THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4670, 14 June 1893, Page 1

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

Items of Interest to Workers, .[Specially Compiled fob " The Stab."] " sweating" in melboubne. The Victorian Government has resolved, apparently not a moment too soon, to appoint a Board of Inquiry into the sweating evil. A public agitation on the Bubiect has led to some shocking revelations of the etate of affairs in Melbourne. A statement made at a meeting by the Key A. R. Edgar, ehowed how a man with a wife and eight children worked eighteen^ hours a day in a house in Fitzroy, and -when in full employment the whole family earned but 7s 6d per day betweeu them by making large size double-breasted coats at lOd each. They paid 15s a week lent. Their work waß not got direct from a warehouse, bnt from a sweater who rode about in his buggy. As the result of the •exposure, the sweater in question has boycotted the family, Riving them no more work to do, and they have now to be relieved by charitable people. A Committee appointed by the public has been taking evidence regarding sweating practices. Witnesses in the employ of a sweater who formerly posed as & class leader stated that women were paid 3d a pair for finishing. trousers, and that these garments were" completed for 5s a dozen and coats at Is 3d each. Bicycle knickerbockers, which were practically tronsere, were made throughout for 6d a pair, machining included, while the log price was 12a a dozen. One 1 Bhop in lionadale Btreet gave out tennis shirts to he made right through and finished, with collars, buttons, five buttonholes and Docket, at 12a 6d a dozen. The moat ft woman could possibly earn, working thireen hours a day, would be la 3d a day. * A. woman, who asted 3d for an houi's work repairing a coat was refnsed any pay at all. At one of the leading warehouses of Melbourne women were kept sitting idle while work waa sent out to be done at sweating rates, and the favourites of the examiners got preference in the work. Intimidation and the employment of spies toy the firms prevented many of the women openly Btating the facta, as they^ were afraid of being refused work, and this was. the case in one of the largest and most "respectable" houses in the city. Since the Committee started on ita inspections, some of the factories had made improvements in their accommodation. Mr J. Graham, President of the Trades Hall Council, said:— "lt might alßo interest the audience to learn that the Government contract for cabinet work recently let had been secured by a Bourke street firm, and for the next three years most of such articles required by the Government would be made in the hovels of Chinamen." It is intended, if possible, to put an end to the unfair competition of Chinese cabinetmakers, who work sixteen hours a day, and make furniture at half the cost of European workmen. WOBK FOB HEW ZEALAND'S TJNEHPLOYBD. A suggestion thrown out at a meeting of unemployed at Dunedin, the other day, indicates bnt one of many ways in which work conld be found for all the population of the Colony. Mr W. Hutchison, M.H.8., who met the men, said he was convinced that the Government ought to provide work for everyone who really needed it. But ihis duty was not laid upon the General Government only. He did not see why the Municipal Government should not also do its Bhare. There were a, whole lot of things requiring to be done about here, and the City Council ought to throw itself into the breach and co-operate in the duty with other local bodies. The General Government did not profesß to give work as charity, but simply to find the men in useful work, of which the Corporation had an abundance to do. Mr Jeromeßon said that there was a lot of work sent out of the country that, it -done within it, would keep three-fourths of the unemployed going. Mr Hutchison asked what work was referred to. Mr Jeromeson replied that he meant fellmongery work. Look at the number of sheepskins sent away. If they were kept here till manufactured it would make a great difference. Mr Hutchison : But you are not all feUmongers. Mr Jeromeson: No, but we could make fellmongers oi them. In answer to a question the speaker added that he reckoned the exporting oi sheepskins in a raw state meant keeping a thousand men idle. Mr Hutchison admitted that it would be better if we could manufacture the skinß instead of sending them Home raw, but he doubted whethei there were a thousand men of that business about. The fignres could be got from the census returns. However, this was a big question, and they could not deal with it just then. Mr Jeromeson repeated that the sooner they stopped the skins going out of the country the better,* and he further said that the question was brought before the candidate wlio got in for Boslyn district. THE LABOTTB MABKET. In the course of an article on this eubjeet the Wellington Press says :— " So far as Canterbury is concerned there is absolutely no employment in the winter and spring for ordinary labourers, who, as a rule, make for the bush-felling districts in this island as soon aa the threshing machines have completed the year's harvest. Consequently such dißtrictß aa Eketahnna are crowded with men looking for work and finding none. The Labonr .Bureau, which was called into existence to alleviate this difficulty, cannot poBBibly cope with it, and fails dismally in this part of its functions. It has been argued with some force that local bodies -with considerable spending power, such as the Chfiatctaurch Municipal Council, should co arrange its expenditure that the surplus labour of its own district should be utilised at this season. But though this may to a certain extent be true of that •corporation, it cannot apply to Nortla Island Road Boards, which are impecunious to a degree, and as a rule exist on | •what they can get out of the Treasury, ! through the operation of the Loans to Local Bodies Act. So far aa Canterbury iB concerned, it is a well-knewn fact that the farmers would like to see nothing of the caeual labourer for six montbß in tbe year, and would prefer him to be in evidence only when their busy Beaaon comes round. SOUTH ATJfcTBALIAN LABOtTB PLATFORM. The cable has just informed us that the Labour members iv the South Australian

Assembly will act under the leadership of Mr Playford, a veteran politician, who waa himself defeated by a Labour candidate at the recent general election, bub found another constituency to return him. The following is the programme upon which the Labour members were elected :«Stop- | ping any further alienation of Crown lands, ' and substituting instead a Bjstein of . leasing. The remission of the duties on : tea, coffee, cocoa, kerosene, and upon articles which cannot be grown or produced in the Colony, any resulting deficiency in the revenue to be made up by an increase in the Land tax. A Bill to empower Municipal Corporations and District Councils to raise their revenue by a tax levied upon unimproved land values, commonly known as Fart XIX. Encouragement of local industries and the further development of the resources of the Colony. A Workshops and Factories Bill, Steam Boilers' Inspection and Registration Bill, and an Early Closing Bill on the lines recommended in the report of the Factories and Shops Commission; Liens Bill for the better protection of workmen's wage; Eight Houra Bill ; amendment of the Mining Act ; and a Bill to amend the Marine Board and Navigation Act; amendment of the electoral laws by giving greater facilities for, the transfer of electors from one district to another ; restricting candidates' expenses at elections; a redistribution of Beats on the basis of population ; the adoption of adult suffrage, and making permanent the Absent Voters' Bill ; reform of the Legislative Council in the direction of shortaning the term of membership and rednoing the rental qualifications from J625 to .£10; the estafelishmentof a department of labour; the establishment of a State Bank of issue; the extension and encouragement of the working men's block system; a Trades Hall Bite, or sum on the Estimates for that purpose. Opposed to land-grant railways ; repeal of the Indian Immigration Acts; prohibiting the influx of Asiatic and servile races, and restricting the introduction of immigrants bound to service before arrival in South Australia; the introduction of the referendum ; the establishment of a State export department for wheat, wool, wine, and other agricultural and horticultural produce by giving assistance in the shape of advances and facilities of transit, so that producers may be able to obtain the full benefits of foreign markets. LABOTTB AND BIMETALLISM. Our readers (says the Manchester Timas, of April 21) will be glad to know that the decided attitude of the Lancashire operatives on the question of international bimetallism is being taken up by other important labour organisations. The Tradea Councils of Hudiiersfield, Derby, and Lancaster have lately passed resolutions urging the Government to conclude a monetary union, on bimetallic lines, with other leading nations, and during the past week similar resolutions have been decided upon by the Trades and Labour Councils of Macclesfield, 'Barrow -in - Furneßß Stafford, and Newcaatle-on-Tyne, and Grateahead. The agitation bids fair to spread all orer the country is labour circleß, and it is just one of those questions which muat commend itself to the hearty, approval of the whole wage-earning clasp, whether of the "old unionist" or "new unionist" order. "Unless we can get such countries as India, our Colonies, and China opened up and developed, the great producing tradea of this country cannot find occupation for the great army of workers we now have in the Britiah Islands. The extent of that " army "is enormous; indeed, Mr Giffen, statistician of the Board of Trade, stated recently to the Eoyal Labour Commission that the wage-earners of the United Kingdom, exclusive of domestic servants, exceeds 13,000,000 (thirteen million b). As long as the "appreciation" of gold goes on, as it must do until bimetallism iB established, there will inevitably be a constant artificial lowering of values, and the effect of this is to effectually keep capitalists from investing their money at Home, or in India, or in our Colonies, in a manner which would bring a. fall volume of demand for our various manufactures of textiles, iron, steel, &c, &c. On the contrary— and we see the" evidence of it every day— they prefer to send it to London, to be lent on stocks and shares and on foreign bonds, though thiß often returns an interest of only i per cent or 1 per cent per annum, the inducement being that at any rate they will have a better chance of getting their capital back intact. If the industrial classes let their views be clearly shown, members of Parliament will doubt* less put the needful pressure upon the Government to go again to the Monetary Conference at Brussels, and to go with a determination to arrive at an agreement with foreign countries on the subject. The best information indicates that with Great Britain's co- operation the silver question can certainly be settled at another meeting of the Conference. CO-OPEBATIVE BRICK MAKING. As a result of disputes in the English brick making trade, there has been formed the Kent Co-operative Brick Making Society, whose headquarters will be at Teynham, near Sittingbourne, and arrange" menta have been made for the output of 3,000,000 bricks this season. The profits of the Society after paying a dividend of 5 per cent per annum on share capital is to be apportioned aB follows : — Fifty per cent to the workers and managers pro rata on their wages, 10 per cent to a provident fund, 5 per cent to a social and educational fund, 7£ per cent to a reserve fund, 10 per cent pro rata on the number of shares held by each member, 7-J per cent to the Committee, and 10 per cent to purchasers pro rata on the amount of their purchases. THE INVENTOB3 OF STRIKES. A writer on Labour asserts that strikes were invented by the Chinese, and the rest of the world has simply infringed on the patent. Tbe Chinese, he says, will strike for anything or for nothing. If ten thousand of them have a bad dinner they will strike. In connection with this it iB worthy of remark that the. Italians are less prone to strike than any other labourers, the one sure way of bringing them to the point being the withholding of their wages. They are very suspicious, and if not paid in full at the appointed hour take alarm, fearing that they are going to lose their earnings. Such a thought sets them wild, argument is useless. The employer who gets behind with his pay roll is lost. JOTTINGS. The State of Colorado has a Labour army of 9670 workmen, in 115 unions. Seven thousand shopmen on the Union Pacific Road have secured eight hours. " A Government that will not legislate for the unemployed does not deserve the confidence of this House."— Mr Keir Hardie in the House of Commons. It is estimated that if the hours of rail* way employees in England were reduced to eight daily, immediate employment would be found for 150,000 additional men. A recent meeting at Melbourne, at which revolting revelations of " sweating" wera made, wbb brought to a close by those present singing " Praise God, from' whom all blessings flow." I John Stuart Mill wrote :— " The social i problem of the future wa consider to be, | how to unite the greatest individual liberty of action with a common ownership in the raw material of the globe, and an equal participation of all in the combined efforts of labour." This sentiment ba<3 been accepted by the Trades Unionists of the "new unionism," who have en> deavcured to popularise it. la Melbourne the work of laundrj women is gradually being monoj&jsed bj

the Chinese, ho that botwe&n four hundred and five hundred women are now out of work. Not the least objectionable part of the affair is tbe fact that some of the Chinese laundries are in full swing on Sundays. It is stated that tho English Home Secretary meditates an extensive inquiry into the conditions under which men and women, and particularly the latter, are allowed to follow their avocation in lead ! works. This will apply particularly to the labourers in the cheuiieal factories, and to I all the workers in alkali woiks ; but it is I thought the investigation will include, to ' some extent, the industries of the Midlands. Tho present inquiry in London into the conditions under which emerald green and milan red are manufactured are thus only the preface to the real purpoao of Mr Asquith, who rightly thinks that certain pigments ought not to be allowed to be manufactured at the present terrible cost of human life.