THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 464, 29 July 1909, Page 3

THE HEMP INDUSTRY.

(To the Editor.)

Sir.—l shall be pleased if you will give us space for the contradiction of a report which is being circulated through the press with the apparently deliberate intention of prejudicing public opinion against organised labour employed in the above industry. Under the heading of “Manawatu and West Coast Notes,’’ in the Auckland Weekly News of the 22nd inst., their contributor states that the Union have sent in claims for an increase of wages, amounting in some instances 10 a rise of 30 per cent. He also alleges that amongst our claims is a sliding scale which cannot possibly receive consideration, and gloomily adds that “it is not likely that this dispute will be settled by the Conciliation Commissioner.’’ This farrago of nonsense took up 27 lines, and contains two absolute misstatements and a non-sequitor, a bag of exaggeration which would be good going even for a recognised member of the Fourth Estate ! The “instances of a3O per cent, rise’’ are non-existent. There is no mention of a sliding scale in our claims. And as far as our poor ability will allow us to judge, there is no earthly reason why the whole matter should not be settled before Mr Halley, unless we are to accept the Weekly News correspondent’s attitude of mistrust, mis-statement and misapprehension as being typical of the feeling that is is abroad amongst employers. I may add that our claims were not put into the printer’s hands until the 19th inst., and will not be presented to employers until some date after the 12th proximo. The Weekly News man, however, has obviously made up in imaginative powers what he lacked in “copy,” a case which is, we understand, not without precedent in newspaper circles! Thanking you in anticipation,—l am, etc., Percy T, Robinson, Secretary. Foxton, July 26, 1909.