AN ARBITRATION ARCADY.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14837, 1 December 1913, Page 8

AN ARBITRATION ARCADY.

(Fnosr a Rke-tov Coaa_sro_DEST*J _. '< J Business in Wellington, in £hri&-£{. church, in Auckland, is being conducte_/*| under tho protection of batons. ,^ r^':-^ mouth is terrorised by an - lis «- llfic-^i?3

eoffltnittee, •"*■** *W.stp ort is growing clamorous in its hunger. Amid this jea of industrial unrest, there exists, among thc hills of the West Coast, an island of peace, where trade is flourishjag whero men work unmolested, and where "si-dals*' aro unknown. This place is Reefton, and its peace, its prosperity, and its glowing prospects are founded on one word, arbitration. *■ •It was not always thus. A year ago the Reefton miners relied on the Federation of Labour. It referred to tho executive of that sapient body its dispute until the masters and that body ordered the strike to continue, and called in funds, and then went drowsy, _oing nothing. In only one thing were they insistent, and that was in not going to arbitration. The masters of the big predominant company concerned also fought shy of the Arbitration Court, and threw every possible means in the way of. acceding to the Stipendi.ary 3lagistrate's efforts to bring them to the Court. The Reefton men wero fighting for a principle, tho principle of ;•.orking a rock-boring machine by one ; ©an with a watering appliance to lay the dust, or two men, one to deal with the dust. At last the Federation counselled tho miners to give in. ■ Mr Bowgray came and practically told them to give in. The Federation had failed, so reluctantly tho men gave in, and beaten almost on every point they went back to work. So much for strike.

"-..Then, though of tho Federation they were not wjtn it, their arbitration period came to an end. In spite of __deration warnings, they appealed to the Arbitration Court to lay _own new rules and conditions. As & forlorn hope, tney brought in the "popper" question. They never thought, so bitterly had the Federation prejudiced their minds, that the Arbitration Court would assist them. -The Court might raise, their wages a little, but to arbitrate on tho "popper" question was not to.be expected. The unexpected happened. Tho Court raised their wages, and that by much more than a little. It also solved the "popper" question as far as day labourers were concerned. It ordered that two men should work the "popper"—that is, one man 4$ the machine and ono man with the p.pes and water. Judge Sim is no longer the bugbear of the unionists in Reefton. He is, in truth, a Daniel come to judgment. The Arbitration Court, in", gold "mining circles, has justified its existence. Reefton is jubilant. The very mine owners consider that three years of peace practically guaranteed, will compensate for higher wages, and higher wages will draw better men. The men are jubilant,_because their work has been recognised to be what it is, an arduous, dirty, dangerous work. There is" no talk of Federation methods in Reefton to-day. The federation principles, or want of principles, has never commended itself to the honest Reefton miner.

So to-day, we contrast Reefton on the -verge of prosperity, with ■•' shops arising in its streets and houses in its back roads, with other towns less favourably situated, where crops, of ripe, strawberries are being ploughed in ; whero the promises of a great seaeon have been quashed by a great revolt, where rum h_s been spelt out in big lettere, or where men know that the real results will not be manifested foi. another six or eijsht months. • TV6 have had our turn, in Reefton. ■■'. We know what strike means later on, aiid all in the mining centre realise that when it leant on the Red Federation it was badly beaten.-. To-day it has appealed to. tho Arbitration <sourt and has _yon. ' . ■;.-. - ..■ ■•..-■_ .'••. .*