THE COAL-MINES DISPUTE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 414, 25 January 1909, Page 4

THE COAL-MINES DISPUTE.

There.is still no definite news regarding the prospects ; of a peaceful settlement of the trouble that has arisen at Huntly out , of the demand "of the miners that the four men . who submitted themselves to medical examination ehould-.be made to suffer for their defiance of what is, we suppose, one of those, sacred "principles of tradesunionism" concerning which we hear bo much in the eccentric "resolutions" of the labour organisations. The Minister for Mines has been industriously conferring with the miners and the directors • of the Coal Company; there' has been much running to-and-fro; and. we are left to infer, although the lines upon which the negotiations have been- conducted are kept secret, that there is a good prospect of a settlement. Apparently there was eomo suggestion that an , unofficial Board' of;. Conciliation, like I that which took the Aucklan'd tramways" dispute in hand, .should , Be'set ,r iip, but the Company is firmly resolved that it will'not submit its case 'to7a tribunal which can be as unwise ds it is' irresponsible.' The Company's reasons for objecting to this means of settlement 'are given quite frankly by "one of the' directors.' Put briefly, the Company's attitude ie one of reluctance to' place itself under a moral obligation to accept terms from a bench which can base its judgment on any injurious principle that it chooses. The Company has already taken steps to bring into operation the new machinery of the Councils of Conciliation, and has filed its application in accordance with last year's amending Act. i Nobody can' suppose thai Parliament expected or desired that a dispute df the kind in progress at Huntly should be made the subject for'investigation by a Council of Conciliation. .Everybody understood that the existenco of an award in any industry set that industry apart i , as one in which the Act could not recognise a dispute." In sutch an industry, so we have all supposed I ,' and so tho whole tenor f of the Act indicates,-the only possible "dispute" on which tho Act could intrude would be a strike or a lock-out; If the present'trouble goes before a Couri'.cil of Conciliation, there is-nothing to prevent tho drafting of terms of employ-

ment which will over-ride the existing award of this Arbitration Court, purely it waa not intended that such a. position as that should arise under the legislation of last year. On the face of it tho disputes referable to a Council of Conciliation should be disputes in industries not governed by awards, or disputes arising at the expiration of the currency of existing awards. The statutory definition of an industrial dispute is in general terms, and thus enables the law to be invoked as the directors of the Taupiri Coal Company have decided to invoke it. But it must be obvious to everyone that the law stands in need of revision when, a large industry governed by; an-.' award having been violently disturbed, the quar-' rel can be referred to a new tribunal, which, though inferior.to the Arbitration Court, may intrcdaco important .varia-. tions into the Court's award. The main point at issue -between the contending parties is not one which the Court of Arbitration could or would decide in favour of the miners. No Court that had its. senses, or that was honest, would dream of permitting a trades-union to decide whether an-employer should employ, or dismiss or disrate or promote any particular.workman. .:.■'•..,-.." > • .