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Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3582, 23 July 1912, Page 2

(to the editor.') Sir,—You have certainly done your readers, who are, L should judge, practically everyone of any discernment in Poverty Bay, a distinct service bv placing before them in such attractive fashion the balance sheet of the New Zealand Federation of Labor. Judging by the amount of attention this document has received in the Press, on tho platform and in the pulpit (for even in these high places it has not been considered altogether unworthy of some slight attention) it must certainly be, so far, the most important publication of the year. No other financial statement, whether of a public or private nature, has been considered worthy of one-tenth part the scouting and criticism showered upon this fortunate balance sheet. Annual reports of all description have been presented and have passed into oblivion practically unnoticed. No company prospectus, no company balance _ sheet, no statement of exports and imports, no table of national income and expenditure, not even the exceedingly enterprising and ambitious, if rather mixed, financial account of the United (?) Labor Party, has been found so fascinating and ailengrossing. All of which interest has afforded considerable satisfaction, not to mention amusement, to the members of the Federation. The document in question affords no scope for financial genius, or literary merit. Therefore the only satisfactory explanation of its wonderful powers of attraction is that the people of New Zealand, workers and employers alike, are fully aware of the important part our organisation plays in the national life of this Dominion. When you state that the financial affairs of the Federation ought to be made public property you are in 'accord with the opinions of the Federation Executive, wvho publish their balance sheet in the Maoriland Worker newspaper. This is hardly in keeping with the customs of other organisations, stick as tlie Employers' Federation for instance, whose financial %tatus ought to be of at least as much interest as that of the Federation of Labor. The ways of the Employers’ Federation, however, appear to be dark and mysterious, the extent of their financial operations uncertain and unascertainable, and their balance sheet taboo. Now, there lias been a considerable amount of dissatisfaction with the financial workings of the Federation of Labor expressed practically everywhere exec in amongst the members of that body itself, who are, after all. the people immediately concerned, and who ought to lie the best judges as to whether they have received a proper return for their money or not. As I have it faint suspicion that your method of presenting the facts in yesterday’s leading article may convey quite unintentionally, 1 a in sure, a slightly -oblique' impression as to the actual cost of conducting the Federation’s business I venture to put the figures in question in a manner much easier to comprehend. For the period September ], 1911, to May 10, 1912, the total expenditure was £2127 16 Id, which works out at nearly £67 per week, or taking the membership at ten thousand, lid per member per week. But of this amount £1362 16s 6d was invested in the “Maoriland Worker,” leaving as the actual expenditure of the organisation £IOB4 19s 7d. not quite £3O per week, or nearly ifd (three farthings) per member each week. Of tin's sum, however, £lO3 10s lOd was subscribed voluntarily by various unions for the purpose of enabling the organiser to visit Australia, and £47 6s 4d was collected at meetings held during Mr. Scott Bennett’s tour, thus leaving £924 2s -kl as the actual amount of ordinary revenue expended. In organising work and salaries there was paid the sum of £364 3s sd. a. weekly average for the period of £lO 2s 4cl including travelling expenses. Out of this colossal sum one requires a little bit of imagination to picture the many “fat” jobs available. The secretary bad the hardihood to accept no less than £1 0s lOd per week. The treasurer luxuriated on the- princely emolument of 4s 2d (four shillings and twopence) for a like period ; while the president’s’ life was a perfect whirlwind of riot and excess on the lordly income of 8s 4d (eight shillings and four-pence) paid with startling regularity once every seven days . The organiser received almost as much as would if lie was engaged at his former occupation of digging coal ,to which, by the way, he is always ready "to return if the members of the federation at any time consider him incapable or unsatisfactory in his present position, an impression never so remote from tho minds of federationists as at this particular moment. £4 per week certainly cannot he described as more than a living wage for any man with a wife and fairly large fmilv to support. while £2 8s per week is surely not too much to allow for travelling thousands of miles on boat and train. Even third class hotels and hash factories are not in business for fun and, as a rule, present their hills even to agitators. The £lO3 contributed voluntarily bv a number of the federation Unions for the purpose of sending the- organiser to Australia to enable him to recuperate from illness brought on by four years arduous, unremitting, self-sacrificing, and successful, work, was splendid testimony as to the esteem, regard,' and appreciation, felt for him by the rank anti file of the organisation. "While m Australia he arranged an agreement with tlie coal miners there-, which the miners of this country fully appreciate. This agreement, the scope and effect of which mav he understood one of these times, actually cost tho Federation £7 5s 2d ; Taking everything into consideration, I consider we have the services of tho organiser remarkably cheap, especially when it is remembered that many lawyers, directors, hank managers, editors, parsons, and politicians, with about one half the brains and energy of Mr. Temple, who do not get through one third the work, and who in point of usefulness, cannot compare with him for a single- mom cut. are paid much larger salaries. Deducting the- amount collected at meetings, tlie expenditure in connection with Mr. Scott Bennett’s tour, was £47 6s 4d, and w-s were extremely lucky to obtain such an able 1 and experienced propagandist and orator for such a small outlay, which the- results more than fully justified. The £lB7 4s 9d which appears as payments for fifteen deputations, undertaken by nine delegates (not five, as _ the. “Times ’ unaccountably puts it) .in connection

with tho drawing up of agreements does not figure large, when it is stated that tho time of these- conferences often ran from a week to a fortnight and involved travelling long distances. Now, what have the members of the federation received in return for their money? I waive all reference to shortening of hours, in many instances considerable; to improvement in ventilation, to increased security to life and limb, to more complete and sounder organisation, and a hundred other benefits, and content myself with the financial gain alone. Taking that, 1 find that for a total expenditure of £2427 16s Id bv the whole membership, the waterside workers, the traimvaymcu, tho cement workers, and a section of the miners, have received an increase of wages amounting at the very lowest estimate to £IOO,OOO (one hundred thousand pounds) per annum. For every ss. invested £ls will, as a result of the year’s operations, he drawn yearly in the future—a dividend of- 6000 per cent, (six thousand per cent.) per annum. As a sound financial investment alone the- Federation of Labor would he hard to heat in the Dominion. In addition to all this there is the owning of the “Maoriland Worker,” tho foremost labor and literary weekly in the Southern Hemisphere. As to present expense, I can furnish your readers with some little information. There is not a single delegate of the Federation being paid at present. As soon as the strike was declared all salaries ceased. Travelling 'expenses alone are allowed, and the scriptural injunction “Take neither purse nor script,” was firmly impressed upon the delegates. They were not asked to shake the dust off their feet where they were not received, because this is Oriental and futile. The Federation has no time to waste in futility. There is good reason for surprise, that any body should achieve so much at so little expense, but that has only been possible because cf the loyalty and co-operation of the members. Never was an organisation more loyally and enthusiastically served. Time, talent, and money, as much of tlie latter as workers can spare, has been given ungrudgingly, and at the present moment tlie- Federation is the liveliest corpse imaginable. “Fat” billets, you will see, exist only in the imagination of the Federation’s critics.

As to our ideals and methods, they are those of intelligent labor everywhere. Our ideal is “The "World’s Wealth for the World’s "Workers,” mu- watchword, “An injury to one an injnrv to all,” our message “Workers of the World, Unite; you have nothing to lose hut your chains, you have a world to gain.” I am content to place before the workers of Poverty Bay the fact that the fight proceeding at Waihi and Reef ton is a fight against union-smash-ing. and for the conservation of health, for tlie security of life and limb, and for the protection of the miners, their wives, and families, from one of the most dreadful of modern diseases —-minor’* phthisis—and to leave the rest in their hands.—l am, etc., P. FRASER.