LABOUR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13899, 10 May 1909, Page 5

LABOUR.

REDUCING WAGES

Press Association-By Telegraph-Copyright LONDON, May 7.

The Miners' federation has instructed members to refuse to accept a reduction of wages when the Eight Hours Bill comes into operation. The Scottish employers propose to pay 5s 6d a day instead of 6s. The Lancashire owners agree not to reduce wages for six months.

FRENCH POSTAL STRIKE

PARIS, May 7

A fresh strike, is impending in the post office at Paris. The Government threaten to prosecute the new Trade Union, and are organising a great pigeon service in the provinces. .

RAISING PRICES

Per Press Association

CHPJSTCHTJRCH, May ?. Recently the Arbitration Court made an award prescribing certain • increases in the wages of persons engaged in tea rooms and. rostaiirants. The proprietors are taking the change seriously, and,in more than one case the prices of meats and refreshments are to be. raised. One well-known restaurant, which has made a great feature of the shilling lnnch, announces to its customers that the .price will be Is 6d from Monday next, owing to the new award. IF ALL WOMEN STRUCK. What would happen if all the Women struck ? A delightfully amusing and ingenious, and at the same time intensely significant, little skit upon this possibility, called "How the ."Vote was Won," has just ben written by Miss Cicely Hamilton, authoress of " Diana of. Dobson's." It is shortly to be turned into a snfi'rage-plrfy by that charming champion pf, woman's, rights, but is first of- all being issued in pamphlet form by the Women .Writer's Suffrage League. The recently-formed Actresses' Suffrage. League, will produce the play. ... • ! Miss Hamilton and Miss Charlton have allowed t,heir fapcy free'and fearless play. The pamphlet purports to he a series of. extracts from a future "Political History" of England," recording a universal strike of English women from all work that was not rewarded by a. corresponding share iit the government of the country. "After years of argujmeitt, agitation, and propaganda "—so the record opens —"it dawned upon the . women of this country that the sole obstacle to their enfranchisement ,was nothing more nor less thaii a. superstition—the superstition, namely, that tlie entire race of women were supported and kept alive by the-ceaseless exertions of their men-; folk. The' folly anil; baselessness'..of this delusion they set themselves ! to expose by means of a simple objectlesson. , " Working . women of every grade, factory-hands, shop girls, teachers, typists, journalists, and the vast army of domestic servants, — hound themselves together in a common league, and, on the day appointed, the blow was struck. The word liad. gone, forth that every woman was to cease work until' su'cli. time as her work was recognised by the State, and that, until the State did recognise it, she was to-demand support and-the necessities of life from her nearest male relative, however distant."

Thereupon, Miss Hamilton and Miss Charlton suggest by word and picture the various developments that might occur - when all the wage-earning women have given up their occupation suddenly nnd thrown themselves upon the protection of the ,'' nearest male relative." We see the ''.Tohnny- ; suddenly confronted with the necessity for providing for his pretty sister; the elderl v spinster, with her ca.t, pug, and parrot, thrown upon the tender mercies of her cousin, the Duke " tuhhing " the babies, and the Duchess rolling pie-crust, and even the theatres having to close, their doors for lack of actresses. Needless to say, the strike .is triumphantly successful, and the vote duly granted. , Full of brightness, '-humour, and whimsicality, the pamphlet betrays none the less the keen and genuine earnestness that lie behind, and any irresponsible bachelors who read it should find a difficulty in stifling the .qualms of conscience. The play that :will follow is, indeed, a thing to look forward to!

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