The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-12-13
MILEERs IN NEW ZEALAND
They Do Not Seem tea Fare So Well as
49,. ... Those rat1 United iStatess .,


The Northwestern miller, in its last
number, gives some interesting facts and
figures relative to the conditions Of -four
mill operatives in New Zealand that
far-away Utopia, and fnIthe United States
The article in part i1follows:; =, Z: =
| New Zealand is famous for it's labor
legislation, including ITS ,celebra ted tarbi-
trations act. and is. frequently referred to
as modern Utopia. On a near view
many of the ideal conditions supposed to
| exist between labor land capital appear
4 to be imaginary, and the struggle for ex-
| lstence takes. on the common place phases
observable -elseWhere--thee employer and
his men having 1their troubles over wages
and hours Of work, even as they do in
england or. America. , The labor laws of
| New Zealand may be exceedingly ad-
vanced, but Judging by results, they do
not seem to have, made either the mill
owners or the mill operatives particularly
happy or contepted sor prosperous. In
| deed, If one may form an opinion from
the slight and fragmentary evidence OBJ
tainable at such long range, so far as
f1our- masking lis seoncerIled, the situation
| in America, both for the employer and
the employed, is much more satisfactory,
and it has not been. brought about by Ia
Dor legisla ton Of afys:sort. ~: IT. '.s
4 A New Zealand 1ri1l-owner who was in
1.-THE United States noticing ago, said that
laws :regulat ting the employment of labor
Eand compelling megsstrict observance Sof
holidays and half N oIidays were running
i his business and that Of his competitors
! He claimed the Influence exerted in poll
tics by organized labor was so great that
/ the man*who invested in a manufacturing
enterprise in his. country was without pro-
|tection and was constantly harassed, tied
down and generally handicapped by re-
1 str1ctions imposed upon him, many #of
/ them absurdly partfzan and one-sided, that
! 5y7;if he
4 make a., bare iiving:sS4@ s. 81. III, I'LL
4 -: Some of the arguments advanced in
support of a combination of millowners
4 recently formed and known as the New
/ Zealand Flour Millers' Cooperative asso-
ton, would seem to confirm his state
1 ments. E:3.5::% ,,s - -. = ,sg +. n
4 "trhe head officer Of this association in
4 a lettersto the editor of the Millers' Jour
i raj says it was necessary for the millers
a to combine in order to meet the changed
= circumstances arising from the union of
4 workers which embraced all the milling
4 hands in the: colony and raised wages 20
! per cent and reduced the working hours.
The scale of wages paid in New Zea-
4 land has been until recently as follows:
1 Roller men or shift millers, s26 cents an
I hour, or $12 week; purifier men, q
q cents an hour or 1895 a week. shutter
men, % cents an hour or S10.14 week;
engine drivers first class, % cents an
! hour or $12.SS a week; engine drivers
i (second- CLASSY. "a cents an hour or 81. Cd
a week; packer men, q cents an hour
or $9.66 week. The week on this scale
consists of forty-six hours. The scale
/. with which the New Zealand conference
, of unions intended to so before the court
!, in September was as follows: Roller men
or. shift millers,' soc. an hour or $13. 80 "a
u week; purifier men, q cents an hour OF
1886 week; shutter men, "a cents an
:. hour or $11.04 week; engine drivers
a. first Glass;. so cents an hour or $3.50 a
Il week; engine drivers Second CLASSY III
! cents an hour or S12.42 a week; packer
men "a cents All hour or s11.04 a week
y The week to consist of forty-six hours
Half folidys to be given each man or
4 Saturdays and New Years Day, Jan. I'd
$. Anniversary Day, Good Friday, Easter
Monday, Labor Day, Sovereign's Birth,
day, Christmas Day ard Boxing Day to bt
observed as holidays. All work done OF
! Sundays and holidays to be paid for t the
rate, of double time. Employees upon leav.
ing their situations to give a full week:
81 notice and upon being discharged, to re.
3 Eceiye. a weeks notice. unless dismissed
o for negligence, incompetency or miscon
o duct. AS yet, it is not known whether thu
o. court granted the award asked for by stit
o New Zealand unions or not. E.s
0 "A comparison Of the wages paid II
0 New Zealand with those paid in the Unite
U states IOr the same CLASS Ol OpcIdllVeS,s4l
Q Interesting when it is considered that un
9 til very recently there were no -four mill
= ers' unions in the latter country. In Chi
r cage, grinders are paid So a day; mill
< wrights, SO; oilers, 150 and s1.75; smut
4 ters, s1.75 and So; packers. 50 and s2.25
feed packers, $3.50 and 81 The day ICON
Il sists of twelve hours. w
t In Minneapolis, mill operatives wor
e eight hours daily. Millers receive 35c a
!, hour; machine men, 29c; oilers, 231se
sWeepsrs, &c; nnillwrights, 3ocs an hour e