The Dominion THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1008 A FORTHCOMING TREAT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 203, 21 May 1908, Page 6

The Dominion THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1008 A FORTHCOMING TREAT.

It is rarely enough that the public can look forwardto a Ministerial speech with any good hope, of in- it either .novelty or instruction j still rapre rare»are those occasions when ..the announcement that a Minister, is t'o < sleliyer a political address holds t out a promise of entertainment. Very unusual," therefore,' and most welcome to a public that ;has learned byi sorrowful experience to-' expect little, more yfrom - the; Prime. Minister in the-way of /mental refreshment, than from the multiplication'table, is a speech that , will please equally the admirers 'of i novelty! the seekers after kno.wledgo,' and the humbler folk "who loye best the/humorous things' of life.; Such a speeclf appears at last ; to ,be shortly forthcoming, for the AttorneyGeneral is engaged to speak at Wangariui to-morrow on " Labour and the Arbitration Act." The brilliant maiden effort of Dr. Findlay, although it/was confined' to . a -disquisition' upon ' the meaning \of.',tjie.jvord ; " strike," . has raised up in' th'e public miiid expectations that he surely, will not fdisappoint. It is not to. 'be .expected that'-.be, can maintain throughout; a, long discussion of the -\yhole question of .''Labour and the Arbitration Actthe brilliancy that made his .disquisition upon the verb " to strike" a grammatical and legal tpur de force. Yet in so wide a subject as he has chosen he cannot fail to find many points fopon >hich tp expend that lectical.ingenuity which was.exhiiiited by the gentleman in Punch, who declared that " there's things as is, and there's things as isn't,, and .there's some things as neithor is or isn't, and to my thinking, this 'ere nop regulation.o' the. parish council comes somewhere between the last two." ' ! ■

If ifc were not beyond our intention, it would be beyond our courage to'speculate upon the feats of argument;.that are to be expected, for it is a rash ••'man who would profess himself able to' fathom all the possibilities of the author of the immortal defißitioii' of a strike as a noncontinuing offence. It is to be hoped, however, that De. Findlay will'remember that there are some points upon which the public wants nothing more than enlightenment. , There arc some anxieties in tho public mind tha,t Attorney-General may find it profitable to dispel. The men at Blackball went on strike, almost four months ago, and the, failure on tho part dovornment to iiiiiiiediately take Bteps to uphold the law gave tho offendors the idea that

they were safe from punishment. The wave of revolt spread throughout the Dominion, and in their ncwly-discovcrcd 'power union affer union openly joined the strikers in their defiance of the law. The Government'for long maintained its policy of silent acquiescence', but it had at last to recognise the force of public indignation . and do something. What has "it'done,? It has allowed scores of law-brcakdrs to go scjit free; it has refused to 1 enforce Section 15 of the Amendment Act df 1905; it has cheerfully borne the ridicule and contempt of the public m the noble cause pf keeping pn good terms with Labour; it has assured the (strikers that they have nothing to'.fear. In a word, it chloroformed the Act, and substituted ministerial'edict for parlia? mentary gpyernment.' Dr. Findlay will, find a wide field here for the exercise of his role as sieight-of-hand apologist; and we anticipate much entertainment in his demonstration of tho , completeness with which the Act has been vindicated and, the promptness'. and .firmness' with which it was enforced.-

But the public will be concerned to. know what the presont position of affairs really is. I Have they been, in error in interpreting-the history, of the strike as a notification' 1 that the Act, while it constrains, the employer and the employee' to. settle 'their differences under its ;.shia-> dpw,. is penal only in'respect of the' em-, ployer.f Is : it a deficiency, in their intel-. •lect which has led them into their present conviction 'that the Government in--' tends to treat trades-unionism as being on. an entirely different, plane to eru-j ployers. in respect of breaches' of award 1; These arc plain questions, hardly to (bo answeted except by equally plain replies, framed in : quite commonplace language, but as the issues' are not unimportant—' involving'as .they do the whole futurb;.o{' our indust/rial life, which.; isv after \ all a thing of some importance—the iAt'tor-ney-iaeneral may for this once waive his dislike/of the. commonplace,' and^.settle the public's doubts, and fears. Jiist as we. all know that a strike is a strike, so' we all knowthat in .one. sense the Arbitration .Act liasemerged, triumphantly from its. terrible ordeal, as it . could not help . doing, .'not . ..having been , .Rested; "Whether it' would.. have emerged undamj: aged from the fray if the Government had not shirked to. employ it. is® quite another question. ..It-was'-once of a Rpman emperor, " Berne, imperaret nisi iimperassel,", which jinay. be ;ireely ; ren-' dercd,'He spoiled his reputation as a, ruler., by.-assending the throne." ■ "It was possibly,; a! fear .that the Act would be ; comb.ijhe,victim, oi a similar' epigram, if put into operation on a serious; issue that assisted. '.the:. hand :\ a fpr'that the great reputation ■ol .th'e: Act as a powerful ; weapon,' able to clo anything, ."tyili flourish only so long, as it does nothing. The reflection of this fear ( 'on the part of! Ministers, is seen in. the Open contempt ■ of organised , our for .the .terrible weapon that, has " prevented strikes." The tjiipstion 'that shpuld like "tq ariswer, as. it sumjnarises all' the public's anxieties, is this :-. If the -Blackball' men go; on strikol again' next. week;will the 'Government .use the Act-to crush thq strike "'.'arid;, restore •. industrial,/'order ? One 'of Wo; things',will result from the Minister's speech: either 'public■ confi-, dcricc will be partially restored; -.'or* else Jiherp will remain uncli§twrbe4'.thoj .conviction of organised Labour that ' it '/cart do as it 'cjiops.es, and the ;conviction -of the public that'justjee is at an v ehd,unde'r. the existing, method of administering' this law; ' . '.V-'