Australia, New Zealand and some islands of the South seas

by Frank G. Carpenter

“The workingmen won their power in New Zealand through a strike that failed. At that time the unions controlled many branches of trade and they were fairly well united. The Maritime Union, whose members handled all the freight at the wharves, was an old organization, with plenty of money in its treasury from assessments throughout a long period of years. As the funds increased, it was decided that all new members should pay an initiation fee proportionate to the share each would have in the assets of the treasury. There were but few labouring men who could do this, and the number of new members fell off. Although it could not handle all the freight, the union would not permit non-union men to work. The ship owners would not stand this. They took on extra men and defied the union. The union men struck, and through their relations with the other unions brought about a general strike all over New Zealand. Their demands were unreasonable, and the sympathy of the people was with the non-unionists and the ship owners. Men came in from Australia and elsewhere to help break the strike. The feeling was so great that even clerks in the stores asked for vacations, put on overalls, and worked for a time as stevedores. The result was that the strikers were badly beaten, and they knew it.

“Then they reconsidered the situation and decided that their only chance for a fair show in the future was in electing working men to Parliament. They began their campaign at once, adopting the rule that every candidate of their party must be a working man. They argued the question of their rights in the shops, on the streets, and on the stump. The people outside the labouring classes became interested in the struggle. Public sentiment changed. It was seen that there were two sides to the question, and enough working men were elected to Parliament to give the unions the balance of power. Organized labour in New Zealand has never had a majority in Parliament but it sent up enough of its own men to be a powerful factor in shaping the laws of the Dominion.”

After the end of that great strike one of the first questions Parliament considered was how to avoid such conflicts in the future. How could it best look after the interests of the three parties to labour disputes—the employers, the employees, and the public? The conciliation councils and the Court of Arbitration for industrial disputes were the answer the legislators found to their problem.

The workman’s grievance against the “company store” and the “company house” does not exist in New Zealand, where payment for labour in goods is illegal. In any action for wages, any goods or articles furnished by the employer or supplied on his premises cannot be brought forward as an offset, nor can the employer sue his clerks for things so bought. Workmen must be paid in money, and at least once a month, if they so desire. In absence of written agreements those engaged in manual labour must be paid weekly, and if not so paid they can attach all money due or thereafter to become due to the employer on the work. The wages of those who receive less than ten dollars per week cannot be touched for debt and where a man goes bankrupt the unpaid wages of his clerks and workmen for four months preceding are preferential claims on the estate.

For many years the government built workmen’s houses, which might be leased or purchased on the instalment plan by wage-earners. In the serious shortage of houses after the World War these operations were extended. Parliament appropriated about five millions of dollars to be lent to employers and corporations for building workmen’s houses and apartments. The law allows borrowers from the government’s fund to erect workers’ houses costing up to thirty-four hundred dollars, and the money is advanced on five-per-cent. interest. The workmen get title to the houses by paying each week a little more than the ordinary rental charge for such homes.

As in Australia, the weekly half holiday is compulsory and the factory owner or merchant who keeps his place open after the hour for closing is fined for doing so, whether he requires his employees to work or not. I find a record of a man in Foxton who kept two boys under eighteen years of age at work on Saturday afternoon. He was called up by the Court and heavily fined. Another man employed a carter to work on a half holiday. He paid five dollars and costs for so doing. It is the same with all classes of clerks and it is the same in the factories.

The day for the weekly afternoon off is not specified by law, but is usually fixed every January by the authorities. In some towns it comes on Tuesday, in some Wednesday, in some Thursday, and in many Saturday. Saturday is the day usually chosen by the factories, even though the stores in the same town may close on another day. If Saturday is the day fixed there are certain classes of storekeepers such as grocers, butchers, and market men, who may choose another day for their weekly half holiday.

On half holidays the streets of Auckland and the other towns in the Dominion are as deserted as on Sunday. The hotels are usually open, but as far as I can see, there is much less drinking at such times than one would expect, and nothing like that on Saturday afternoons in the cities of Scotland, or even in our own towns before prohibition. Most of the people here go to the parks or out into the country. There are cricket matches, golf tournaments, and outdoor games of all kinds.

As a people, the New Zealanders are devoted to sports. In football, the national winter sport, New Zealand has held the world championship. Everyone, men and women, boys and girls, seems to play games of one sort or another. They go in for tennis, golf, hockey, polo, and all kinds of water sports. Owing to the great numbers who swim in the lakes, the rivers, and the surf, there are many fatalities every year, and drowning is sometimes called the “New Zealand death.”

Like the Australians, the New Zealanders love nothing so well as gambling on horse races. But here the betting is regulated by the government and one seldom hears talk of crooked methods. Betting is done through a machine, the invention of a New Zealander, called a totalisator. Only those actually present at the track are allowed to bet, so there are no poolrooms such as have caused so much scandal in the United States, and there is no gambling by telegraph or telephone. All but ten per cent. of the money placed on each race is divided among the winners. The tenth held out goes to the government and the club that stages the event, the club taking three fourths of the amount, and the government the rest. At the meets the horses are all on view for at least half an hour before each race. After a spectator has satisfied himself as to how he wants to place his bets, he goes to the betting machine, gives the number of the horse on which he wishes to invest, and purchases tickets stamped with that number. The lowest price for a betting slip is two dollars and a half, but tickets at ten times that amount may be had.