A WELCOME MOVE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 166, 8 April 1919, Page 6

A WELCOME MOVE

A declaration which may constitute a milestone in the industrial history of the Dominion has just been made by the National Executive of the Federation of Labour. The time is opportune,, it states, "for a national industrial conference to be held, representative of employers and workers, at which the whole position of industry "in New Zealand could be discussed and proposals formulated on many important matters, including wages, upon which, up to the present, ' the opinions of those engaged have not been ascertained, and we ask the Government to call such»a' conference ab , early as possible." This is the most definite proposal of its kind which has yet conic from tho Labour camp. It will be renumber-' ed that not long ago Mr. T. StiAiiiEß Weston, speaking as president of the New Zealand Employers' Federation at the annual conference of that body, made general overtures to Labour and appealed for butter and more amicable relations. Tlvrc should be no fear, therefore, that tho proposal now advanced by the Federation of Labour executive will fall on deaf ears or be slighted. It is the plain duty of the Government to take prompt measures to convene the suggested conference, for undoubtedly it is in the interests of the whole population that workers and employers throughout the Dominion should bo brought into more harmonious relations. The importance of the Federation proposal is measured by the fact that the supreme difficulty hitherto has been to induce the parties in industry to meet in an amicable snirit. If they now find it possible to meet and negotiate on a friendly basis, jointly making industrial efficiency and social betterment their objectives, great benefits will unquestionably result. The time certainly is opportune to convene such a Parliament of industry. The whole country is sick to death of industrial strife and ferment and of the "loss and hardship they occasion, and now tluit them arc enormous war burdens to be carried these disabilities will be heavily intensified, particularly as thev beer upon the wage-earning population, unless a way of escape and of ap pvoach to better things is found in tho rational 00-onwatiori of the partics engaged in industry.