Letters to the Editor: April 6 1895

*THE WORKER*

BRISBANE, APRIL 6, 1895.

Mail Bag.

WANTED – (to prepare way for Socialism in our time):

One Adult One Vote.

Land Tax.

State Bank.

Shops and Factories Act.

Eight hours day where practicable.

Referendum and Initiative.

Taxation of every person according to ability to pay.

The State to find work for unemployed.

The State to fix a minimum wage.

Free Railways. Free administration of Justice.

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The WORKER does not hold itself responsible for the opinions of its correspondents.

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W. D. - Will hunt the matter up.

C.B. - Don't think will do any good to publish.

ED. WORKER – I wish to draw your attention to the great number of boys between the ages of 9 and 13 that are being engaged through the pastoralists' offices for woolshed and other work. These boys should be at school. - Edward Carlton.

ED. WORKER – It is amusing to read the “sympathetic” references that are daily made by the capitalistic press to the subject of Sir Thomas M'Ilwraith's health! The poor workman, who has done far more than any M'Ilwraith or Tozer to “advance the prosperity” of the colony, is allowed to die in poverty, as Scott says, “unwept, unhonoured and unsung,” while the man who has helped to make Queensland a land of capitalists and alien labourers, to the consequent deprivation and degradation of the white men, is spoken of as the “saviour of the country.” Impudent cant! And his every movement is watched with fraternal solicitude by by the subsidised and sycophantic capitalistic press. The greatest act of patriotism that Sir Thomas, in my opinion, could now perform, would be to stay away from Queensland for ever. He would then justly earn gratitude. - Frank Tell, Gympie.

Woman's Equal Franchise.

The annual meeting of the Woman's Equal Franchise Association was held in the Trades Hall, Brisbane. The president, Mrs. Miller, occupied the chair. The annual report and balance sheet, which showed a credit balance of £8 0s. 5d., was read and adopted. The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follows: President, Mrs. Miller; vice-presidents, Mesdames Higgs, Briggs and Macfie; secretary, Miss Hughes; treasurer, Mrs. Fairman; council, Mesdames Cross, Alder, Johnson, Burton, Nelson, Snell, Nash, Chambers, Manuel, Jensen, Farrow; Misses Parsons, S. and M. Glassey, Patterson and Rhind.

New Unionism.

The feeling in labour circles is that the old unionism is outgrown, and that a new unionism, wider in its scope and distinctive in its weapons, must be established. A movement is now taking place in Australia having for its ultimate object the making of unionism more attractive and therefore more comprehensive, the idea being to embrace within its folds all workers whether with brain or hand. This definition is to be so elastic that it will admit not only all classes of employ'es, but nearly all employers if they can be induced to come in. As a first step an effort is being made to bring about a federation of societies of workers as recommended at Ballarat some years ago, each colony being mapped out into districts with councils for each, a federal council for the colony and a grand federal council for the colonies. The urgency for the movement is felt to lie in the fact that the new unionism regards strikes as an obsolete weapon; it must fight by means of legislation, and to use the ballot-box effectively it must broaden the base of constituency. A class considered capable of furnishing a large number of recruits to the forward movement is the clerks, and immediate attention will be probably given to a scheme to bring them into a suitable organisation. The leaders of labour throughout the various colonies are exchanging views in the hope that something practicable may be done towards more effectively adapting trade unions to the necessities of the times, and some expressions on the subject may shortly be expected. It may possibly be found that the expansion of unionism will be at the expense of its programme, every extension of the members involving a contraction of demands. In other words, it is recognised by the leaders of the movement that the growth of new unionism must be a growth in intelligent moderation.

South Australian Register

General News Summary.

FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 6.

Price of maize going up.

London wool markets brisk.

Mayor of Maryborough resigns.

Victorian revenue still decreasing.

Purchase Brisbane eight-hour tickets.

A bi-metallic crank lecturing in Australia.

Two little girls burnt to death in Victoria.

Lady Norman snubs the Brisbane toadies.

Treasurey revenue for last quarter £703,562.

Victoria goes in for military retrenchment.

Rebellion at Boyacs, Columbia, suppressed.

Disastrous fire at Belmont; thirty-five cows burnt.

Sydney hotel keepers fined for selling bad liquor.

London market glutted with Australian rabbits.

Exodus of 23 farmers from Victoria to N.S.W.

Cabinetmakers' shop at Red Hill destroyed by fire.

Gold rush at Crow Mountain, near Barraba, N.S.W.

A woman run over by train and killed at Geelong.

Chinese fleet bombard the principal city of Formosa.

A Melbourne firm fined £124 for defrauding the Customs.

Victorian Parliament further prorogued until April 18.

Burketown Meatworks commences operations April 10.

South Australia takes steps to prevent banks obtaining commission on State loans.

Ben Tillett brings an action against a London newspaper. Verdict for the latter.

Queensland railways Commissioner invite tenders for two short sections of railway.

Hook King, arrested at Parramatta on a charge of murdering another Chinaman.

The Great powers again decline to interfere in the quarrel between China and Japan.

Steamer Bhundarra arrives at Adelaide from Calcutta with a case of smallpox on board.

Tasmanian Premier states that public education must be free from dogmatic teaching.

Strained relations between the English and French Governments over the Nile Valley.

Spanish Government despatches a force of 3000 soldiers to quell the insurrection in Cuba.

John Finaberg, a Melbourne bookmaker, shoots himself.

A little girl named Mary Cooney burned to death in Sydney.

English relief expedition on its road to Chitral in India.

Manly railway station on the Cleveland line destroyed by fire.

British government offers to act as arbitrators in a strike.

Thomas M'Crae drowned at Cairns through falling overboard.

Fatal boat accident at Ravensbourne, N.Z. Two boys drowned.

Conciliation justices supplanting lawyers in Beenleigh disputes.

Sydney Mint coined 648,000 sovereigns during last quarter.

Measles prevalent among the blacks in the Herberton district.

A boat capsized at Botany Bay. Four of its occupants drowned.

French Government subsidising its mercantile steamship service.

Victorian Board of Health asks Government to establish crematories.

Row between missionaries in New Guinea and a German company.

Squatters at Thargomindah agitate against rabbits, taxes and rents.

French Government instructs its Consul to withdraw from Paraguay.

New Zealand Government assisting farmers by reducing railway rates.

French Government wants a conference of Great Powers regarding British occupation of Egypt.

Great fire at Milwaukee, U.S. Twenty warehouses destroyed. Damages, 1000,000 dollars.

Second reading of the Welsh Church Dis-established Bill carried in the House of Commons.

Brisbane Fire Brigade threaten to proceed against insurance companies for arrears of contributions.

An accountant of the bank of Australasia gets twelve months in gaol at Wagga for embezzlement.

A Papal propaganda permits Roman Catholic students in England to enter Protestant universities.

Owing to the attempted assassination of the Chinese envoy, the Emperor of Japan grants an armistice.

Railway commissioners reduce freight on wheat and maize for export.
Be sure that the first Eight Hour tickets you purchase are Brisbane ones.

Tenders issued by the N.S.W. Government for locking the river Darling.

First annual meeting of the Woman's Franchise Association in Brisbane.

Gold yield on Charters Towers last month 23,110oz.; dividends, £24,785.

N.S.W. court orders the winding up of the Daily Post Labour newspaper.

Land Board inspecting land at Warwick under offer of sale to Government.

Gladstone promises to lead a crusade against the Turkish atrocities in Armenia.

Government Savings Bank deposits decreases £48,074. 6s. 2d. during past month.

Albert Dettmar fined £100 at port Adelaide for running an illicit whisky still.

Hon. T. J. Byrnes addresses a hole and corner meeting at Mount Morgan.

The Japanese who shot the Chinese envoy sentenced to imprisonment for life.

New Zealand police recover all the coins stolen from the Auckland Museum.

Charles Bartley, 17 years of age, blows his brains out, with a rifle, in Brisbane.

Russian Government masses 30,000 soldiers at Vladivostok and has also 21 warships in Chinese waters.

Cape Colony residents protesting against the Governor appointed by the British Government.

John Feeney dies on Charters Towers from injuries received through falling into a pan at the Enterprise Mill.

French authorities decide to admit Australian live cattle to France if accompanied with health certificate.

Japanese demand from China a war indemnity of £140,000,000 and the occupation of Peking pending payment.

British steamer conveying French troops to Madagascar collides with another vessel in the Straits of Messnia. No lives lost.

N.S.W. Government calls upon the superintendent of the Sydney Fire Brigade to show cause why he should not be removed.