitably as possible among those desiring share in them. The President presumably sees, as it were, a thousand toiling for -eigtnt hours w d&y* f and a hundred standing idle, and therefore advocates that the hours of labour should Ibe reduced, say, to seven per day, and thus the w;hole eleven hundred find employment. It may be that he lias some further scheme for providing that the wages for s§ven hours shall be the same as for eight, but experience has proved that this cannot be done, except perhaps in insolated instances ; or if it is done all round the cost of living is so raised that the workman is no better off with the higher wage than with the lower. On the other hand if he has no such thought of extracting more pay for the same amount of work, but merely designs to divide existing work and wages more equally, the result will not be to increase the sum total of comfort and wellbeing among the workers. The average degree of comfort, indeed, would more likely be reduced, for the whole eleven hundred would in that case rely entirely "npoirtlTa't particular industry, none of them seeking employment in any other industry. But iit seems to us- that Mr. Shackleton, the gentleman in question, is altogether wrong TiTnis 'method of attacking the problem of unemployment. He pursues a palliative rather than a solution and a cure. Possibly the one is practicable of attainment and the other not, but his remedy seems to us likely to fail in the long run, even if it did not make the position actually worse than at present. For conciseness and clarity of argument it will be convenient to continue th£ assumption that there are eleven hundred men in an industry, a thousand of whom are more or less regularly employ-

eJ and a hundred unemployed. Hr. Shackleton confines his attention to dividing the work and the wages among the lot. Unless at tli« saniG time he could make the industry pay higher aggregate WDges the position, as a whole, would not be improved. There would simply be more mouths to share the bread and butter represented by the wages, and therefore less for each mouth. Nothing 1 would be added to the wealth of the community, and what one individual gained another, would lose. Be. cannot make an industry pay more wages for the same quantity of work — competition prevents that. Therefore we must look for relief in another direc--tion. Either greater demand must be created for the product of the industry or the surplus labour must be diverted into some otheij' branch of activity. And what i$ it that causes demand for the pro* duct of industry? ' Going back to first principles, wjhen a man, as c primary producer, has producec sufficient for his actual needs an^ surplus is available to exchange for luxuries; he Begins to find employment for others in making boots and motor-cars and so on for his comfort. The primary producer, in fact, is at the base oi the whole social fabric. If he produces no more food than he requires for his own consumption ho cannot feed others while they work for his comfort. The position of the odd hundred workmen alluded to above is that the primary producers are no^ producing sufficient to feed them in -exchange for their labour.. The solution of ihe problem,- then, lies in diverting, the energies of a' proportion of the workers from the ranks of those ministering to the wants of the primary producers to the ranks of the Jatter. Let us suppose, for instance, that the workpeople under notice are mak-| ing clothing for the tillers of the soil and receiving food in exchange. There are a hundred tool many of them to do the work. Now if these hundred could become producers of their, own food the situation would b^ relieved, and they would in thpir turn require to exchange their surplus produce in the J shape of food for

clothing, and so give greater employment in the latteu industry. Naturally there are all sorts of minor considerations, but what we have "stated is ai brdad general principle to work upon. *.The man engaged- in a city industry is doubtless a producer 1 , but some sort of proportion must be.maintained between the .products of such industries and the products of the soil. TEere is one immutable law— that of supply and demand — which regulates such matters. The supply of labour in the industries Mr. Shackleton was referring to at Nottingham is in excess of the demand ; it may be only a temporary excess, which will soon be absorbed. More likely it is permanent in greater or less degree, and Mr. Shackleton seeks to remedy it by means which disregard the law of supply and demand. He may succeed in this or that industry for a short time, but it ought to be obvious to the dullest comprehension that when a portion of the population is on the verge of starvation the remedy cannot be found in doing less work. There must be more energy expended, and the problem is to turn it into the right direction.

The New Plymouth Harbour Bills were put through the second reading stage in the Legislative Council yesterday.

A sitting of the Supremo Court will bo opened at New Plymouth on the 28th inst.

Mails for the United Kingdom despatched via Vancouver from Auckland on August 4th, arrived at London on September Bth.

The Stratford Co-operative Dairy Company is paying its suppliers for August and September Is per pound for butter-fat.

"What is Opunako going to do now?" was asked of a farmer from wostern district, apropos of the Opunake Harbour Bill. "What can they do?" was the reply. "They can't raise a loan over that small area. But they are lucky in getting away from New Plymouth." The same man agreed that it was quite time WaimaJ;e separated from New Plymouth and joined Patea. — Waimate Witness.

The Hawera-Kaupokonui tramway question is again in the air in the districts concerned. A special meeting of the Waimato Road Board was held on Tuesday fforr r the purpose of discussing the scheme. After an animated discussion the following resolution was carried: — "That a deputation of the Waimato Road Board wait on tho Hawora County Council, asking it now to tako a statutory, poll, seeing that by tho preliminary poll it has secured a legal majority."

A Timaru man who rode a bicycle at night without a lamp was not fined because the charge entered by the police did not set out that he was riding "between sunset and sunrise."

A strange use for a telephone is recorded in a Gippsland paper of a recent date. Tho church choirmaster was detained a distance of seventeen miles away on choir practice night. It was impossible for him to conduct in person, so he secured the use of a telephone, and heard and directed the practice which was being held at his own house.

"No Chinese official," said Mr Wm. S. Strong, who has recently returned from China, in the course of a mission address at Auckland, "can bo a Christian and remain an official. He may be a secret believer, but he will never take office in a Christian church. His living depends upon cheating, thieving and corruption. These are all factors in civic administration in China."

At the end of March last there, were 314 Chinamen who received £2713 in wages in laundries in the Dominion during this year. By way of contrast it is interesting to record that 1205 Europeans employed in this industry received £37,798 in wages during the same period. There are -175 Chinese laundries in New Zealand and 196 European.

The Rev. C. H. Nash, the cleric over whom there has been gnashing of teeth in Victoria for months past, had the unique experience of a full house on the occasion of the first sermon E reached by' him since the renewal pf is license. He preached at St. Phillip's Churoh, Collingwood, which holds 600 people comfortably ; but extaa seats had to be brought in. Every inch of space was occupied, and in addition an overflow meeting of 300 people was held in an adjoining school hall. It is not often a parson has th£k sort of experience; and it shows that the advertisement of the man who is accused of doing something or other is as useful to a parson as an aristocratic scandal is to Dolly Footelites. .<-. Dairying people-, in W.airarapa are dissatisfied with the t action of the Arbitration Court in adjourning the hearing of the dispute of the Wellington Butter and Cheese Workers/. Union to the next sitting of , the Court, when the milking season will be .in full swing. The Dominion says a large number of employers point . out? the difficulty which will be experienced by cheese and butter makers anil the employees in leaving their work when their attendance at. the, factqries will be so milch required. It is suggested that as the case has drifted so long its hearing- might now be deferred till next winter, after the, factories, , have closed ddwn for ' the three, .months' Vacation. , , '„.'"%' In the Huge- crowd in the streets of Sydney on the night of -the. arrival of the American fleet, tlje larrikin element was promptly suppressed by a strong force of police. A highly humorous scene occurred in George, Street, when, a. larrikin got the surprise of his life. He had been indulging in a little horse-play, and was inclined to be. of^ fensive to women. A rather massive member pf the police force, partly concealed by a post, was watching /the youth's progress.' As the rjatter got right abreast of the. policeman he was indiscreet enough to. seize a; girl by the hair and try to kiss ' her. The man in blue said nothing. He j.ust r stretched out one long ,lejg with a thick boot at fcfie end of it, and administered a vigorous kick. ' The" larrikin kissed the ground, instead -of the g * r *" V< )', ' „ t ■ Week-ending ia a, pleasani pastime for Parliamentarians (remarks the Post). Somewhere' near Greytown, in the Moroa Plains* on Saturday, the Hon. A. R. Guinness (Speaker of the House of Representatives) and several fellow-legislators were shown a fiftyacre section,- -which a pioneer, Mr Kempt on, will giye to .the Government, provided it shifts its seat from Wellington to, that Arcadian jrabt. '-"If it comes to my casting vote that Parliament should comehepe, I willigive'rt," said Mr Guinness, tfith a subtlety worthy of a Minister. , Mr Kempton is. an admirable man f with the best of. intentions, in offering a plot of ground for public buildings.but his proposal is like the remark of .a father who would set up his son in business. "I desire," says the senior, " tq let you make your fortune as a confectioner. Here is a box of .chocolates ; go ajid build a shop arouhd it." Are there any more- capital sites for inspection by Parliament ary v week-enders? < : The editor of the magazine which ;was published on board the Oswestry Grrange on its journey from Liverpool to , Auckland . invited statements from ; youthful emigrants as to what they intended to do in New Zealand. Contributors had* to be not more- than fifi teen years of age; A girl of twelve wrote as follows;— " When I land at Wellington, where I hope to meet my father, I shall go from there to Wanganui, where I intend to settle. Of course, everything will be new to me, and, I nope, very nice. I am looking forward to having an enjoyable week's holiday previous to finishing my education at school. When that is oyer, I intend to leafrn the boot trade, as I understand girls in that trade are very well paid in New Zealand. Then, when I have saved sufficient, I intend to start a business of my own." A Ittle fellow of nine thus enumerated his ambitions: —"When I jget;,out,to New,JZeaJan4 I hope to go to sofh^l for a 'jtew^yearEu. I am foiwT ipf, 1 school, and hope to be a clever and useful than. When I leave school I should like to be ah engineer, for I am interested in machinery. When I have earned enough and served my time, I would like to travel all over New Zealand and' see soriie of its beau* ties, for I have read it has many pretty , places. I should like some day to go! back to the Old Country." New Zealand, when Dominionised, was like a sac-suited man presented with a top-hat (says the Post). The shining 1 head-gear cost nothing, but the frock-coat, the spats, the buttonhole and other things to matoh did require some cash. Day after day conies the cry "worthy of the Dominion," until the ears become very weary with the iteration of the banal syllables. When it was proposed to build another home for Parliament, the Premier, who I has become Prime Minister since New Zealand was painted Dominion, stipulated for something "worthy of the| Dominion," and lesser political fry have taken up the cry. On Friday night, when advocating an increase in the salaries of members of the House of Representatives (promoted to M.P. to maintain the dignity of Dominion), Mr Laurenson could not conclude without a "worthy of the Dominion" touch. In the current slang (slightly exaggerated), New Zealand is a gentleman jwith a "swell" name, living by "touching" his friends. Let everything be "worthy of the Dominion," sings the Ministry of the day, and the moneylender is asked to provide the funds for tho display., If New Zealand desires to do something really "worthy of the Dominion" it will cut its coat according to its cloth, and pay for the cloth out of earnings instead of out of borrowings.

The estimated cost of the new Post Office at Wellington is £80,000. It is stated that all the tenders received are considerably above that amount.

The Municipality of Victoria, British Columbia, bas awarded the Stanton Iron Works, Limited, of Stanton, Nottinghamshire, and South wark, the contract for delivery of 300,000 tons of iron piping required in connection with new water, gas, and other public improvement schemes^.

In sentencing two boys at Middlesex Sessions the other day for housebreaking, Sir Ralph Littler said pcrnicioiis literature had brought them to this. It was a scandal to civilisation that anyone should be allowed to sell at the gain of about id per copy books which taught burglary, and made heroes of burglars. He would like to fine the people responsible for them £1 for every copy sold.

Ono evening, as I stood on Admiralty steps, a boat from the Powerful came in (writes Mr Donald Macdonald, the Melbourne journalist, in an article on the Fleet festivities in Sydney). The oars wore lofted as one, everything was smart and uniform as clockwork, and an American first lieutenant standing by, said to a comrade, "I'd give one of my eyes for a ship?s company of those fellows. You can't key our men to that pitch." While affecting to disregard style tin favour of effect, ' there *is not a shadow of doubt that every American naval officer desires and secretly envies the British man-of-war her fine discipline. A once prominent detective in the South Island had a friendly style of asking a criminal to "come and have a drink" when he -wanted to search the said criminal. The trick became known to the old hands, who were usually ready for the hospitable advances or the limb of the law. On one, occasion the detective in question met a notorious thief, whom he wanted to search. "Come and have a drank," eaid the detective cheerily, and the thief followed and breasted up to the bar. Grazing severely at the detective, the criminal addressed him plaintively, and said: — "Now 'look here get us that beer before you run the rule over me." He got his beer.

Among a/cofifection of autograph letters and .docuntents offered for sale in Welling±on !/ 'Si;r%et, Sydney, there turned up af faded page of folio manuscript, closely written, in which Captain Pipon relates the story of the discovery of mutineers of the. Bounty* on Pitcairn Island. It was in 1790 'that the mutiny, hoadedJ by Fletcher Christian, took place. For nearly a quarter of a century no trace of the crew was forthcoming, and the loss of the ship with all on board was assumed. In the autumn of 18JL4 a passing ship anchored oft iPrtcairn find the mystery was solved. In reporting the discovery, Captain Pipon descrj&es the - conditionof the community, bonsisting, with one excep^frj u of*#emeEi and children. The exception was Fletcher Christian, who had assumed the i n,ajn^ s ,of,,«lphjQ Adam, Undefchis direction iihe ffiffle cblbny became'a model of industry, social order, and morality. ,<Th^ 'arch-mutineer died in 1829, at thei age of 65, and was buried on ths island. During a recent address at Palmerston North, Mr, Fulton, chief Government hemp expert j said it had repeatedly been , stated tha^ New Zealand hemp was only fit for binder twine. He found, however, that a considerable portion was used in Holland and -Scotland for ropemaking. It was also largely, used t .for adulteration purposes. \ln America it was almost solely, used for binder twine. In the States and Canada 11^,000 tons of binder twine "were used in the year, against which our supply was but a drop in the ocean. The twine was sold under- a length and breaking strain — 500 ft. in the pound, with a breaking, strain of 1001 b. They woukThave to improve to cater for the American trade in the' future, and this particularly in the matter of strength. All manufacturers in America were hanging off New Zealand fibre, print cipally on account of failure to get sujk plies. He asked an American manufacturer ,what auality was demanded, and he replied that he required "good fair," but he must have it at the same price' as' **faif- cUrient Macnila.^ And if he could get "good fair" at the right price he could take the whole, output of the Dominion. ; Like many other fruiting plants, the strawberry has improved, immensely from year to j'ear by careful cultiva r tion. A few hundred years ago it was not' much better than any- other wayside parasite. It grew wild in its native land,' was small and poor-flavoured. Then., early in the 17th century, someone took an interest in its welfare, and brought ''it under careful and kindly horiie influence. It was mated with emigrants of the .same breed from America. Cresswell's seedling and the Royal Sovereign, and the delicate coloured and exquisite flavoured Marguerite, ar<s the, result of the experiments of generations of gardeners in crossing and recrossing various varieties. In New South • Wales,; especially in the fanled fruit-growing districts of the county of Cumberland, the cultivation of : the strawberry has during recent years developed amazingly ; in fact, extensive areas may well be termed "strawberry, land" This season the' area under -cultivation is being greatly added to, and already there is promise of a bounteous harvest. As many as 1800 quarts have been gathered in one week from a two-acre plot. The season that this was 'done the owner had returned to him in solid cash £314 in eleven weeks. It 'is not often in police experience that a speculating shot gets home as successfully as it did in a New Zealand case of some years ago, now revived by a Wellington ,paper. The belabouring of a man with a board off a fence, and the subsequent tumbling of the man over a precipice, led to a charge of attempted murder. Accused set out to prove ah alibi, calling his aged mother who swore that the son was at home with her at the'liour the offence -with which he was charged took place. The chances -« of a conviction , did not look promising when counsel for the prosecution 'rose and commenced his crossexamination of the old lady. After sparring • for an opening foi* a short time, counsel decided on a shot in the dark. "So you remember your son being at home at the time of the offence?" he suggested. "Yes, I remember it well," said the witness. "And how do you know it was, exactly 7 o'clock when your" son was ?home?" continued counsel. "Why, I looked at tlie clock and saw, it was seven," was the ready reply. "Now," resumed counsel, "would you just turn round to the clock in the Court and tell His Honour the time by that clock f (indicating the clock in the courtroom).* There was a hush in the court-room, and the silence became painful as the old lady started and stared at the clock. The shot in the dark had gone horne — the old lady could not tell the time. Counsel did not know this when he put his query, but a lucky speculator broke down the alibi and resulted in a sentence of fifteen years' imprisonment being entered against accused.

Several keys of various, sorts and sizes are lying at this office awaiting owners. . . The Dannevirke County Council lias decided in consideration of ****£*? cost of living to raise permanent, roaa men's wages from 8s to 9s per aay* The Hawera, Star understari&f that the Rev. Mr Klingender (Manala) and Mi- C A. Strack (Hawera) are organising a committee to arrange for another memorial service next year. A* Te Ngutu o te* Manu. A bazaar and sale of work in aid of the Salvation. Army was opened m the Army Hall last evening by Mr B. Dockrill The hall was crowded all the evening, and excellent business was done. Tho stalls, were yery . J<»" arranged and stocked, and the were very good. The bazaar #dl be open this afternoon and evening-. The number of doctors in the, w^rld has just been estimated at 228,234./ Ot this Wmber 162,344 are m Europe, the distribution in the different countries being as f ollows : —Great Briton *nU Ireland 21,489, France 20,967, ;#»«*. Italy 18,245. For every 100,009 inhabitants in Great Britain there are 7H medical men, in France 52, and in Turkey 18. ; Royal names for hotels are sometimes the cause of peculiar misunderstandings. An aged farmer from *ne home country decided to make a visit to Toronto. It was the first toe he had been at a city station, and. When a hotel crier hunrried to him with the interrogation, "King Edward?" the new-comer simply smiled as he- answered, "No; sir — Thomas Cox, or Eramosa." ' Mr C. WV Govett, chief agent in^New Plymouth for the Royal Insurance Company, Ltd., forwards Us a natty little volume, issued by - the 1 Company, containing a record of sports. This^ie the fifth edition of the. publication, which gives fuS information, from official sources, of records in all branches, of sports and " athletics. It is admirably compiled and is valuable as a work of reference. , , • f~;f ~ ; There is a time-worn axiom: that "colonial style is to borrow a '^ thing and keep it until its owner comes for it,' 7 . Perhaps the statement is an exaggeration, but it expresses a common laurngv That it is not confined to individuals was' proved in Blenheim tost week, when an angry river board resolved: "That the Pelorus Road Board be requested to return the monkey frame .borrowed from' tKe board to Blenheim, or its value — £10." Some juvenile "gangs" in Wellington have been giving the police sojine trouble of late. The latest is known as the "Chow-bashers' Gang." It* is reported that the gang is exolusive, and- no member can be admitted " who has not broken the window of a Chinaman's shop or thrown a stone into a Chinaman's shop. In Spite of tpis bar, it is stated that the band, which 'Operates 1 aboutL Te Aro, is growing in strength. Some of its members -will probably appear before the Court at an early date. According to a private letter from Samsun, about 2000 people perished in the recent floods in Tpkot,. villayet of Sivas, Asia Minor, including abont^SOO who were detained in the prisqns. " Of 600 army recruits who were assembled in the courtyard of the Government House, about "100 escaped by a'miiftcla. The rest perished. The newspapers^also report that .floods at Sungnrlu, in^the villayeiipf Angora, caused, the .deswucvtion. of thirty-seven houses and Save •seriously damaged eighty-three^. o^ers, while- 385 people have lost their licjnsesj crops, and cattle. — Reuter. ! A Stratford resident who was moving his furniture and "effects' from one house to another on Tuesday was charmed to discover on arriving at .his new domicile that paperhangers had almost finished re-papering one of the rooms {herein. The workmen assured him that they had been instructed to do, so by the o_wner of the house, but ast'the resident owned the house himself and had given no such orders, he was sceptical. Explanations followed, arid it was discovered that - "the -men had been directed to work "at another house, but had mistaken their destination. That the inventor is very much abroad in Now Zealand 'is plainly shown by tho report of the Patent Designs and Trade Marks Department for the past year. Of tho "total number of inventions seveiiiy-seven werefr in respect of dairying, sheep-farming md wool and hides, and fifty related sto harvesting. Twenty-eight "other classes included- temperature tests for bales of flax and the like, fencing, vehicles,- furnitiire, cooking and kitchen appliances, heating, amusements, • non-refillable .bottles, and washing and cleaning and .such. — From our Parliamentary reporter. A very distressing case was discussed at yesterday's meeting of the- Samaritan Home trustees (states a Christ:church tehgr&m). It' was stated tfctt an unfortunate man had been eomaritted from, the Magistrate's Court to -too Home suffering terribly from consumption, and had since diecL J A member of the Board said that it was discreditable to a community which was* prepared to spend thousands upon a sanatorium, that tho Magistrate had no other course ooen but to send such a patient to the "Samaritan Home where there were ; n6 facilities for looking after him. The matron had had to appoint one of the inmates to nurse ihe man, who was so bad that the doctor ordered him to be isolated. The chairman stated that such a case would v not have been taken into the sanatorium, and tha hospital would not dare to' take it. Over SO,OOO helpless^ littjo- quail burned alive in their cages! Such was the result of a'flestruotive fire, in North London recently. TKe birds were the property of a quail dealer wno does » big business with London shops. They were housed . in a iarge wooden twostoreyed shed in a paddock near the owner's house SJ and it was not until tho flames had obtancd a firm hold that the outbreak was discovered, in the early hours of the morning. Despite th© desperate efforts made to extinguish the flames, the shed was in ruins in? a very short time, and the v unfortunate little creatures within were beyond all help. Not one escaped. But it is some consolation to be told that the fumes from the burning woodwork mercifully killed the majority of the birds before the flames could reach them. Large, numbers .of quail are sent from Egypt and ; ltaly' to Lond*n,where, after being fattened* with millet, they are killed and sent to the market. A consignment from Italy had just arrived. As the object of the importer is fatten the birds up to market requirements as speedly as possible, variouii expedients are resorted to in order make them eat more than their normal quantity of food. One method ia .4b bring about artificial darkness, and "Chen, by turning on one electric light after another, to lead the birds to think that another day has dawned, and thus induce a morning appetite.