The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, December 7, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1036, 7 December 1912, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, December 7, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Our Palmerston contemporary is responsible for the statement that there is an uneasy feeling among the flaxmill workers. It states that the workers have been watching with great attention the steady upward trend ot fibre prices in the world’s markets, and their appetites for more wages have grown stronger. The question of securing bigger pay has been discussed for some time past, and a definite move is now being decided on. At present the hands are working under an award mads in 1903. This does not expire till March 41st nextSeveral of the millowners, however, when fibre prices soared up, increased the wages o( their men, but at other mills there was no increase made. The present movement aims at getting the increase made general. The millowners have agreed to a conference on the point. The workers will hold a meeting shortly, and then fix a date for the conference. We hope the employees will not, when they meet in conference, overlook the fact that a number of millers are not waxing fat as a result of the rise iu the fibre market, as under the royalty sliding scale the greater proportion of the increase goes into the coffers of the owners ot the flax-land. Further, owing to the continuous wet season, the output has been

greatly restricted, and merchants are not operating freely. While prices are undoubtedly high, the position of affairs is not so rcsey for a number of the millers as some people imagine. As a result of the conference between millers and employees some important points in connection with the industry will no doubt be fully ventilated.