THE IRON TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1402, 30 March 1912, Page 8

THE IRON TRADE.

DOMINION CONFERENCE

' ARBITRATION ACT CRITICISED. The Now Zealand Ironmasters' Association concluded its conference in Christchurch on Thursday, and tho Wellington delegates returned yesterday morning. Mr. H. F. Allen (secretary to the association) supplied 11 Dominion' reporter yesterday with a resume, of what took place. Mr. A. Burt, who presided, delivered an address brielly reviewing the slato of the iron industry in New Zealand. It was stated during the conference • that trado had been slacker during the past year than it. was Ihe year previously. There had been a slight lillip in Dunedin, where a firm had built the new Government .steamer Earnslaw for liake Wakatipu, and had carried out extensive repairs to the steamer Knight of the Garter—ono ot tho biggest jobs in repair work done south of tho Line. Ono thing that tho conference had resented was that certain local bodies had imported pumps from England which could have been made and supplied at a, lower cost in New Zealand. It was stated that there had been no material change in tho making of this particular class ot pump for a decade, and any engineer who could not make the article which had been imported was not a tradesman. Tariff Revision. In. the course of a discussion on tariff revision, the delegates expressed the hopo that Parliament would not "go cold" on what Sir Joseph Ward had promised a deputation of ironmasters last year, when he stated that if he came back to power he would introduce a Customs TaiJiT Eeform Bill. With the present demands for higher wages ami less hours, it was even more urgent that the industry should' be adequately protected, if only for the reason that'the wages employers were compelled to pay was the scaly set up by law. "Trailed in the Dust," The conference decided that a remit should bo forwarded to tho Employers' Federation Conference asking that an endeavour be made to have tho Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, so amended, as to ..bear equally on all parties. It was pointed out with a gcod deal of force that employers had now to combat demands made through tho medium of tho Arbitration Court and strikes. It was considered by many delegates that the Act had become a farce. There was a law against strikes, and workers should not be allowed to break that law without paying tho full penalty, and that tho, authorities should not permit the Act to be trailed in the dust as was the case. At present there were influences at work ill plenty to protect the worker, but none to protect the employer. There were really two forces at work—the "Anarchists," who wanted as much; as possible for as little exertion as possible, and thoso who wanted work' propcrlyicarried out—to honestly work up to their normal capacity.:. One delegate suggested that it would bo quite a fair thing, on,a union being -registered, to deposit a fixed sum to be held by tho Government in trust as a guarantee that its members would observe the law under which the union was constituted. It was the opinion of the conference that someone other than a Supremo Court Judge Bhould be appointed President of tho Arbitration Court. A Wellington delegate said that such a Court did not require a Judge, whose training led him to look for quaint legal points, and to listen to long arguments, on mere quibbles, but a man with plenty.of common sense and business knowledge, who would place equity before the law. Strike Ballot Should be Secret. Recent strikes came under consideration at ono stage of the proceedings. The conference was of opinion that if a union decided to take a ballot of its members as to whether a strike should be declared, that it should be made a secret ballot compulsorilv. A man could by secret ballot express himself honestly without suffering for his opinion, but whe'ri'ifcame ton' show of hands at « meeting hiahy workers, were swayed by agitators, and tho position they created into voting against their honest convictions. Sharp exception was taken to tho largo number of exemptions from Arbitration Court .awards asked for and granted to big firms who employed workers in iron. This pressed hard upon some of the nonexempted employers, because the others in some cases gave tho men what they asked, and being in tho position to pass the cost on to the' public by reason of the monopolistic character of their businesses, so forced up the rates of pay almost to tho breaking point. During tho conference Mr. A. Werner (Christchurch) read a very interesting paper on "Apprenticeship in Skilled Trades," and Mr. J. Keir'(managing director of Messrs. P. and D. Duncan, Ltd.) read a paper on "Some Labour-saving Appliances in Blacksmiths' Shops.". ' The election of officers resulted- as follows—President, Mr. W. Cable, of Wellington; vice-presidents, Messrs. Se'agar. (Auckland), J. B. Laureuson (Christchurch), and M'Gregor (Dunedin); executive council, members of tho Wellington branch of the New Zealand Association.

It was decided that tlio next conference should be held in Wellington during February next.