ARBITRATION COURT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 242, 1 July 1918, Page 9

ARBITRATION COURT

OBJECTION TO CONSTITUTION EQUITY AND "PRECEDENT " PROPOSAL BY. TIMBER WORKERS. . ■ 5 ■ ' w^ii"p b ni'H* ° f the Arb »w«o'n' Court the repeal of"he - .IM councils 10 6 B ive " to conciliation The objection to the constitution of the ■S l n «f W li based 1 0,1 , ,J "> allegation that apimst Ihoi workers' representative on the Court-there not only the eniSin f ,rP' esen i at ' vc . l>ut tho President otthe Court, for more than one of the delegate declared tlmt this Judge owing no doubt to his training and associations, had "an unconscious bias"- in JaTonr-.pt the employers' side. The scheme went further than the mere enlargement of the powers of the conciliation councils, for it was suggested that tho councils should have power to call to their assistance groups of experts, who should be able to examine the condition of any industry i n which a .new award IE,^ 1 .,* i"lent fo discover flhtthev in the event of sin increase l.etios'Z ties concerned would have to be raised It was sai.l that at-presout an increase » yee S .wa S invariably follo'ved b„, W? "1 pr,ce i and ' - thie bei "? *>Mn3 in all trades and occupations, there v.ae lnCrC "u e inUle ™ st of Jiving nlnch more than . compensated' for uicroiisoe whwh were giva'i in woe-e. ! •. Another objection to the .Arbitration Umit was that it was too much a court of law, rather Jhnn a court of cnuitv. -In courts of !» judges we-e wont to pay rather more attention to precedent hn to the, statue law, and the Arbitration Court had l>een acting far too much on preee<loiit. The Court in givine a new award paid altogether too much attention to other awards that might Jiave been made in the same industry- in another part of the country/ It might Happen that m some place where there was ;i we.ik union, the members of the ■ union would have to meet in the Conciliation Council their own employers, "ani would, in order not to endahgor th'cir own bread and butter, awept conditions which were not at. all - satisfaoforv to workers in other places, or' even to theirselvos. It was not fair that a- -decision based on such a,, state of 'things should / \ .ho made, a precedent for '.he whole of / \ aew Zealand, but the. present A'bitraI " Uli ' n . si3t . o<l ou tegiwding eucK-a I' «!se -as ii ■ binding - precedent. It was j- «;«) said that the Co/lit had be:ome u.n- ---! (V, - y menn i" giving .incre.-i.ses iii wngns I y\ Jhich were absolutely necessary to enable ! , the workers,to maintain themselves in a ! U reasonable manner in this time- of «x----\i\ f eesssivply high prices. . ..' . 1 \J\ / ' The Hon. W. D. S, AracDonald, in the \ j course of his reply, said that thero was I . ' / already in existence alwly, the Board oi.rrade,' whose duty -it was to see that no .unwarranted increases were made in the--prices of. commodities. ' lie did not lefct to.' tho other, part of the question, leaving that to the Acting Minister \\ of Labour (Hr. Hemes) ,- who was pre- . v , sent. ~' ' ..-..■ -v '■ The Hon. J. A. Hanan said ho was in-' 1 ! wrested in the proposals for it;>e jmprovev ment of the working of. the Arbitration lNk Act. He believed in the principle of arbi<J tration, but ho -was willing to concede that there .was room for improvtmont in the working ofjthe Act. He bad-held the opinion forborne.time that the-posi-tion of President of the Arbitration' . Court should not be made a steppingi stone to the Supreme Court bench. Nor did he think that any man sho.ild hold the appointment foy life, but only for a fixed term. With; regard to wages and "Ifl'icea, it was very difficult in : times .vf prosperity to prevent "-prices .from-, rising when :waged- w.ereVincreasedi • Whether the ■ problem'-'coiiild lie sblvjd-.' by;the .'adoption'i)f fife suggestions: made tie was "Sot prepared to say. His own opinion ■'was that the -cystem of co-operation would have to become more generally recognised as a means of establishing a more satisfactory relationship between employer and pnipluy.i'd. than had existed. As Minister of- Education he was concorned about.. the wages. paid ..to_ young people. He was strongly of opinion that -young people.should obtain the benefits , of technical education in preparation for ekilled trades. But when he found that the wages paid to young people going to i unskilled work were better than those ofi'erinj; t« young people going into a trade, his difficulty wrs u. serious _ one. The result of the,present condition of thing.-i was that far too many boys were going into unskilled and ■ these- boys when they grew to be men were.going to suffer when times of depression came. There was rUo the fact that iu some unskilled occupations higher wages were paid than in skilled trades. These were facts facing him when he was dealing with technical education ' fltieslions. His opinion was f hat the unskilled worker had done better for him ; Bel F than tho skilled worker. Mr. Hiram Hunter: He has done it putside tho Court. There is no , doubt

that ho has been ablo to do it when there is a jjootl organisation such as the waterside .workers have. The Hon. W. H. Hemes said that the' matter affected the general labour policy of the Dominion. The proposal to abolish the Arbitration Court was a startling ono. Before Cabinet could agree to that it would wisli to know whether the change would be desired .by tlio bulk of the Labour people in the . Dominion. In any 'case tho matter was one on which neither he nor any other Minister could givo a direct answer at once. It would have lo bo considered by their colleagues, and also by those engaged in tin* industry.