Denver labor bulletin., 1917-07-21
fine in the south, among the lofty

OQe IN Lne SOutH, dIuOHS tne ioity
mountain ranges.
There is a grandeur about New
Zealand scenery that is not to be found
in Australia, where there are no high
mountains (the highest point being
1000 feet), and the country seems wild
and desolate, with forests covering
most of the territory near the coast.
The central and western part is all a
big desert.
The best land is found in Victoria,
New South Wales and Queensland, but
it is more expensive than land in this
country and transportation to the mar
ket is not as good.
States Own Railroads.
Each state owns its own railways
and Victoria and New South Wales
have good systems, tho not as good or
as extensive as in countries where
there is competition, but the other
states, and also New Zealand, have
very inferior service all narrow
gauge, with the exception of South
Australia, which has two gauges
(standard and Victorian, the latter be-
ing 5 feet inches).
At present they are trying to con-
meet up the systems of the different
states and have transcontinental
service, but are having difficulty on ac-
count of having three different gauges
to contend with.
At the time the railways were built
each state was crown colony, and
rivalry was bitter. Each colony chose
a different gauge from his neighbor,
in order to protect his markets-and
probably his rolling stock. They are
now paying for their shortsightedness.
Labor Is in Power.
Labor is in power in the federal
government, and also in three of the
states. At one time during my stay
labor ruled in five of the six states,
but they lost out in two of them.
The fight over conscription, which
was defeated, has caused a split in the
labor party, and may result in the
workers losing the power they have
worked so hard to gain.
At the time of confederation, six
teen years ago, the right of franchise
was given to all persons over twenty
one years of age, regardless of the
amount of property they owned, to
vote at federal elections and on ma
tional referendums. To vote at state
and city elections, tho, one must own
or rent property valued at a certain
amount, which varies in the different
states, and the more property one
to. In two of the states, Queensland
and New South Wales. the members
of the upper house of legislature are
appointed for life by the English rep
resentative.
Even with n labor government in
power it took two years after the be-
ginning of the war to get the price
controlling machinery in operation,
and at the time of leaving there.
seven months ago, wheat and its prod
ucts and sugar were the only articles
with retail prices fixed by law, but
the federal government was arrang-
ing a schedule to include all COM
modities.
New Zealand has a capitalist gov
ernmeht in power, so can hope for no
such benefits.
Wage Boards in Each State.
Each state has wage boards. which
fix wages and hours of labor in all in
dustries. The action of those bodies
is supposed to be final, and is in most
cases. Once an agreement is reached.
the government sees that it is lived
up to, and prosecutes all offenders.
No one in the country works more
than eight hours per day.
Aggressive Unions Win.
AS elsewhere, Int more hRRt 'eSstNe
unions are the ones that fare the best,
and there we see an example where n
trade that calls for an apprenticeship
of several years is only about half as
well paid as another calling that re-
quircs but little training. The exam
pie referred to is the printers and
longshoremen.
Printers in New Zealand are re-
quired to serve six-year apprentice
ship, and in the different states Of
Australia it varies from five to seven
years, and at the end Of that time
they are entitled to $l5 per week in
the metropolitan districts and S12 n
week in the country. Linotype opera
tors are better paid, but that is due to
system of piecework under which
all machine work on newspapers is
done
Longshoremen get from S4.40 to
$4.80 per day Of eight hours, and their
work is not as strenuous as in Ameri-
can ports, for they do very little work
with hand trucks. They have horses
to pull trucks to and from the ships
side on all docks where railways don't
run alongside the steamers, and the
cargo is transferred into the hold by
cranes.
Their success is due to the fact that
they are frequent visitors to the arbi-
tration courts and wage boards.
In direct contrast to this is n case
noted in the Canterbury New Zea-
land) correspondence of the Typo
graphical Journal, in which the corre-
spondent complained that the printers
of that district had received but two
increases in wages in fifty years!
Another example where tradesmen
seem to get the worst of it is that
bricklayers and plasterers get but
$3.50 per day, while building laborers
get from $2.75 to $500.
A new movement has been started
by Australian labor unions to perfect