UNION NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 464, 10 July 1909, Page 3

UNION NOTES.

fThia column is edited by the Flaxmllia Employees* 4 Upton Executive. All mutton* forpublication under this head must be* Cor* warded to the Secretary of the union.!

THE RING IS DEAD—LONG ’7'i'L.IVB.THB KING!

The presidency of the New Zealand Flasmillers’ Association has passed from Mr H. Greig to Mr R. T. Bell, of Bulls. From the point of view of conciliation the change is distinctly a good one. The ex-president, however charming and companionable he may be in private life, had in his official capacity a lamentable knack of setting the workers backs up when he met them in conference, while his imaginative powers as to the extent with which the “best interests of the workers”, dovetailed with the requirements of the land speculator would have qualified him for a twentieth century journalist. Mr Bell, iff addition to the fact that he has been “through the mill” himself, has a reputation for straightness which will doubtless prove an asset in dealing with the horny-handed. There is no doubt that time, with its mellowing influence, will have to some extent minimised in Mr Bell’s eyes the strenuousness of, say, paddocking, but there is always the possibility of his being open to conviction. At least that is the opinion of “fully seventy-five per cent” of the Union.

HALF-YEARLY MEETING.

We would remind our town members of the half-yearly general meeting, which will be held in-the registered office this evening at 8 o’clock. In addition to the usual business to be transacted there will be one or two points brought up which call for general discussion and a good attendance. DELEGATES MEETING,

A meeting of delegates from all mills will be held on Saturday, the 17th inst., at 7.30 o’clock in the registered office, to definitely consider proposed alterations in the existing award and to appoint representatives for the conference before the Conciliation Commissioner, This meeting will be called by circular also. AN ARROGANT TRADES GUILD.

The following advertisement is clipped from Thursday’s • Post: — “Members of the Wellington Drivers’ Union are invited to make application for Doans up to ; conditions, etc., at office, 18, Grey street. —D. Secretary for the Trustees.” Four hundred pounds ! Not one amount either but “loans” of this figure. What will the New Zealand Times say now ? It speaks well for the position of the Union in question when they can advertise in these terms. We wonder how long it will be before we are in a position to put a similar advertisement in these pages. And again, we murmur with awe-struck reverence “four hundred quid !”