THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 490, 7 August 1890, Page 2

THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

THE TROUBLE WITH WHITCOMBE AND TOMBS. [STANDARD SPECIAL CORBESBaNDENT.] Chbistchubch, last night. There has been no further development in regard to the dispute with Whitcombe and Tombs. The outcome now depends on the instructions of the Maritime Council, which has been assured the support of the Wharf Laborers and the Railway Servants’ Unions. The railway hands will simply refuse to touch Whitcombe and Tombs’ goods. If a man ie suspended for this the Commissioners will be asiied to reinstate him, and if they refuse to do so an appeal to arbitration will be allowed before a general strike is resorted to. COMBINATION BY BLACKSMITHS. Owing to the increased price of iron and other materials the price of horse-shoeing has been raised. As will be seen by advertisement tradesmen have agreed as to a scale of prices. TIMBER WORKERS’ UNION. The local branch of the Timber Workers' and Bushfallers’ Union promises to become a very strong one. There was a good atten dance at the meeting on Tuesday evening, Mr Ezra Smith occupying the chair, and Mr Greame (Secretary ot the Lumpers’ Union) being present to explain matters. He said that he had not yet received a reply from Mr Creagh, of Napier, to whom he had sent all particulars, the letter probably not having reached him in time to write again by the mail. The point was raised at to whether it would be fair to compel bushmen at present in remote parts of the district to pay the increased initiation fee if they did not join within the three months. Messrs D. McLeod and J. Little strongly urged that special allowance should be made for such men, though it was perfectly just that those who were in the town should not receive longer than the stipulated time. It was stated that the rules authorised at headquarters could not be altered, but there was no doubt that if an application were made for a special allowance in the case of such men the Executive would entertain it, seeing the exceptional circumstances of the case. It was decided to take that course, but all bushmen wishing to join the Union should not take the risk if they can avoid it. In reply to a remark that some men might not be able to procure the Union fee after it had been increased, Mr Greame said that was an absurdity, as in the case of a respectable man who really could not afford the fee any true Union man would see that he was not stuck for the want of it. The election of officers was then proceeded with, resulting as follows :—President—Mr H. Reed ; Vice President—Messrs J. Price (North Gisborne) and M. McLeod ; Secretary—Mr J. W. Mackrill; Treasurer—Mr H. Hacche ; Committee—Messrs Ollivier, Bach, Hoarn, Hunt, Neill, and Sarteu. Between 60 and 70 members were enrolled. THE PUBLIC SERVICE. Hitherto the Public Service has been a house many times divided against itself. It has been split up into factions and cliques, it has been riven by internal jealousies and dissensions, and it has never learned to respect itself There has been nothing in the nature of esprit de corps developed amongst its members, and instead of being proud ot belonging to the service Inembers have never lost an opportunity of deploring its disadvantages and lamenting the uncertainties of their position. Suoessive Ministries have delighted in affording evidence of the insecure tenure of office in the service, and have endeavoured to create the idea of a personal service rather than a national one, by making public officers believe they are the personal servants and dependents of the Ministers in power, instead of the servants of the country. This idea naturally developed a large amount of sycophancy and a consequent sacrifice of independence and self-respect. In fact, the service ceasing to respect itself, and self-abasement becoming the surest road to promotion, it can scarcely be wondered at that the service as a whole got into bad odour with the public, became an object to scoff at, and one by attacks on which a certain amount of cheap popularity was always to ba gained in Parliament or at election meetings. The service has suffered cruelly, often most unjustly, through its own want of unity and cohesion. Divided, it has easily been successfully attacked when if it bad stood united it would have been impregnable. Some ot the speakers at Thursday’s meeting drew very doleful, but vary truthful, pictures of the present condition of ths service, and declared that it was not one in which they would place any son of 'heir own. This deplorable condition of affairs we unhesitatingly ascribe as due in a great measure to the want of manly independence on the part of members of tbe service. There has been a great deal too much cringing and crawling in tha service, and too great facility afforded for obtaining promotion by such illegitimate means, instead of by good honest straightforward work. We hope that the formation of the Association so happily inaugurated the other night will alter

all this, and that members of the service will recognise their legitimate responsibilities and privileges as units of a great body. They must learh to respect themselves and the service they belong to, as the first step to gaining the respect of the public for either. If a thorough esprit de corps can be created and infused into the service generally, a great advance towards its rehabilitation in public estimation and its assumption of a properly influential position will have been made. The Association should form a body powerful for the conservation of the true interests of the service. It should exercise not political, but moral influence, and if its affairs are properly conducted, and it is supported as it should be, this influence will prove powerful with both Ministers and Parliament. The Association will be able to protect its mem bers from injustice and tyranny, to expose undue favoritism, and to insist upon due observance of the laws and regulations enacted for the efficient management cf the service. If the Association takes up the, position which is open to it, and which it ought to assume, it will be able to determine a great many ot the abuses which now degrade and disorganise the service. Ministers, in dealing with members of the service, will feel that there is a power behind with which they must reckon if they attempt anything that is unfair or partial, and the influence of the Association might even make itself felt amongst the most violent retrenchers in the House. We do not suppose that the Civil Service Bill will pass this session, but to secure an enactment establishing a proper system of classification should be one of the first and principal objects of the Association. Until such a system is established the service can never be placed on a really satisfactory footing, or proper security of tenure of either position or salary be assured to its members. If a system of classification were established, the work of the Association would be much facilitated, and its power and influence greatly enhanced. We trust that the formation of the Association may tend to expedite the passing of a Classification Bill, in which case a new and happier era for tbe Public Service of New Zealand wi’l date from last Tnursday night. Never was there a case where there has existed greater opportunity for reform and reorganisation, for the service is at present at the lowest possible ebb, demoralised, disorganised, dis united, and powerless—a kind of football for everyone to kick : its members without heart or hope, aware that they exist only on sufferance, that they have no security of tenure, and that a snatch vote in the House may, no matter what their position or length of service, cast them adrift, or arbitrarily reduce their pay at any moment. It is impossible for the country to be well served while its public service is in thia condition, and we therefore hail with pleasure the movement which tends to provide a remedy for the present evils, raise the service to a proper position, and establish it on a firm and secure basis.—Wellington Post.