Mercantile and Transport

Maoriland Worker, Volume I, Issue 8, 20 April 1911, Page 6

Mercantile and Transport

A deputation consisting of several members and officials of the W.W.L.U., and headed by Mr. D. McLaren, M.P.,' waited on the Minister of Marine to urge the appointment of an inspector of gear and machinery on the wharves of the Dominion. Reliable figures showed that approximately 300 accidents had occurred in Wellington during last year, many of them due to faulty gear. The deputation urged on the Minister the need, for better supervision and several necessary amendments to the harbour regulations. The report of the 1910 Conference Avas laid before him, and he promised to keep their request steadily in view. We will see. "The Shipping Gazette" is responsible for a statement that the training ship "Dartford," U.S.S.Co., is about to lie dispensed with for training purposes and a larger four-masted vessel procured. More gentlemen of the quarterdeck, brazen in more Avays than one, to make the coastal men's life a drudgery. U.S.S.Co., in big letters on a noble sailor's chest (a survival of the brass tag Avith a number on,, which our fathers Avore m slavery), meek, mild, and satisfied, he scrubs and SAvabs his 12 and 14 hours daily. The Sailors AAvard is the only one in N.Z. where the Wage Staves -are branded by their oAvners, and receive the benefit of an Act of Parliament to make them Avear it. Mr. W. Morris, in a letter to the Secretary of the Wellington W.W.L.U., states that ins port has been particularly free from accidents. Next. There is much discontent anion a st Wellington Coal Workers in regard "to the inhuman treatment of shovellers by packing the holds full of gangs. Holland has placed on the Statute Book an Act of great importance to Waterside Workers throughout the Avorld. It affirms the principle of a living wage for Avharf labourers for the. first time in history, and its operation Avill be closely watched. It may be news to some people that although Waterside Workers receive a higher hourly wage than other labourers, the casual nature of the occupation precludes many from earning, more than gives a mere existence. The palliative measure is brought forAvard by the Holland Government as an honest endeavour to level up the available supply of work and AA-orkers. The mode of operation is as follow : —Each Avorker —member of the Union—must purchase a timo book, and this booiv is ms passport for work on the clock. At the conclusion of each day, he must enter up his earnings. At the engagement of labour each morning men are called according to their earnings:—as £2 men, or £2 10s men, according to the job for which they are required. At the end of each Aveek the total earnings of each man forms a basis to engage tne labour for the following AAeek. At the end of the year the average hourly rate is fixed to allow a living AA r age to be given to every man required on the dock. Any man discovered to have misstated his time is relieved of his book. This is something in the nature of a Waterside Workers' "Roster." It stops the insane system of casual competition, it minimises discrimination, and to a certain extent alloAvs men who have spent years at the calling to retain position. This is a, necessary measure, not only in Holland, but in God's Own Country. Something for the N.Z.W.W. Federation to think over. It was widely advertised by the employers during the late Patea strike that the shipping trade of that port showed no profit. How does the following tally with that statement: — The value of Patea exports for the months totalled £577,806 as against £500,588 for the previous year; an increase of £77,218. In butter, cheese, and frozen meat large increases also were recorded. When the adjudicator gave the case against the men he was in full cognisance of these facts. It seems to us that he got a Poynt-on to th© Watersiders of Gorgo-nzola. Throughout the year, John Smith, Waterside Worker, you growl at the treatment received at tne hands of your masters, and on election day pass the polling booth mooney-eyed, oft sneering Avhen handed a working-class ticket to vote on. You great giant Labour, provider of sll necessities, transporter of the fruits of Mother Earth, the good things of life, you browse about, sluggish and absorbed, side-tracked or apathetic, satisfied to be ruled and gulled and bled by a parasitic minority of middle-class humbugs. They knoAV you well. Have they not taken your offspring to lead you so that they might the better exploit you; and have they not provided you with waiting-rooms to shelter you from the storm, so that you might not wander home and leave their ships idle ? Have they not given you a bath-room to wash your grimy skin after toiling

and sweating in coal all day, piling up dividends for the class which spurns you ? How a little sop does satisfy you! A dole of accident pay when; your bones are broken and your skull is cracked in the struggle to build up profits. You prate and sing the praises of the dole distributor as he grants you a Avorkers' ticket or some paltry concession. You read the evening paper and suck in their platitudes as they prate of "their concession of hot shower baths," "a boon to waterside Avorkers." Why, John Smith, they have placed you on a line with the other sheep. Only that and nothing more. Generally sheep are dipped some time before they are shorn; you are being dipped and shorn all the year round. Their concession? Not it. It is your surplus value Avhich provided these baths. Did you not heAv the wood, and dig the coal, build the reservoir and baths and all, so that you might wash and be a nice, clean, respectable decent, orderly profit-maker—the other fellow is the profit-taker. They know you, John Smith, they will you anything but the full product of your toil. They will even support your Lib-Lab candidates so long as they do not touch the vital spot. You like popular, harmless candidates —-and so do they—good fellows, who AA-ill fawn on you and grow fat and smug and sleek, and do anything but get off your backs. They want you to be peaceful and contented, to be happy at your Avork and in your home, for you are the machine of capitalism, the better condition you are m the more fit are you to produce plenty of little *■'» age Slaves, and so continue the game. When Avill you look around and see through this parasitical exploiting game; see for yourself the ramifications oi capitalism with its smug self-seeking middle-class? Then stick by your class at election times; select candidates Avho are or your class, or men imbued Avith the spirit of revolt, determined to make the Waterside industry Avh-at is should be, a Waterside Workers' Industry and not a Slave Market. Hoav soon you spot a "crook" or a "double header/ yet you let this mob "rook" you all the year round. Capt. Atwood, late commander of the ill-fated "Elingamite," will probably receive his ticket back again, and Ids record be Aviped clean on the mercantile slate, since the charts have been found to be wrongly marked regarding tiie situation of the islands adjacent to The Three Kings. Atwood as a Avharf labour supervisor, has proved himself to be a man amongst men, and a good felloAv. No body of men will be more pleased at his re-instatement than the Wellington _ wharf labourers. It is not for us to sing the praises of any particular boss, but AA r e meet men even amongst this class who justly deserve our Avell Avishes, and amongst them .stands out the name of Capt. Atwood. Good luck to him. !