WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1921, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

NEW ZEALAND MINES.

THEIR CONDITIONS.

(Special Correspondent. Wellington, April 27. At the recent abortive conference between representatives of the Mineowners* Association and representatives of the Miners’ Federation it was stated by one of the latter that the conditions in the New Zealand mines were ‘‘rotten.” Just what this opprobrious term was intended to imply was not disclosed, though its author was invited to be more explicit. The Chief Inspector of Mines, however, assuming that the speaker wished to convey the idea that the statutory provisions for the protection and well-being of miners were not being observed has now issued a statement showing that such a reproach can be justly levelled neither against the mine-owners nor the officials responsible for the administration of the law. The miners, he points out, are entitled to appoint inspectors of their own, entirely independent of the owners and the Government, but only in twelve of the 145 collieries in the Dominion have they thought it necessary to do so. During the past eighteen months there has been only one fatal accident in the mines and not a single complaint that could justify the charge of rottenness. The next word op/ the subject obviously must come from the other side.

THE COAL POSITION.

So far the Miners’ Federation has given no indication of its intentions in regard to the future. Its representatives left the recent conference reiterating their determination to persist in the demands for a six-hour day, a five-day week and the other conditions the owners had declared to be impossible, and now, presumably, they are consulting the various unions as to the shape their persistence should take. The general opinion here is that the threatened strike will not eventuate. The time is not opportune for such a step. Employment outside the mines is pot so plentiful as it was a year ago, public opinion would resent more strongly than ever any wanton interruption of the country’s industries, and the stocks of coal in the Dominion and in sight are larger than they have been for some time past. The authorities are making every possible provision against the temporary cessation of supplies from the local mines, but they are not expecting such .a catastrophe.

THE GENIAL BOOKMAKER. y

The Minister of Justice and the police, so they" say, are keeping a sharp look-out upon the genial bookmaker with a view to checking his operations; but, so far as can be seen by other people, the genial bookmaker is very little perturbed by their attentions. Perhaps Wellington is more unfortunate in this respect than are the other large centres of population, since it has no race meetings close at hand, as Auckland and Christchurch have, and those of its people who must gamble find it more convenient to hand their halfcrowns and half-sovereigns to the bookmaker round the corner rather than to send them away to a far-distant totalisator. During the Hawke’s Bay and South Canterbury meetings last week the layers of the odds were doing a particularly thriving business, almost as openly as they might have sold peanuts and bananas,. but apparently none of them had the ill-luck to come under the notice of the constituted authorities. The new gaming law seems to have missed, fire as sadly as did the old.

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

LABOR STANDS STILL.

(Special Correspondent.) Wellington, April 29. The municipal elections resulted, as everyone with any knowledge of the position expected they would, in a sweeping victory for the different colored forces allied against the SocialDemocrats. The verdict of the citizens was emphatic. The suporters of the “safety first” ticket, to use the slogan that served them so well during the campaign, returned their mayoral candidate by a majority of nearly two to one in the largest poll on record for the chief magistracy, and secured twelve seats in the city council. The voting, as Mr. Hickey, the SocialDemocrats’ nominee for the mayoralty, cheerfully admitted in congratulating his successful rival upon his return, left no doubt about the electors’ preference for the ticket of the coalition. But the Labor extremists are comforting themselves with the reflection that their vote, gauged through the figures of the last mayoral election, showed a substantial increase and so revealed a continued tendency towards the broader and, in their view, more enlightened appreciation of municipal politics.

SANE LABOR.

At the moment, however, the great body of sane Labor, which refuses to give its adherence to the policy and methods of the Social-Democrats, seems entitled to draw more encouragement from Wednesday’s polling than can the vanquished minority. The figures make it abundantlv clear that a very large section of the electors are more eager for the introduction of enterprise afid imagination into the administration of the affairs of the city than are the majority of the old members of the council, ’who retain their seats majajh through an exaggerated fear on the part or the citizens of the machinations of the Social-Democrats. Sane Labor divided its votes very evenly between the coalition and the extremists at the recent election, and so, while swelling the figures of the extremists, gave the coalition its apparent large majority. Had all sections of Labor been united they still probably would have failed to win the mayoralty, but they certainly would have secured six or seven seats in the council.

FARM WORKERS’ WAGES.

The Wairdrapa branch of the Farm ; ers’ Union has been discussing the question of farm workers’ wages and has decided that a reduction in the'■men’s pay is necessary to enable the men on the land to weather the difficulties that beset them in consequence of the fall in prices and the financial stringency. Mr. Hugh Morrison, the chairman of the branch, in the course of a written statement on the subject, declares that ‘•'while the executive of the union is of opinion this matter is best dealt with bv employer and employee, there is no *a *U-r«uad redueti.a will h*v*

to be made between now and the winter months.*’ The only alternative to a reduction of wages, it appears, is a wholesale dismissal of farm hands and the suspension of many operations that would be carried out were cheaper labor available. Mr. Morrison added that the relations between employers and employees in the Wairarapa district always had been peculiarly pleasant and that the men might rely upon having their former wages restored when times improved.

INFORMATION WANTED.

The executive officer of the Agricultural and Pastoral Workers’ Union when seen to-day on the subject had heard nothing officially of the employers’ proposal and therefore could not discuss it officially. It seemed to him, however, that the men would be entitled to a good deal more information than they had at present concerning the position of the rural industries before they could be fairly asked to submit to a reduction in wages. There were some farmers, at any rate, those engaged in dairying and wheat-growing for instance, who ought not to be asking for sacrifices from their men. Mutual help and mutual sacrifice were all very well, but there must be candour on both sides and some discrimination. Then surely farms were not going to drift out of cultivation because there was a glut in the wool market and a temporary drop in the price of meat. Production, more production, and still more production was the cry resounding throughout the country, and yet the men who were doing the producing were to receive less money for their labor. The idea did not seem to fit in with the employers’ own economic theories.