WHAT LABOR IS DOING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3241, 10 June 1911, Page 2

WHAT LABOR IS DOING.

(By “Franchise.”)

’ Labor circles in Gisborne are at present very quiet. The hurry and excitement, of the borough general and by- . erections has given place to the iisual routine of TJnion business. It is a time for rumination, when .those interested in the success of labor interests can look' back over the past few. months and gather useful knowledge from both success and failure. Unfortunately the. success has by no means counterbalanced the failures, for whereas previous to the by-election labor was represented on the Borough governing body in the person of the late Or. Jackson, now direct representation is lost to them. Let us consider for a moment the .reasons that have brought about this loss to the Party. At the General Election organised labor sent to the hustings three candidates—two for the Council and one for the Harbor Board. -‘The late Cr. Jackson was the only one to be returned. He polled 1773 votes, whilst Messrs Richards and Turner only polled 812 and 882 respectively. At the by-election Mr A. H. Anderson, the labor representative, polled 787. votes against Mr Sawyer’s 1081. Cr. Jackson's return did not rest entirely with those interested in labor questions, for he undoubtedly received support from a number of quarters where organised labor could not hope for assistance. Hence we come to the fact that labor, even under favorable conditions, cannot at present, command little more than 800 votes in the Borough. This number is not sufficient to win| even a ,by-election, and is next door to useless at a general election. The solution of the problem lays largely with the laborites themselves, in the first place there must be no quarrelling, for this leads 1 to party splitting, and is' in the loot degree disastrous to labor interests. It is only by working together in the common interest that the worker can obtain success. The general public soon lose confidence in any party that are divided, and it is from th v "silent vote” that labor must seek assistance. Again, we must in the future- be exceedingly careful in our choice of candidates. Only those must be sent forward to the poll wlio have the public assurance. It can hardly be expected that the electors will have confidence in any man that does not have the whole-souled support, of the Party, tor lack of confidence breeds a similar feeling in the public mind. The Labor Party will need to work exceedingly hard during tlie next two years to regain that representation which has been lost to them through sad and unfortunate circumstances. A good deal is being said by the employers of the Dominion (says the labor correspondent of the "LytteltonTimes”) with regard to the alleged shortage of labor, especially "juvenile” labor. A few weeks ago an attempt was made in Auckland by the Chamber of Commerce to arrange a conference between the employers and the employees of the boot and clothing trades for the purpose of devising means of dealing with the problem. Up to the present, I understand, only one conference has been held, namely, between representatives of the employers and the employees in the boot trade. The employers claimed that there was a shortage of labor, in that they were unable to secure boys and women, to do the work required in the factories. It- was pointed out by. the employees that in the factory mentioned twenty -girls were employed, many of them had not received one full week this year, and four of them had received only two full weeks, and other factories in Auckland had had similar experiences. In Christchurch, last year a sum of over £2O was paid to women workers by the unions for out of work benefit, and, according to rules, they could not claim out of work pay until I hoy had been off work for one clear week, so that the amount represented about one hundred weeks’ lost time. It would be interesting to know the reason for a; number of boot manufacturers discharging young girls who had served three or four years at the trade. The agitation that is going on in Wellington regarding the shortage of .gir] labor in the clothing industry is meet likely capable of a simple explanation. For instance, it is quite likeb* that a manufacturer will be asked to execute an order, and will say that to do so he will have to employ twenty extra girls, and consequently refuses the order; and the next employer will want twelve girls to complete the order, and so on, and it is quite conceivable that by the time the order is placed the man engaged in placing the order thinns that- they are in want of 200 girls, while in reality twenty would complete the whole order. It lias been, urged that a Royal Commission should be appointed to go into this matter. Personally- I fee] that no objection can be urged- against this, provided that eoual representation, is given to those in the particular industries affected. Mr H. G. Ell, the sitting.member for Christchurch South, is likely to have a strong labor candidate against him at the coming Parliamentary election in the person of Mr G. R. Whiting. A requisition signed by a large number of electors in that electorate was presented recently to Mr Whiting, who is president of the . Canterbury Trades and Labor Council, asking him to consent to his nomination as a candidate for the South Christchurch seat. Messrs D. G. Sullivan and T. Green, who presented the petition, assured Mr Whiting that had the petition been.in circulation for a clay or two longer, at least a thousand signatures-could have been obtained. Absolutely no refusals liad been met with. Mr Whiting, in reply, thanked the deputation, and also those wlio had signed tlie petition, buib said lie had left himself absolutely in the hands of tlie New Zealand Labor Party. Should he be selected as the candidate of the party, he hoped that all who had signed the requisition would do their best- to secure liis return. The -Dunedin Hairdressers’ Holiday Executive, has passed a resolution in favor of all public holidays falling on Saturday being observed on the folio-w----ing Monday. ■ At a. meeting of the Executive Committee of the: Wailii Miners and Workers’ Union recently it was decided to ask the employers for a conference relative- to the union’s demands for increased wages for the workers, and as to the working conditions in the mines. It is understood that the employers have conceded the request, and a conference will shortly be held between the interested parties: . ~ The proposal to form a hew; Miners and Workers’ Union in Waihi, to be registered under the; Conciliation and and Arbitration Act. is being freely discussed by the workers, and opinions are divided as to, the wisdom of such a step at The present The leaders of the existing organisation, and those sympathising with their methods of conducting the affairs of the union, attribute the movement almost- entirely to the battery hands. Should the formation of the .new body { bo proceeded with feeling is likely to run high between the opposing unions. ■' .