LABOR NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 154, 16 November 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

LABOR NOTES

(Conducted by the Dominion Exeeuiive Council). [The Editor of the News is not responsible for the views expressed in this column.] EIGHT HOURS AND SOME OTHER THINGS. A week or two since T outlined the great international movement for eight hours in continuous industries. The work was set afoot by the International Association for Labor Legislation, which has done much to promote international agreements in labor legislation. , The international conference was held at Zurich in September, and a report from the special correspondent of the London Labor Leader lias just reached me. It brings the welcome news that the delegates have accepted the decisions of the Special Commission on hours of labor which met in London last June, and maintained that the eight-hours' day should generally be adopted for continuous work; and they took an important step further in instructing the Central Bureau of the Association to get a conference of the Government convened as soon as possible with a view to the conclusion of an international convention to introduce the three-shift system in the iron and steel trade. As is well known, the eight-hours' day has made more progress in the iron and steel trade in the United Kingdom than in other countries, and whenever reforms are proposed one finds objections raised on the grounds of increased cost and foreign competition. Once a convention is successfully concluded and brought into force to introduce the eight-hours' day, even if it is at first only in iron and steel works, we may reasonably hope to see a rapid extension of the principle of regulating hours of labor by international agreement, and a great deal may be done in this way to promote the movement towards a general eight-hours' day not only in Britain but in all parts of the world. The iron workers of the United Kingdom were represented at the conference by Mr. J. Cox, of the Amalagamted Society of Iron and Steel Workers, and Mr. J. Hodge, M.P., of the British Steel Smelters' Association. Developments towards the proposed treaty will now be Awaited with interest. Many other matters of world-wide interest were discussed at this international gathering. The system of fines for breaches of what employers are pleased to call "rules" is not prevalent in New Zealand. In the Old Land the Imposition of this form of robbery has in many cases left a girl owing the employer something over and above her week's earnings. On this subject the conference declared that all disciplinary fines should be prohibited, that deductions for damaged goods should only be allowed in eases of deliberate sabotage, and that until deductions for tools and materials are abolished the worker should never be required to pay more than cost price.

Tt was t.lirough the efforts of this association that the deadly phosphorus was abolished in the match industry. The association does not at the present time suggest the conclusion of a treaty for the prohibition of the use of lead in potteries. Nevertheless, the possibility of future developments is foreshadowed. At the present stage the sections of the association are merely to agitate in their respective countries for the establishment of preventive regulations and the elimination of lead as far as possible by national legislation. A great many other dangerous trades were discussed in addition, and also the problem of the enforcement of labor laws, on which subject it is interesting to note that the association urges the appointment of more women inspectors. The resolutions on sweating recommend the adoption in other countries of legislation of the same type as the British Trade Boards Act. —J. T. PAUL. HOW TO BUY A FARM. "T am earning 30s a week. Of this mini I have been able to save 10s a week. That amounts to £2G a year. r have been trying to save money to start on a piece of land for myself. I had a piece of land in mind, but it has each year advanced in price for a larger sum than the whole amount of my savings. Will someone tell me how to buy a farm under such circumstances?" That is the substance of a letter just to hand. The last year for which reports have been made available the unimproved land values increased over the previous year by 010,000,000. The increase in Savings Hank deposits for the same year were, in round numbers, £l.ooo*ooo. As long as unimproved land values increase ten times as fast as do the savings accounts will someone explain how the average man by the average savings can ever buy the average farm ?

Still Mr. Massey says that he stands for making every man his own landlord. That's a good idea, Mr. Massey. How are you going to do it? So far the only answer has been to provide cheap money for those who have land to sell. That means a further attack on the landless by-increasing unimproved land values on the one hand and making savings more difficult on the other. Who will make answer to this question'; The national organiser of the United Labor Party will give a copy of "The Struggle for Existence" for the best answer" and he will publish the answer and recommend it to the consideration of Mr. Massey. Get the question clearly. As long as the unimproved land values increase ten times faster than do the savings of the workers, how can the average man with the average saving ever buy the average farm? This question is especially commended to the attention of farmers and of farmers' boys. The editor has an easy answer. Send him yours. KEIR IJARDIE. The Chicago World, speaking of Keir Hardie's visit to the I'nited States, says: "What is there about the sayings of this humble Scot who hails from Britain's Parliament and Britain's coal mines that away the barriers between workers and brings them to a realisation of the fact that fherl- really is no barrier at all between them? Keir llardie is a Socialist from start to finish. When he talk* to non-Socialist unionists he makes it clear that he is a political actionist always. He places his politics and his unionism on equal footings. And men find their prejudices against Socialism wiped out. For there is something about tke way this man preaches his doctrines, something about the manner in which he makes known the great truths of the working class philosophy, something that strikes home to workers. Keir Hardie's Socialism seems to he a Socialism of deeds, a doctrine of worksjust the same, of course, as the Socialism of all the rest of us, but set forth in a light that carries conviction and leaves no room for prejudice and foolish r -\rs."