FLAXMILL WORKERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3510, 29 April 1912, Page 7

FLAXMILL WORKERS.

DEPUTATION WAITS ON THE MINISTER, [PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, April 27. A deputation from the Manawatu Flaxmill Employees’ Union waited on the Minister for Labor (Hon. G. Lauren son) yesterday afternoon. The deputation represented that the accommodation provided for workers at the mills was not sufficient. The deputation asked for two new rooms, wire woven stretchers and mattresses, bath rooms, lavatories, and so on. At present, said one speaker, the accommodation was insanitary, and, in many cases, indecent. At one mill there were 23 men in one room, and no provision for privacy of any description. Unless accommodation was set out in regulations they would not get what they ought to have. The deputation also objected to the system of contracting for labor only, which cut them away from the advantages of an award and the Accommodation Act, and put them outside the- Compensation Act, They urged that the Arbitration Act should be amended so as to make such contracts illegal. Another request of the deputation was that first aid appliances should bh provided at all mills, on account of tho frequency of accidents, and that there should" be a common sitting room for each mill. I have been, in several industries,” said one speaker, “and I think the accommodation in Haxmills is the worst I have ever seen.” The Minister, in replying, said that Mr Robertson, ALP., had on many occasions brought tho matter under his notice. The requests of tho deputation appeared to him very reasonable, more especially in regard to bathroom and shelter from draughts. It was abominable that men should be compelled to associate with those whose very presence was an offence. He would "get a- report from, tlio Secretary for Labor, and bring the matter before the Cabinet, without delay.