ARBITRATION BILL.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20493, 11 March 1932, Page 11

ARBITRATION BILL.

,•; ' ; ♦ »;/; ; : ■ . t ATTACK BY LABOUR. RISK OF UPHEAVAL ALLEGED. SECOND READING DEBATE. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, Marcli 10. In moving the second reading of the' Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives to-day the Hon. A. Hamilton said the Labour Party failed to appreciate the necessity for helping to adjust matters to meet the new and difficult position that had arisen. Tha Act had been under criticism; for years by the workers and employers, and the necessity for drastic amendment was fully realised. The main feature of the amending Bill, which was voluntary arbitration, first came into prominence at the industrial conference in 1928. The position was much more serious to-day. Mr J. A. Lee (Lab., Grey Lynn): is "to hell with agreements to-day." Quoting from the remarks of Mr Justice Stringer, Mr Hamilton said the Judge had been of the opinion that amendments to the Act were needed. Mr W. P. Endean (C., Parncll): He doesn't agree with your amendment Continuing, Mr Hamilton said ths conditions existing in 1894, when the Act was first passed, were very different from those to-day, when it was not the employed but the unemployed who were the biggest social .problem. Sweating in industry was not a problem as it had been in 1894. tional income had fallen from £100,000,000 in 1929 to £90,000,000 to-day. Now Zealand had to take serious note of this fact, and adjust its economic life accordingly. Industries to-day, instead of engaging cheap * abour ' " either dispensing with staffs or down. rj. w0 problems. The Dominion was faced with, two problems. The first was to. get the workers back into employment * second was to give reasonable protec lion to the exporting class. Mr Hamilton went on to e x P r . ess tll ° view that the Arbitration Court in New Zealand had become a legislative body instead of an arbitrator, Md he contended that this was in contradistinc tion to the intentions of the original Pr M^ 0t R. S? SlcKeen '(Lab.,; Wellington South) declared that the Bill, if Passed, would leave the administration of the Act at the mercy of unscrupulous employers who would be able to prevent any case in which 1 they were mterestea from going -to the Arbitration Court. Even if a case were allowed to go to the Court and 1 an award were made, plovers would still have a "come back because they would induce the Minister to have an Order-in-CounCil issued exempting them from the provisions of tlw award. _ Class Feeling. Mr H. G. E. Mason (Lab., Auckland Suburbs) said nothing would generate a class war and a feeling of Town v. Country more than the Bill before the House. He had more respect for the intellect of the farmers of - the Dominion than to think that they- had any respect for the arguments advanced bv the Minister. The provision in the Bill giving the Minister power by Order-in-Counoil to exclude any specified industries or persons from tho operation, of the principal Act wa,s a pernicious one. Mr W. J4 Poison.(C., Stratford) said it was necessary at the present time' to strike tho shackles from industry, and farmers would welcome the measure as much as industrialists would. Farmers had been harassed by attempts, to.place their industry-, under Court awards. It would be disastrous to tho farming industry in New Zealand if it were ject to awards of the Court. Exclusion of Industries. Mr E. SGmplc (Lab., Wellington East) said the Minister's defence of the Bill rang with insincerity. The proposed powers to wipe out all agreements and to enforce piecework • conditions in themselves condemned the Bill. Employers, after excluding their industries from tho operation of the Act, would smash the workers' conditions by forcing piecework on them. Unscrupulous employers would set the pace and make it impossible for a decent employer to live in the industry unless he kept pace. It was all a matter of com*! petition, and the man who broke down j conditions the most would come out the best. _ , _, ,r• ,• ;■ j-, Removal of Inelastic Conditions. Mr H. G. Dickie (0., Patea) said all that was asked under the Bill was that the inelastic conditions which were hampering industry should be removed. The last thing anyone engaged in industry wanted was a strike. Mr P. Fraser (Lab., Wellington Central): You are going the right way to get strikes. Mr Dickie said the Bill was simply an endeavour to meet the needs of the day. Mr J. A. Lee said there was a growing feeling among a section of the Community that they had little more to lose if they were forced to become desperate and take action, possibly wrong-headed action. The fault would not be their 3, but could be attributed to legislation of tho kind now before the House. He hoped the intelligence of members of the House would eliminate the risk of an industrial upheaval. . Sharing of Benefits. Stating that he accepted the Minister's assurance it was 'not intended to destroy the arbitration system, Mr 8. G. Smith (C., New Plymouth) said m the light of the misery and privation existing to-day, it was Parliament's duty to see if it could lighten the burden of the sufferers by an amendment of the Act. He believed the Bill would afford relief by sharing the benefits which industry could afford among a greater number of workers. He mentioned that ho was not in total agreement with the clause which gave Cabinet the power by Order-in-Councii to exclude suecified industries from the operation of the Act. He considered such power should be invested in Parliament rather than in Cabinet. Mr F. Jones (Lab.; Dtinedin 'South) raid all the safeguards built up over a period, of years had simply been swept aside by the Government. In its anxiety to amend the Act it had given even more than the employers had twked for - : • : , . Mr J. W. Munro (Lab,, Dunedin North) expressed the opinion that the workers' representatives would in Conciliation Council proceedings find themselves confronted With a set of terms

from the empl6yers and' in formed. "These are conditions. Y«u fcfln take them or leave them. Mr Qoxmoliys Poßttioxu , Mr J. Connolly , (Ind. 0 ; , terburv) said he feared if ; the • Bill went Through it would certainly leave the Arbitration Court inand useless position.' He several amendments were necessary *e garding tha Arbitration Act and, much - good could be done, in theinterestsof both employers and workers if this task were sk about in a propOT.manneir. He complained that thftßillbefore the House would hare the effect of abolishing the Court, and rongequently he could not support it in.its present form. He .had stated during the election campaign that this woow be his attitude, and he intended to stand by that undertaking. " Opposition to the Bill WM also ©*-. pressed by Mr W. J. Jo**®* Manukan), and Mr J. O Brien (Lab., Westland). ?he debate was on the motion of Mr J. Bitchener (CJ., Waitaki), and the House Base at 11.5U p.m. , UNIONS CONDEMN AMENDMENT. The Canterbury General Labourers' Union- has written to the Prime Mirier (the Rfc- Hon. G.W Forbes) condemning the proposals to, Industrial. Conciliation, and Arbitration Act. and urging that thejproposals ehouid be withdrawn. claiming that there is no justification for the proposed amendments, pomts out that in 1980, out of 89 disputes, there were 62 complete settlements py representatives of employers ami workers without reference to the Court, eight referred to the Court on rate of wages only, and 19 sent on to the Court to deal with major matters in Canterbury Engineers' tTnion lias drawn un a resolution —to be forwarded to the Minister for Labour (the Hon. A, Hamilton) and to Labour members of Parliament^— describing the proposed amendments as the worst piece of class legislation submitted to Parliament within the past thirty years, and urging the Government to refrain from adopting the measure. "ELECTRIC RADIATORS." Best quality English Radiators with a•' gpaxf ntes. All sbpving a . re " ductioii" in price:— ' " Reflector Type, 1500 Watt, 62s 6d to 455. ■ Reflector Type 1600 Watt, Sss to 20s. 2000-Watt Electric Fire, 70s to 60s. 1000-Watt Electric Fire, 60s to-30b. 1000-Watt Electric Fire, 55s to 455. .Combined Heater and Toaster, 3 Heats £6 to 455. Oxher bargains offering at— 1 MASON, -STBUTHERS AND CO., LUD. •—6"