THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4765, 4 October 1893, Page 1

THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD.

Items of Interest to ' • -'3 "Workers. r COMPILED FOB THE w §TAB."J V THE COAL CBIBIS. S There ate Reynolds*. Nct&pajier, of fl August 13), very good chances ot the coal * miners* winning a victory -over thair " -capitalist opponents. There is nob the ■* slightest sign of wavering en the part of . the men; indeed, every 'day's intelligence confirms the impression that the coal- c owners have made a great mistake. At the outset the general pablic seemed to c suspend their judgment, and there ? were indications of a widespread * opinion £hat She action of tha miners c had .been precipitate, not to say c positively ill-advised. Bat tha moro c one looks ' at all the fabts, the more does osegtticeive th&ttbe men have been force i I into thiß coute&t in order to preserve and !j strengthen the genuine interests of :Labour. "Wist the men are fighting for, be it s understood, is that there is a certain; * standard of living necesaary to maintain an average family in decency and selfxespeet, and that below this standard wages Hhould not be permitted tofall. The 'Capitalists, on '-their side, contend tbafa they ■cannot afford to pay the^rate of wages de.manded by Labour, because' of the low price oi. coal. People who are paying very high prices at the present fcitae ■may "feel partly amused and paitly indignant &t hearing about the low price of coal. The fact is eiiEph' iiti — thatveontracts at ruinously low tsx- ~.» «ure imade by great numberHof the coil owners. And with whom were they made? Tiiey Twera-made with great capitalist Companies, with gaß and iailway Companies, and large industrial syndicates. It wa9 assumed that the profits made on these low contracts were to come out of the wages of Labour. We-see a nice little game, therefore, going on; big Companies paying high dividends, getting their coal cheap Irom the owners, ■who, on their side, iutanded to reemp themselves by reducing the wages of the workers. But, by ref uaing to work on a reduced wags, the miners have spoiled that unscrupulous little game. Some of the cable messages received recently stata that the wen in certain localities have re same d work at the former rate of wages, which may mean that the prediction of the above extract has been fulfilled. MB GLADSTONE ON THE LABOUR QUESTION. In presenting the prizes afr the Workman's Exhibition at the Agricultural Hali, Mr Gladstone said that he had come there in deferetcd to a body of gentlemen known ■in the House of Commons by the name of the Labour members, because he wished to take this' opportunity, and every opportunity, of testifying his cordial respect tor them, on account of their excellent abilities, and still more admirable characters that they uniformly bore at Sb Stephen's. Then he wished also to express his respect and sympathy for those by whom, and as the special representatives of whom., they had been chosentocome to Parliament. If he might say so, he wished to address them, being in some sense a Labour member himself— ; (hear, hear) — from that point of view, for he thought that, quita apart from all political distinctions, that was the* particular characteristic which might be eaid really to belong to tlio members of the House of Commons at large. In his opinion that wa3 a characteristic which ought to belong to every member, and, according to his strength, his activity, and his opportunities, to every member of a well-ordered community. There was no proper place — no definitely ordered place upon this earth of ours for idlers, and every willing hand and every willing heart could find their work j but the idle man was wholly out of place, and the - more that place was reduced amongst them, the better. The position of the workman had never in our history approached to what it now was, and his fntnre was still more interesting and still more charged with great results than in its present and immediate past. lie rejoiced to cay that the Exhibition had been organised under the auspiceß of the Tradea Council, which he believed represented a close connection with those important bodies, the Trades Unions. He believed that tbeße Unions should exist;, and he expressed a hope that they would flourish, for they had long had his hearty good wishes. Their main business had been to organise Labour, and to contend gallantly —and he rejoiced to think that to a large extant effectually—for the interests of Labour as a whole. But there was another class of interests, which were sometimes in danger of being overlooked or undervalued if they allowed a too excessive attention to the interests of Labour as a whole, and those were the interests of individuals, not the interests of individuals as such, but the interest of the supreme and paramount interest of labour, in promoting by every means that could be devised individual excellence of labour. (Cheers.) This individual workmanship, performed by labouring- men, was beneficial, because a change of labour was one of the best and . effectual means of relieving labour. As a case in point, he instanced a friend of Mb, a distinguished physician, who, whilst driving to his patients, occupied himself in works on metaphjsicß and theology. That, perhaps, was a strange way to relieve his faculties, but, nevertheless, it brought the change his friend needed in his work. As another illustration of this, he mentioned the .Slough, road, on which for several jniles there were no hills. In his youth this road carried a great deal of traffic, and yet more horses broke down on it than on any other road out of London. The treason was that ifc poasesaed too much uniformity, and the -horses broke down through only one set o? musclea being . -employed, whereas they would have borne the strain perfectly well had the road been billy instead of level. Mr Gladstone then dealt at some length on bookbinding and architecture, and, in conclusion, said he could assure them that, after an interval of some twenty-five years, he rejoiced to find himself addressing an audience in that hall, and lie hoped that the Exhibition would prosper, and that they would witness from year to year and from genertion to generation the healthful ana vigorous progress of the people .of England in the. cultivation of industry in its association with art. (Cheers.) SWEATING IN BABBITING). Mr G. Lealie, Secretary of the Shearers' and Labourers* Union, writing to the Oamarv, Mail, says :— l regret to say a number of complaints have been made to me of late in regard to a system of sweating that is introduced in the winter months at rabbiting. It appears the offenders apply to the manager or holder of a large run for the clearing of a block of the rabbits thereon. They agree to take from 12s 6d to 25s per 100 for all Bkins procured. They engage a gang of men to assist them in poisoning, picking np, and cleaning, them and remunerate them with a pound a week. The result, of course, is always the same, the middle man makes £50 or J260 in about thirteen weeks, whereas the dnpas make only £13. Ibis true that the squatter often engages men at a pound a -week, bat he only works them eight houi-j a day, whereas when working for these contractors the men have to " fat," or clean, the skina after they flnieh their tea, and they seldom finish before eleven or twelve o'clock at night. The distreoaing ftntH.&l it is that some of these con-

tractors are Union men, — men who preach i Unionism, abuse aon- Unionists, yet grind \ and sweat their fellow-meu to meet their ; ee'fiah ends. Why, I ask, do such men j mako a cloak of Unionism ? The Union j doe 3 »iofc advocata or encourage such practices. ,No,iavi'romib; their motto is- Do unto others as you would h&ve others do ucto you. They want the men to uaite in such work as this on the lines of cooperation &nd every man in the gang will receive the came -amount for his labour at •the completion of the work. It i 3 all the same to the squatter, he pays the same for the skins in either case, and I am informed that some of them prefer the cooperative By stem rather than that one man -saouid fill his pockets through the sweat of his fellowa. One Unionist called on me recedtly, and eaid he would not remain in the organisation if such men 'as these contractors were allowed to be in it ; and I j cannot blame him in the least, for it ianot consistent with the principles of Unionism j to tolerate such work, and I think tho I •matter should be dealt with most severely | at the nest Conference of Union delegates. It should he denounced as contemptible j and stopped ere it becomes a common j practice. THE DOCKEBS* UNION. At a meeting of the West India Dock j Branch of the Dockers' Union, Bays an i exchange, Mr Tom M'Carthy Baid it was I evident that the effect of the New Unionism, as shown in the work of the; London County Council and in various | ways throughout the country, had fright- | ened the enemies of labour to such an j ekteat that a section of the Tory Press' were making a determined attack on the j New Unions. The Sailors' Union had j been fought, and a questionable victory gained. Whatever may have bean the j shortcomings of the Sailors' Union, it has since its formation gained for eeagoirig men more substantial gains than any previous Association of its kind. For every penny sailors had paid to the Union, they had at least ] drawn a shilling in advanced wages. With raspect to the Dockera' Union capital was sought to he nmda by the statement that the Union had no funds to meet strike claims in the recent fight at Hull, and the innuendo sought to be conveyed was thai; somehow or another the | money had been squandered. The fact | was that of the total amount of contributions collected in Hull thirty-one and three-quarters per cent had been spent in previous local management and strike pay ; another thirty-three and a third per cent had been placed to the credit of the provident fund, and still remained there. This accounted for more than sixty-five per cent of the total amount. After all, more than £600 had been sent from the Dockers' Union funds alone to Hull to help them in their fight, and the prestige and influence of that Union had greatly assisted in collecting to help them in their struggle. A StrCCESSFtTIi LABOTJH COLONY. Tho Sydney Worker says .—The Topolobampo Colony, in Mexico, started four years sgo with about 400 people. The weaklings deserted durinp the first year, and those remaining numbered only 125. Thesa were of the right Eort, and braved starvation until they managed to get the water from the Fuerto river on to a few. acres, and that settled the question as to the food supply right away. The land will produce anything. Ten crops of alfalfa clover in a year, sorghum thj^fc stands cutting every seven weeks, tobacco, cotton, rice, orauge3, lemons, grapes, dates, cocoahuta, figs, bananas, sweet potatoes, round potatoes, onions, . beans, peas, squashes, pumpkins, tomatoes, cabbages, and water-melons four feet in circumference. In March last the population of the settlement was about 400, and fresh colonists were arriving every few weeka. A thousand acres of sugar is being planted, and a twenty-ton mill is being contracted for. There ia work and food and clothing for everyone at Topolobampo, and what are ] luxuries to most people in New York are j in common use among the settlers. PROFIT SHAKING "WITH WOBKMEN. One of the results of the great strike of j gas workers a few years back (says an English paper) was the establishment by the Directors of the South Metropolitan Gaß Company of a profit-sharing soheme for the purpose of improving the position of their employees, and giving them a direct interest in the prosperity ( of the Company. In connection with the scheme an annual " bonus festival " iB held, and the fourth of these annual gatherings recently took place, and was attended by several j thousand workmen, their wives and chil- i ; dren. Mr George Livesey presided, and j I stated that since the adoption of the scheme £31,500 had been deposited in the Savings Bank to the credit of the workmen. That, however, was not the only result of the profit sharing scheme. The workmen showed their confidence in the Company by investing their shares in the Company's stock, which paid over five per cent; 4158 shares had been taken, up, and it was hoped in time the workmen v would have a Director of their own nomination sitting on the Soard. Monetary rewards and certificates were presented to employees who have suggested improvements iv the manufacturing processes, or the prevention of waste, or in other ways promoted the interests of the Company. JOTTINGR. The Townsville Municipal Council recently inserted a clause in the specifications for the supply of firewood, providing that no wood shall be accepted if cut by coloured labour. A motion was also introduced to the effect that the employment of Japanese and other Asiatic labour is against the beat interests of the Colony. Tho voting was even on the question as to whether the motion should be put, and when it became apparent that the Mayor's casting vote would be against the motion the meeting brake up. The Mayor had previously ruled the motion out of order, on the ground that political questions did not come within the scopa of the Council's deliberations. The scandals connected with the conduct of Victorian registry or labour offices, recently brought under the notice of the Premier by a deputation from the Cooks' Union, and in relation to which a petition sig-ed by over 2000 artisans was subsequently presented to the Legislative Assembly, strongly urging that the keepers of registry offices should be licensed and brought under the direct supervision of the law, are likely to be met by special legislation. Labour Bureaux in London have not proved as successful in providing work for the unemployed as their advocates could desire. In Marylebone the system proved a distinct failure. The Clerk to the Veatry reported that during the severe weather before and after Christmas last the local Bureau was kept open every day for three months. There was no dearth of applicants for work, between seven hundred and eight hundred needy men registering their namea and expressing themselves willing to turn their hands to anything in order to earn a livelihood. Unfortunately employers of labour in the parish looked with indifference, if not with suspicion, upon the candidates, and only three sought their services. The nefc result of the three months' registration was that two men secured employment by its meaue. i Sir Joseph. Abbott has been occupied in investigating the position and prospects of tha sugar iudnatry, and the mode of procuring and employing Pacific Island labourers. He declined to be efficially interviewed, but has been much gratified with his visit to Bundaherg 1 , and while confident that the gradual conversion of the plantations into email holdings will be fehs

eventual solution of the labour problem, i he is of opinion that for the present black labour is a necessity, and, inet9ad of in- > jtlring the white labourer, it really pro- . videa additional work for him. As to the treatment of Kanakas, he is much pleased i to find that it leavea no ground for complaint; but, while not prepared to find fault with, the employment of Kanakas, he is confident that there is nothing to prevent the ultimate conduct of the sugar ; industry without the aid of servile coloured labour of any kind.