Untitled

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20056, 20 September 1920, Page 10

Cl] ARGJ-: OF STORING LIQUOR, WELLINGTON, September 20. Ibo Full Court, in Watford versus; ■Miller, a ease concerning the Masterion Club, held that the conviction of iho custodian of the club for storing Ji'juor in. a no-license district must bo set aside. The Court considered that neither the club had stored liquor for members, but that the latter must be regarded as having stored tlio liquor for themselves, under lights "hich they possessed us members oi the dub, nor had the club permitted bnuor to be so stored. Mr Justice Edwards, Mr Justice Chapman, Mr Justice Sim and Mr Justice Hcrdmau agreed with this view, and the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) dissented. LATEST CABLES. LONDON, September 10. flic trade slump in Britain is causing economists, publicists ond leading employers to anxiously search for an industrial solution of post-vuir problems. On the one hand, there are thousands of unemployed throughout the country, with the winter prospect of their number being trebled. Simultaneously a number of industries, most notably coal mining and house building, whose persistent cry find imperative need is for increased output, are threatened with stoppage. It is pointed out that the manufacturer is handicapped by tho , cver-pcrsislent menace ot strikes, excess profits, lax, labour unrest and trade union rules, and tho enormous cost of prouuction has reached a position causing despair. One wartime legacy has been, slow-lim-ing, owing to tlm kindly treatment of munition workers who now demand high wages tor easy and slack work, I "'hilo a typical case against trado unionism is furnished by Lord Weir, who announced that ho could employ another two thousand men immediately, but was prevented by the-workmen's rules. These not only hamper tlm employer, but arc embittering ex-srr-Viee men. who returned from the battlefield to see Hie wc-rks crowded with, thoao exempted from service. The ex-serviec men, in many cases, are actually prevented by trade unions from learning a trade. Ibis is at tho root of the trouble of housing shortages. One soldier advocated us to make wages depend npcu tho powers of production, and not npou the power of striking. The Government must organise a general reconstruction and the stabilisation of wages on an output basis, which will ultimately mean more money for all, giving manufacturers a firm basis upon which to develop. Tho danger of tho country becoming overpaid, and consc- . qucutly under producing, must bo avoided at all costs. The Profiteering Tribunal, silting at Auckland, after an investigation into gas production, recommends legislation to provide, among other things, that the consumer pay for gas on the basis of heat units.