Mr. Winstone Churchill

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 520, 24 November 1928, Page 26

Mr. Winstone Churchill

as a Unionist Brick-Laying as a Hobby SHE CHANCELLOR OP T H E EXCHEQUER (writes an English Parliamentary correspondent) is now Brother 'Churchill. He has been admitted to th" gamated Union o£ Building Trade Workers and has received his member's card inscribed: Winston S. Churchill, Westerham, Kent. Occupation, bricklayer. This is the sequel to the Chance l lor’s holiday task of laying bricks at James P. Lane, who is Mayor of Battersea as well as divisional secretary of the bricklayers’ union invited him to join that organ isation. Mr. Churclii! consented, pai his entrance fe and subscriptioi by cheque, and was formally initiated in his private room at the Treasury. He agreed to be bound by the ru]es of the society, and declared that he had followed the trade of a brick layer, though the period of his con uection with it was not specified. Mr. Lane addressed the new member as “Brother Churchill,” and said afterwards that he “was quite serious and very friendly,” and declared that he was improving his craftsmanship. Writing to Mr. Churchill after he had consented to enrolment, Mr. Lane said: It is needless for me to say that I was aware that you would not be sufficiently competent to carry on the work of a fully qualified bricklayer, but at the same time I think that as time passes you will improve your craftsmanship, in a similar manner to those who have entered the trade under the Government Adult Apprenticeship Scheme. . . . A weekly contribution of 9d entitles you, in addition, to trade protection, to £1 a week should you be called out on strike, and to an additional unemployment benefit should you at any time fall out of employment. Mr. Lane assured* the Chancellor that there was no restriction as to how many bricks a member of the union might lay, and that there was nothing to prevent any member from working with non-unionists. Sir William Joynson-Hicks has also done some bricklaying. Hearing of this, Mr. Lane asked him to join the trade union—asked him several times —but Sir William declined. [Note. —Since this article was written, Winston Churchill has been expelled by the Union.]