The Dominion. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1909. THE REWARD OF AQUATION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 424, 5 February 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1909. THE REWARD OF AQUATION.

If the proceedings at last night's meeting of the Trades and Labour Council are a sample of - what usually takes 'place i at the meetings of that-delightful body, the public has .very good reason to feel angry' as they think of- the joys .of,-which they have been deprived for years by the exclusion; of the press from the Council's pleasant evenings in the past; Such a washing tiiero was of. the family linen• such - artistically childish revelations of the mixed: emotions that; froth '.tip in the breast of the labour leader j such plain and homely rudenesses; such frank confessions of the simple rapacity and artless freebootery of "the, labour movement" ! ; We Can imagine .the bulging eyes with which, the public will read that one delegate.cm "always pick the man who was ■ going, to be:the next Government V appointee" by observing the care, which he .takes .-."not ' to- offend, 'the . Government" ; - that, to some delegates.it is shameful of' -Labour to complain, .'.'after' t-hey: had by agitation..- got some: of their members appointed as inspectors," and shameful'that, anybody but Labour leaders should be given the best billets in the Labour Department; that Comrade Dowdall, whose opinion must be discounted by. the; fact that . for all ' his loquacity .ho is a very brand-new. delegate, is prostrated by the suspicion that when a Labour leader becomes a State . servant' he, is not "heart and soul for .the workers''; that agitation is so fascinating that at least oile union secretary "spends far more time'ori his work than he would if he were in ordinary : employment"; that;-the., chief h6pe of Labour is-that 'Mk.- Ligiitfootls "future action", will "justify" his' impending' apr pbihtment; ' AVe do not suppose that the public will grasp , all at once -the. significance of this mass of rovelations: . the glare of,light, at this rending of the veil is rather blinding and stupefying. The specehes,:and; the .strange motion that was carried, will tell the public more about "the-labour movement" than it-ever knew before.' .In 'its/deep interest, the' public may almost forget to wonder how Mr. Westbrooke, of the Labour Department, came to be. at the meeting as a delegate'. , : The frequency of the appointments jihafc caußO Gojmade Dowdall so much sorrow cannot, longer be overlooked. ''Following ; the ', appointment, : of. Mr. ■ Westbrooke, Mr. Bailey, who has been secretary to the. Trades and Labour Council in Canterbury, has also joined the Department, j In a few. years time,' at the present rate of progress, the Department, whifch 'is supposed to supervise and guide the delicate relationships of workers and employers, will be principally, composed of 6xleadcrs of belligerent, trades unionism. Within the last few.years nearly a dozen leaders '6f "the' heated'"anti-capitalist" warfare have been lifted into the. Labour; Department, where, as inspectors of awards, inspectors of factories, and what not, they are expected to reconcile employers to the pin-prick: 'regulationsand restrictions of New Zealand's industrial .legislation;-.: It is almost inevitable"that the ..legislation, itsolf should produce incessant friction, and resentmentthe-Gov-ernment haß': done its best to make thi^

consequence quite certain by; choosing such agents for its administration. The oncouragement • of" labour agitators by rewards of billets in the Civil Service pan only be understood as a proclamation of the Government's sympathy with aggressive labour, arid their appointment tp.tHe Labour Department, of all branches of the service, shows how little, the Government intends that Department to hold; the scales of justice evenly between the two classes. -The Labour Department, as its constant actions and the frequent candid uttorances of its permanent • head make clear, exists.really, for;, the : aggrandisement of Labour, at the expense of the unfortunate employers. The thousandarid one vexatious regulations of the arbitration system'are designed for the same purpose. The leaders of aggressive labour will be encouraged, by these latest" appointments, to fight more blindly and. to clamour, yet more noisily for whatever partisan objects they, may covet for their class. •; -Whether they succeed or fail in their avowed object, they will not be'disappointed in a more important object, ■the Government will look after them If they .should- temporarily profess to palace the Government. before their faction, the Government will rewarS such disinterested- loyalty;, if a too headstrong activity- : on behalf of their . faction,should make them an embarrassnißnt to the Government, that resourceful power will place them in a position where it can close their lips and -curb their troublesome .activity, /For both these reaMembers of ■ trades unions have been appointed to the Labour Department in the. past. The labour bodies are seldom pleased, as such, for they "are. very jealous of their leaders, but the leaders hide their satisfaction, and wait for their own turn to como. -.