The Dominion. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1913. THE ARBITRATION ACT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1664, 3 February 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1913. THE ARBITRATION ACT.

Tub only Opposition commont upon Mr. Massey's handling of Friday's deputation that we havo seen will probably strike Mil. Massey as pleasingly significant.. This is tho comment of_ a southern journal, which has little to say excepting that Mn. Sejiple's request for an inquiry into the affairs at Waihi is a reasonable one. It is surely presuming a little too much upon the intelligence of even tho anti-lleform public to suggest, as the newspaper referred to docs suggest, that the atrocities committed by the strikers were not rnado perfectly plain during the prosecutions. Wo suggested ourselves that it might not be a bad thing to hold an inquiry— not bccause it is neccssary, but becauso it would again expose the wholly undesirable qualities of the Federaton. The point we wish to make, however, is that Mb. Massey can foci satisfied that ho handled tho deputation admirably, for if, by mis-

representation or innuendo, his critics could have found something in him to blame they would certainly have done so. In the meantime something requires to be said concerning the deputation's criticisms of tho working of tho Arbitration Act and its suggested amendments to that measure. The main demand of the Federation was for such an amendment of the Act as would enable a union, by cancelling its registration, to prevent the establishment of any other union of workers in the same 1 trade in that district. Mr. Tregear advanced some very strange arguments in support of this objectionable proposal. The Act in its original form, he said, had "shown a respect for the liberty of tho subject" : "a union would be able to como under the Act or stay outside." In or-der-to restore this lost "liberty of the subject," he proposed that tho law should be so amended as to take away, in some cases, from those Workers who do not support the Federation; their existing liberty to form a union of their own ! Of all tho methods 'of restoring liberty, this one of destroying any remaining vestiges of it, is surely the. oddest that we can expect even from Mr. Tregear.' He was not alone, however, in finding that his case involved him in incautious paradoxes. . Mr. Semple, : for example, who with his fellow officials of the Federation, has supplied the shining example of a small group seeking to control the general body of workingmen, v complained that "fifteen men should not have power to control the industrial destinies of four or five thousand." A possible case under the Act if it were amended in tho desired direction would be ■ the-formation of a small union by Federationists-and % an early cancellation of if. In that case it might bo within the power of fifteen Fcdcrationists to deny to. any number of workers in that trade the right to Organise as a union under the Act. , • But on the simplest grounds the Federation's demand is untenable, Fifteen men should certainly not have the right to "control the industrial destinies" of a great majority. Mere freedbm for the anti-Arbitra-tionista, however, is not . what the Federation is' demanding. It does not want equal treatment and equal opportunities for all :' it wants freedom for its own followers, but it will not allow an equal freedom to those who'prefer to remain under tho Act. That-is' a demand which cannot be justified on its merits, and it is small winder, that the speakers on Friday's deputation were led into absurdities where they deviated from violent rhetoric. A union may be duly registered under tho Act, but it will Bo described as a "bogus union" if it is "opposed to, interests of a majority of men in the industry," or, in other words, if the Federation of Labour objects to a registered union in (that district. We are not unaware of the difficulties of tho situation, but of one thing we can entertain no doubt: that it should not bo within the power of anybody, while; tho Arbitration Act remains on the Statute Book, to prevent the' registration of a union which satisfies all the requirements of the law and which can establish iti'bona jideL This is a right which must be safeguarded, so long, as the Act remains. ' If the preservation of'! this right! leads to anomalous situations, thero are only two remedies which can bo tolerated. One of these is the complete abolition of the Arbitration, Act; and the other is to tighten' up the law so as to compel, all; trade unions to register -under the Act. Wo shall be told that neither of these remedies can for tho present be applied, but either one W the other is essential to justice. We. trust that, in tho meantime, tho Government will nofcomplicate tho already ■ defective and anomalous Act with such a piece of tyranny as the amendment asked for by the Federation., . 1