NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 954, 22 October 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The Bill providing foy an'increase of taxation on incomes''..passed ; ; its second reading on Thursday/night, but not without protest. Curiously ; enough it .was', supported byja.inumber of. members of the;' Opposition apparently being their disinclination to vote against ■ ■ the principle' ■: of graduated taxation: involved in -■ the Bill.. They, and, the whole House, would have been on 'much,'firmer groundhad they- voted •' against .'the Bill as a protest against any further increase of taxation-at;all. -Not the. slightest, reason was' shown \ for this 1 proposed-heavy .addition to the burdens of a section-of the taxpayers'.As we pointed out in our issue: :of 'Thursday-last they:revenue for the', current, year.i seems: likely, t0... break, all. "records'";, and /nothing '.but; .the rankest ..extravagance, will.. prevent the accumulation : of a huge surplus', - 'Wfiafc. : possible justification therefore, can there ; be';"for extorting;.further revenue from the people of the countryi ,It .is amazing' ;that the second, reading of the Bill' should" have been agreed ; to,, 'for' .the 'Govern-; monti' ;',as :'well:'( as, the . Opposition, must . know.. the ' position. Mr. Tayloe, and those who supported him; are to be commended for the determined stand whioh they took up in opposition to the measure.'The terras of Mr, Taylor's amend, ment should have won for it the sup. port of every, member of the House.' Possibly when :the; Bill' gets■<to k its Committee stage a more euectual protest may,,be made..••; ;.' 1 :,

Thk ; Government suffered ' another defeat' on its Estimates : .yesterday. The point • at issue ' was. a '/departure from the Defence ; regulations; Increases.of salary were proposed to be»granted to certain officers despite the faot that those officers had ;not passed v'the prescribed examinations entitling them to' advancement. ■ The Minister' for Defence, in defending the proposed increases, at first treated the matter-jocularly, 'remarking ' in' effect that ..there' were " occasions when •regulations were legitimately .departed" from without -any harm being done.. -He instanced _ a case in point where one of his critics, Me. MAilcoWi-had brpke'n the regulations relating to motor traffic during his recent, visit to Otagb. Members laughed a little at the. sally, but were not to be put off so easily, and' when the division on a "motion to reduce the amount of the item in question was .taken, the Government was beaten by ojie votei. The House ii to be complimented on its action; not. because it is likely ;to.influence the conduct of the Government very, much,. but for the reason : that it affords evidence that there' are some members of the Government following who are awakening to-their responsibilities. For years the Estimates 1 were passed through praotically without alteration and* with the oriticism confined almost entirely to the occupants of the Opposition' benches. Recently this; oriticism has become :hioro general, and although after nearly all of these .outbursts the' "insurgent"'element has been "brought into heel": by the party Whip and been on its good behaviour for some days afterwards, members; who have tasted the. sweets of . free speech and action have realised their power. The rapidly dwindling mana of the Government has encouraged themore independent members of the Ministerial following to exercise a greater freedom and the result must bo beneficial. }

If it had not been made perfectly clear that they were largely due to internal dissensions in the Labour ranks over the relations between unionists and their unions, and unions and their - federations, the recent largo industrial disturbances in Britain might have been'quoted locally as horrible examples of what happens in countries which do not possess Arbitration .Acts like ours, The prominence given to these dis-

putes unfortunately obscures the very good results that aTe obtained through voluntary conciliation. What is being done '. in this way was set out in an interesting report issued on September 6 by the Labour Department of the Board of Trade. The number of permanent Arbitration Boards ;and Joint Coniraittecs known by the Department is 262, and these agencies for concilia-' tion cover; nearly two million workpeople. Me. G. R. Askwith, of the Board of Trade, states that the real value of Conciliation Boards depends on their ability to, prevent strikes rather than on their power to put an end to stoppages or lock-; outs which may have already taken place. The Boards;': have'settled,-no.' fewer than ■ 7508 disputes in : the : past ten years. The. rules; of most of the Boards provide that no. suspension, of work shall be brought about by either-party until the;matter in dispute has been' discussed. Some Boards, in the event of a stoppage of work having Occurred, refuse to consider the disputed question until work has been resumed, while others impose penalties for.', a stbpp age of work, as also for the breach of any award .given by.the Board Or its umpire. In the rules of procedure' of Conciliation Boards provision; is: made to avoid the jdoadlock which arises when -the are equally divided,' i,y : Wsrerice to an outside arbitrator ii:;poihi«ed by the Board of Trade, or a permanent neutral official, or to .an umpire appointed ad hoc, or..else,asf in'some .cases, to three arbitrators with decision by majority. In most of the principal trades; of the United Kingdom joint meetings of representatives of employers afld work-people 1 are now the generally recognised method _ of settling disputes or adjusting ences in regard to question's. whichmight otherwise lead :to-,a cessation of work. |.Our own Arbitration Act pust'go sooner' or later- .The British, experience of voluntary conciliation should . reassure ;-•: '.those '■ few people who,Acraestly, think that there |s -nothing, that can replace the Act-