TRADES' UNIONS AND FREE LABOUR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 158, 13 November 1868, Page 3

TRADES' UNIONS AND FREE LABOUR.

♦ {From tiie Times.) The most remarkable events which have recently occurred in connexion with Trades' Unions in the metropolis haTe been the secession of a number of the members of the Tailors' Protective Society from that body and the formation by the secessionists of an independent association, which aims at reconciling the interests of employers and employed. Tbe promoters . of the new society allege thnt they have retired from the Protective Association on account of the m>.iadministration of its funds during the strike of last year. At their first meeting tb.chairman stated that during part of thi. period alluded to, bile the operatives were receiving an insignificant "scale," the executive of the Protective Society were not "illy drawing considerable salaries from the funds, but wer-? also charging considerable sums to the treasurers for travelling ex.penses. The chairman, on the occasion to which wehave referred j a'so stated that while tho principles of the new society were favourably considered by a large number of ( ihe masters, they had been rejected or deprecated by lncsi i-f the men to whom they we.c submiited. 'Ihe meeting was iuu.rrup:ed by a s.-ction of t c Protective Society, who md evidently attended for the purpose of obstructing the proceedings, and the chairman was addressed by some of the most prominent among their number, in languige so extravagant and scurrilous as to afford a signiflctut example of the tyranical action of those who inveigh with such vehemence against the oppression which they urge they are compelled to suffer at the hands of their employers. < »ne young man who had supported a resolution re ommending the meeting to support the new organisation was evidently so terrilied hy the manifestation of feeling evinced against it that he retracted all that he had s id, on the ground that he did not understand the purport of the proposition of which he was advocating the adoption. The council of the new society will, we understand, comprise au equal number of masters and opt-rutivts Though it has been sought to frustrate its institution by the most strenuous opposition, the numerous accessions which have been recently made to its ranss afford hope that success will follow the efforts • f the nun who are opposing those wno are endeavouring to secure the monopoly of labour by the moat unscrupulous agencies. A series of conferences hns been recently held under the auspices of the Working Men's Club and Institute Union, in which the question has been discussed — " Whether { the t rincples of Trades Unions or those of the Free Labour Society are m. at worthy of I advocacy" The discmsions were sustained with such varie ability that it is to be re- 1 united that more general attention was not 'lir.cted to their occurrence. Mr Hodgson Prntt, iii a speech of considerable power, aud tuil of instructive suggestion, contended that it had never been proved that the temporary a Ivance in wages obtained through the aueucy of Trades' Unions resulted in a per- | inaiient increase. It should be remembered^ he also urged, that when wages were raised in any particular branch of commerce to which larpte capital hud been attracted a considerable portion of that capital was afterwards withdrawn from that specific section of industry on account of the diminution of ihe rate of profit to the employer, bpeaking on the authoiiiy of an actuary who was engaged in the payment of the National Debt, he naid that the whole system of Trades' Union accounts was -naintained on a wrong basis, inaMn ;ch as trade transactions and In m fit trausHctions were irremediably confused, peaking on the same authority, hu went further, and said that the payments made to the treasurers of Trades' ' nions were not sufficient for the support 'of the infirm and aged members of these associa-' tions. Colonel Maude defended the principles of the Free Labour Society, and said that that association had recently provided work for 1100 men in districts in which ft r ikes had occurred. He wished to add ou that point, however, that no men had been instructed to proceed to the localities alluded to under the direction of the. Free Labour society until the causes of the strikes had been c arefullr examined. He asserted that all these strikes had been promoted on the principles of which the , deputation of Trades' Unionists who waited on Mr (iladstone some tinie ago had denied the existence among the associations which they represented on that occasion. He contended that Trades' Unions were not necessary for procuring au increase of wages. The wages of domestic servan's had increased some 25 in-r cent duri; g the p»st 20 years, and the wages of agricultural lahou r ers in Ireland had increased 50 per cent, during the same period, j and tbat without the int rvention or assist ance of trade societies. Other speakers urged with unanswerable force that the limi-j tation of apprentices was detrimental to tho tfeneMl good of working men. If, it was contended, those who applied for admission to some trades were rejected, they were compelled to have recourse to those other branches of industry io which wages were low, and the only effect of their accession to the ranks of those pursuing those badly-paid avocations was to diminish further their already inconsiderable rate of pay. The spirit of caste which the working men have evinced on recent occasions was also pungently criticised, fc-ome of tlie leaders of the Trades' Unions, in speaking of those who adopted the principles of the Free Labour Society, spoke of the ragged appearance of these men and bf the wretched position of their famalies, but they appeared to forget that the action of Unionists had conduced to create ..that condition amongst those who' would not be willing to maintain the policy promoted by trade societies. The onlyi answers afforded to these representations by the representatives of Trades Unionists were

the trite argument: in which the necessity of self-defence was urged and .quotations fropi reports "in which the affairs of particular branches of trade were considered without reference to the general results.