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IMMIGRATION. ...
MESSAGE OF THE LABOUR'.
COUNCIL.
THE LETTER TO THE ENGLISH
I PRESS. . ,
"A WARNING TO ENGLISHMEN.'
ADVICE TO STAY AT. HOME.
The following copy of the letter published
in the "Labour Leader," Eng., of Augusr
11 last, over the signature of Mr. A. McCal
lum, secretary of the Metropolitan Council
of the Western Australian branch qf the
Australian .Labour -Federation, under the
headings, "Labour Conditiohs in Australia
Ak Warniig to Englishmen," has been receiv
ed by the Premier (Mr. Frank Wilson):-
"Sir,-I havej instructions from the Metro
Spolitan Council of the Western Australian
Division Australian Labcur Federation to
seek a portion of the space of your journal
in order that the views of my council on'
the immigration policy now being so. vigor
ously pushed by the Australian State. Go-.
vertiments may be placed before the Brit
ish public,. My council consider that they,
as a representative Labour ' organisation,
iold be acking in their duty to their, fel
low-wcleers -of the Mother. Land. if ;they
failed to inform them of teo position they
have to face on?reaching these shores, and
the effect which this poliey of our political
opponents must have o' the .local labour
market. In fact,; judging 'by the, number,
and the ippalling nature of cpmplaints made
to this aoffie by disappointed iminigrants,
we are wondering whether we have not de
layed this letter too. long. Of. course, it is
hard for us to smcertain the' colour of.the
pictures the, labour market is being painted
S10,000 miles away, but one advertisement.
Shas been brought under the notice of my
c iounc,lwh ch is both: misleading, and na
true, in fact, and if allowed to go unimcour
dictednay: lead' to a number of our fellow
workers bei' enticed out'fhere under false
pret?nces. In the opinion df the delegates to
S my' council, this advertisement h'aisbeen de
-liberately designed' for the purpose of over
stocking the legal labour..market, and re
ducing .wages. It' is as follows, and is taken'
from 'The Daily Expr''ss' '
"'Vacancies exist in all. manufacturing
trades for skilled mechanics throughout?'the
/ State of' Westeirn Australia. Those imme
diately interested are cabinet-miakers, con
fectiones - and. sugar' boilers, ironmoulders;
fitters and turners. blacksmiths and body
makers, lead light cutters - and glaziers,
smiths' wheelwrights, art wicker workers,
chemical lead; burners, flour, millers, wittch
makers, jewellers and engravers, cigar and
cigarette makers, coopers,, plumbers,% cop
persmiths "anl sheet-iron' -.workers; typo
graphical operators and printers:.
"*"F1om reading advertisements of this nia
- ture.one would natrially conclude that ex
tensive industries in these callings must
exist, and the scope for the artissinwaa un.
: bounded. To planc the position that the im
niigrant will hve to' face when he arrives
here, a few: figures as :to the number of
men employed in this'State at some of these
c lings l perhaps be the mbst 'effective.
That 'of confection-ry for a start. The. law
of: Western .Australia, Governing the regis
tration'of Trade Unions, fixes the minimum.
number of members necessary at fifteen (15).
Would 'it surprise. you to. know that the
- combined confectioners-and sugar-boilers of
this State were unable to muster 15 in order.
.to register a union? The samine applies.to
lead light cutters and glaziers. Chemical
lead burners are not, knjown.in the'State at
all. Cigar and cigarette' factories in West
ern Australia emp!oy'practically no--labour,.
being confined to small' estiblishments' in.
whict the owner does his own.work. In fact,
I do not know. of one, single cigarette fac
tory in the State. 'Watchmaking is: practi
cally confined torepairs; and is mainly done
by youths. Coopers tried hard here for years
to establish a union, but ?wing to'the fact
Sthat there are less than 15, ,empldyed-.in'
- "thie 'State, - even in ithe busy' season, they
were unsuccessful; in the slack portion of
the year their numbers are reduced to six
or seven. The supply qf local labour, for
the iron tradea as a whole has always been
equal, and during nine-tenths of the year
greatly in excess of the demand. This. ad
vertisement, no doulbt, originated from the
fact that some of -these men demanded a
rise in. wages which the .employers refused;
and in consequence the men left their-em
ploy. It is to take the place of these men
at reduced wages that Englishmen are want
.ed here. To speak plainly,:the - employers
want to use them as blacklegs. The printing
trade has never been able to'fully employ
tie labour available. -
"I have personally. met a man who left a
good position in England as'a prnterabeing
mduced to migrate to Australia by these
representatins. His wife is nqw taking. in
State children in order to kep. the house
Sgoing. The furniture trade is largely in the
ds of the Chinese, and a white man has
a hard struggle to compete with them. They
exist on the proverbial 'smell of an oiled
rag.' And although ouir party in Parliament
have been able to force fros the Govern
ment a fairly tgood .?actories Act, which
should restrict l'ines9 labour, in the ad
ministrative hands of a hostile Government
it remains a dead letter: From these few
particulars, briefly given, it must' be seen
the extraordinary limithd nature of the/nsar
ket, which the arrivals will have to face
on reaching these shores. It.appears to this
counc'il no sane man would talk of import
ins men: into a new enunt,, - n +nu.i,
calling which cannot carry 15 men unless
there was some ulterior motive behind. The,
ulterior motive, ii 'the opinion of my coun
cil, is to overstock the labour market, in
order that we workers, English and Austral
ian, will be forced to sell our labour at a
mere pittance. We believe that the bldod
of the ordinary Britisher will revolt at being
used as a blackleg and scab, but we harp
eases brought to us that would melt
heart of stone. We have no hesitation in
warning our English brethren that the sup
ply of town, labour in Australia has always
been equal to the .demand, and on an ave
rage of eleven months out, of twelve it is
overstocked. Indeed, it only requires a very
a casual examination of statistics to see that
notwithstanding the enormous territory of
Australia, a greater percentage of her popu
lation is confined to.the-towns than any
other country on earth. Now, just a word
to those who are inclined to migrate to Aus
tralia to follow .the calling which is com
monly termed 'farm labour.' It must be
readily admitted,-in fact the before-men
tioned statistics prove, that the average
Australian ij disinclined to take on this
class of work. What you have.to consider is
whether or not it is worth' your while tq
come out 10,000 miles to 'take work which
the man on the spot refuses. Numerous com
plaints have reached this office from dis
appointed immigrants who were induced to
come to this State by the glowing accounts
of farm life depicted to them in England.
These men have told us thant they never
had to work so hard in their life, and that
they had no conception of the Australian
bush life, and many has been the pitiful
tale of the married man who has essayed
to undertake this calling. Farm labouring,
as distinct from a settler, with very few
exceptions, is no work for a marrie 'man
in Western Australia. The bush here is in
its virgin state. Perhaps one of the most
objectionable features of the bush' life in
Western Australia, from a married man's
standpoint, is (and this should be under
stood by all inteimfing immigrants) the fact
that in the great majority of ases they are
situated 10, 20, or even 40 miles from a
school.
\ 'This position often breaks the heart of a
woman who has been used to town life. Most
of the farm hands have to live in tents, and
under conditions altogether void of the most
primitive conditions of civilisation. To make
a success of this class of work it is impera
* tee to be possessed of previous farm experi
ence. It must be recognised that the aver
age Australian is a hustler, and none more
so than the Australian farmer, and the man
he wants is a man who can swing the axe the
day througnh, uild a. shed, make a fehce,
handle a horse, drive the plough or harvester,
make a haystack, lumo bags of wheat, sink
a well, and a hundred and one other things.
If you can't do this you will soon be told to
pack up your swag and take to the road.
Hundreds have come out before you and tried
this work, and the inevitable of them drift
ing back to the towns has resulted. You im
mediately become one of that perpetual army
of unemployed who search the Labour Bu
reau every morning. A warning against the
figures which the members of the Govern
ment and paid agents will quote you 'is also
necessary. The Minister will publish so many
"hands wanted," and the number engaged,
and the demand unsupplied, which, to the un
initiated appears excellent, but when it is
explained that the number of engagements
recorded means engagements of all descrip
tions, such as, for instance, a city aristocrat
wants a man to clean up his garden, it may
take half a day, that is an engagement. No
matter how small the,position is, the num
bers are blazed forth as an indication of the
position of the labour market. If an hotel
keeper requires a man for an hour to stack
up empty bottles in his back yard, that is
Semand unsupplied. It has been said that
figares can be made to prove anything, and
in-this we.wrarn the workers of England to
place no reliance-whatever on the Labour
Bureau figures. As a concrete instance one
morning.this week, tdis Minister published
a.return which showed that for the previous
fortnight there were'over 100 more positions
available than there were' applicants. To
satisfymyself, I went that very morning and
examimedthe list, .and all the vacancies that
Icould find were 17, and out of this five were
for boys,'while there were over 100 men wait
ing around the door looking for work. Now.
as for tho settler, Australia-has millions:of
broad acres waiting to be develdped, and no
part of Australia more so than this Western
State. Fairly liberal conditions are also offer
ed for the securing, of land, and it is the genu
ine settler that Australia wants, and is prepar-'
ed to open her arms to welcome: But to be
successful capital is essential. The advertise
ment which tells you of the siccessful farmer
who started without capital is all balrlerdash.
If he had nothing some little explanation is
hidden behind it as every Australian knows.
Australia wants population, but .she has no
room for town workers. Australia wants
settlers, and to be successful they must have.
money and be prepared for hard, solid work.
'"To the .town -workers- of Great Britain,
the message of my Council is to stay where
they are, The whole scheme is cunninglyde
vised to bring thein out here in hundreds to
cause a glut. in the already fully supplied la
bour market. Our opponents have one ob
jecs in view, hnd,that is to brinm down the
wages. We have the same fight here as the
workers have in other countries. Those who
oppose us liere are the ones who desire to en
tlce Englishmen out. They will cram the
towns full: of workers,' force up the house
rents, and lower wages. If the time comes
when Australia is in want of workers, no
matter of which class; we will not fail to let
our English comrades know. We have assist
ed them when the.forces of the employers
weroarrayediagainst them. We will assist
them.:again in'any resnect' desired wcen the
opportunity offers. We do-not- desire to see
Englishmen deceived, and perchance reduced
to want, and used as, the tools of our oppon
ents out here. "Therefore; this Council. in all
e?rieit§ness. advises Englishmen in their own
interest and ours? to stay at homoe.Yours,
etc., 'Alex.??McCalum, Secrta'ry 'etropolitan :
Council, Trades Hall, Perth, West Aetralia."
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