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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 1

Printers' Meetings

Printers' Meetings.

On the 6th August a meeting of journeymen printers was held in Napier. There were 40 present, representing all the newspapers; but upon it being resolved to report the proceedings, the News hands withdrew. Resolutions were unanimously passed as follows:—

1.That the printers present at this meeting solicit the co-operation of all tradesmen and artizans in this town regarding the labor question, and desire them to take steps similar to those which the printing trade have adopted, and fully discuss the labor question.
2.That as Mr Ivess has been accredited with reducing the wages of the compositors on the Timaru Herald below the recognized scale, and as his action is stated to have had a prejudicial effect on the trade throughout Canterbury, the members of the trade present at this meeting resolve to strenuously resist any effort made by Mr Ivess to similarly injure the trade in Napier.
3.That Mr Ivess be asked to prove his statement made at his political meeting held in Napier on August 3rd (which is well known by those engaged in the printing trade to be false) that the ruling wage is £2 10s per week for compositors engaged on morning papers, and to prove this to the satisfaction of the general public.
4.That the Press Association agent be requested to wire a report of this meeting to all newspapers in the colony.

Mr Ivess, subsequently addressing a public meeting, said the printers' meeting had been got up by the employers, on political grounds. He also said that at Timaru he gave the men £25 a week, and the foreman £4.—The journeymen printers held a second meeting, on 20th August, and unanimously resolved:

1.That as the explanation given by Mr Ivess relative to his action in cutting down wages is not only unsatisfactory, but confirmatory of the fact of his having done so, this meeting, in the interests of the printing trade and the wage-earning classes generally, resolves to use every possible effort to oppose Mr Ivess in reducing the wages of journeymen printers as he has been accredited with doing elsewhere.
2.That this meeting of the printers of Napier still further emphatically denounce and deny the statements regarding the wages of the printing trade, and still further again challenge Mr Ivess to prove any statements in connexion with the trade made by him at cither of those meetings, as he has not attempted to use arguments against resolutions passed at the previous printers' meeting.
3.That a cordial vote of thanks be accorded the proprietors of the Herald and Telegraph for the straightforward and honest stand they have taken in the defence of their employés and the trade generally.
4.That the Press Association agent be requested to wire away a resumé of the proceedings of this meeting.