Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/742

 720 THE ECONOMIC JOURN,aL exceeding 6 per cent. shah be paid to shareholders, and that any surplus shah be devoted to one or more of the following: (a) bonuses to its employees; (b) investments on their behalf; (c)the formation of a provident and accident fund for then; (d) a reserve fund. Almost simultaneously a Lyttelton Lumpers and Vv'harf Labourer.s' Association was formed; its object, as stated in its rules, being to promote harmony between employers of labour ad workmen in Lyttelton, and to prevent strikes and lock-outs. Its rules provide that its committee of management shall consist of nine members; the chairman to be the chairman of tile Stevedoring Association, and four members to be directors of tim same, who are all to be deemed members of the Lumpers Association. The remaining four members of the committee are to be elected by ballot from the Lumpers' Association. The two associations mutually pledge themselves to employ and work for each other exclusively, and the rules of the L_mpers' Association further provide that no labourer belonging to a union not affiliated shall be eligible for membership, and that affiliation with any union shall not take place without the consent of the committee of management. Members wishing t6 join must also have their names submitted for approval to the committee. ]No entrance fee is charged, but a monthly contribution is levied for a sick and accident fund, a nucleus of which is provided by a donation of 100 from the Stevedoring Association. In this port the whole of the work is carried on by these two associations; capital and labour are in each other's arms, and everything is most harmonious. The Maritime Council is prac- tically defunct, and recently what was looked upon as the strongest union in the colony, viz. the West Coast Miners' Union, has disbanded itself. As was expected, the distress this winter is very serious, and special appeals are being made for its relief. Since the failure of the strike the labour party has 'devoted its attention to the ballot- box, nd at the last general election the labour candidates were Mmost successful. It remains to be seen what the result of this will be, but seeing that the leaders of the late strike re by their absence in the new House of Repre- setatives, it is not too much to hope that the Labour party has learnt Ivy experience, and will use the enormous power franchise gves them, not to wage an warfare c.&pital, but to encourage it for their own benefit. Otl with