TIMBER INDUSTRY
RECENT RESTRICTIONS mi. ■ -' : .' ... Ai':?EAL BY THE WORKERS i l ■ -r, . . r ■ , ' OTHER LABOUR QUESTIONS ; Representatives of tlie Timber Workers' .Federaf,ion who have beon in conference jn, Wellington recently put before Ministers, of the Crown curtain proposals ■fi\jm the "conference yesterday. The Ministers present were Sir James Allen, the Hon. W.; H. Herries, and the Hon. W J). ,S. MacD.onald. '' . Mr; Hiram Hunter mentioned first of ■oil . the hours of labour fixed- by the 1 Shops, and' Offices Act,;'. When the timber ivorjcera.aslcai for a, reduction [of hours of'.work .they wero met with the barrier that' thq hours under, the Shops.and Offices Act wer? 52 .per ;week. In-this Viay the Aot-camo iiito conflict with tho nsjurations of .workers' unions, 'and the request was that; the Government should take into .'consideration' the. reduction of tho hours from 52 ,to. M per. week, or if M:ero impossible, at least to 48 hours Xjey, week. As, a. means of reducing the .f'cdt.of living,.'the confewnce asked that tiio .State shoiiUt take' over all banking Operations,. the coal industry, and' shipping., .The- timber workers wore brought .unto touoh'frequently, with Insurance mat-, tors. There was no provision to compel an..employe!:, to insure his workers, and workers ran risk of not' getting compensa- .• tion. due. It. was '.asked that".insu'rancß should 'be "'iriade' compulsory,' and that all insunanco should,'in oixler to reduce premium.cost, be mado a.State monopoly. Another request wns that there should be restriction on the importation of mads • sashes and '.dooTs, and, indeed, on all ■ Oregon timber exoept in big'sizes;'. ''' Mr. T. O'Boirne referred to the restrictions imposed by the Government on exportation' of beech"or birch .timber..by the imposition of royalties, formerly not charged because the timber was not. considered to be of value. The result of the royalties was to penalise peoplewho:bad Invested; a great :deal -of money in-the milling of .this timber. Compensation for Accidents. •' He went'on to refer to the .schedules .of; ' the Compensation Act, asking for amendments to provide jfqr improved compenea- . tion in certain.cases.,- He urged also that -compensation/, should .include...'. full medioal expenses- and full pay during the whole time of-an injured, worker's inca".pacity. They..asked .also,, for the; increase of cqnmpen6atiori -in .the, case of' • the death of the worker from XSOO to ■ iiIOOO. Mr. O'Beirne ;"eaid .that certain 'restrictions .had been imposed on, the Tirices of timber. If this were to apply ■to the' timber industry it fhould apply to all farm produco as. well. • A "Bank:te-Bank" Clause. - ." Mr. F. Turley made a proposal for an .'cight-hoTira'; .dhv for sawmill workers, ' ''mill to ..'mill,'' oii'the samo'principle ns the bonk-to-bank rule' for miners. The request 'applied to.the b'ushmen, who . often had to travel''very:-long distances to and from irorkj. making- thoir total ' time away from homo ten' and twelvo .hours peri day.; He asked for all amend.ment of the Shops and Offices Aot to prevent boys under the age' of sixteen years being employed at the arduous • work of sawmilling. Ho told of a lad of .thirteen years at work in' : a sairinill. Tho conference asked , for - the -appointment ,of a: competent ; inan ■to inspect tramways,' bridges, and: tho of timber. Accidents had already happened recently, and unless there was inspection more accidents would occur in future.; • - : Mr. also pressed for inspection of tramways and bridges, and he urged that there should: generally be more rigid inspection of machinery in hush sawmills, and more rigid inspection to enforce observance of awards.- There should- be surprise visits of .these in-. ,' spectors; Legislation was asked to permit of the Government, as the owner of sawmills, being cited as party to an award. Ho urged that while there might! be reason: for refusing: to railway ' servants,'who'had special privileges,,tho '-;.Kght' ! to -appeal'?ttf"the Conft; no such • jbasoh existed as applying to employees in State 6awmiUs. for these' employees ''hai* no such, privileges. He impressed unoli'the Government 'he gravity of the . 'nctitms taken,- and. it was ' understood, about to be taken, in'restricting the 'tim- ■ ber industry. - The workers were' even more vitally concerned than' the employers. Unfortunately workers did not ';frr.ow what was being done, and thfy /.hsked that in future they be consulted ii •• "sese matters. • ti . asked for legislation -to al' ' "de for better accommodation for
-iiH workers at bush sawmills with div • "conveniences as baths and drying, a" iis. He asked also for efficient health
',-jflection of living quarters and sani"„'siy arrangements ■at sawmill settle--I'ients. It could not any longer be said '' hat bush sawmills were- not permanent enough to justify expense on aCcommoda- ■ tion. Tho life of a sawmill on the West Const was-from 20 to 40 years. Mr. J. Reid asked for moro strict en- ' forcemeat of the Inspection of JTachinery Act. The employers in the cify had been, fined 10s. each' foj; employing" non. . certificated inen. . If n-'poor, unfortunato Labour man had been brought up for '■breach, of the. War Regulations lie would probably have "got two years." • ,• . Working Hours and Output, '
Sir James Allen,'replying, said that the matters that bad been represented by the deputation • were of extreme importance. ' Most of them would.require consideration from the individual mem. bora of tho Government concerned, and some of them consideration bv tho full Cabinet Mi the ■•-return of Mr.- Massoy and Sir Joseph Ward. For his part he could do no more than to offer a few general lolttervations on some of the •questions that had been raised:-. One these was the proposal to reduce -the hours of work-in'sawmills.- This nuestion should be considered always with some regard to output from. an industry.- It was true, as had been con tended, that it was possible-to reduce hours of work to a degree without decreasing output, -but there was certninlv a limit,,in- the
process, and beyond this limit iu the ( reduction.of.hours it would boimpos- ' Bible to go without decrewing outnut., He would not say what that limit might be. Mr. Phelan: Say fortv hours a week. Sir James Allen declined to express an opinion, but he said that the question of maintaining outnut was one of- tlm gravast .concern; and- must be considered by Parliament and Cabinet in. discussion of . this question of reducing hours of -work. . .Socialism' and Cost of Living. • As to flic further suggestion that had been made,for tb».reduction of the cost of living by tho Government taking over •the banks, the coal industry, and shipt ping, theso wer'o very big proposals on which it would be quito impossible for him to-give conclusive answers. He did . riot think, however, flint if. the Goveru- . ment took over tho. banks there ivou.M be $ru.ch -relief to the workers in reduced crvst of livin". On. .tho. motion .of Sfote ownership of coalmines, he referred the .• deputation to the renort on tho coal, industry hv the Board of Trade, associated,for the purposes of tho inquiry, 'with Dr.Tlight. The board had not recommended that the State should tako ovor . the < mines ; absolutely. . expressing ' the - opinion that' it,' would still bo. ''for. tho ■ good.of the country and of tho .industry • to have private resources utilised. The Tward had-recommended'a sort, .of nationalised eo'itrol. As'-o'wh»ther'tho re- . port would bo adopted by the Govern--ment ho could give no information. That , jnolfnr w"ld lii.ro f"> '!;e cn-"ndni'ed by Cabinet when the absent 'Ministers 'returned. So also with . regard . to the "a. tionnlisation of shipping, ho could givo no answer, extent to express his own personal opinion that tl'er? was nrohnhlv room for some of the Departments most intimately concerned to have ■'ships of their .own for their ,own services. lie admitted that the fact of there* lieirig no compulsory insurance might lead to lmrd. ship in the enso of a'worker injured in the einplov of a. man who was wifhou! assets. Thi= was a mutter to whi»h no doubt tho Minisler of labour would give attention. He was unable In say whetliT the making of insurance a State monopoly Would . rcdueo the premium cost by 50 per cent. Ho suspected • that it, .ivould not. He believed that it was .right for tho State to comnete with private 'firms in insurance, and so by competition ensure that tho rates to bo. charged would
not he too high, but, on the othor. hand, it might be a good thing for the 'State' to liavo the competition in order that the business might bo well done. He hod been rnthcr surprised to hear members .of . tho . deputation -'cite . Queensland as an ' example to l>o . followed in these ' socialistic, means . of .'.reducing, the,', cost . of . living, for his information was that nowhero in. tho .Commonwealth' had the increase in. the.cost.of living been so heavy as ia'Queenslnnd. A shocking increase had occurred .there,. far moro than. in.' Victoria or , any .other State of. Australia, nnd .in no State in the Commonwealth had' the. increase-been- less than in Now Zealand. ' ' ' ' Mr. Pholiiri said that part of tho. causs of this, was. that Queensland. had' been hampered, by strikes in recent.years.. Sir ,James Allen: Why. should they have strikes when they l have a Labour -Government in power? • ' . . ; Mr, They can't alter the con-, ditions in a. year 'or twu. . 'Restrictions on Timber Industry,' . Sir James Allen -.referred', also to the restrictions. imposed;'.on tho. timber mdua- . try. recently,, saying: that tUesp^'restrictions. were .imposed only after the .fullest consiflpratio.n had'.beeli given to tlie.quw .tionV-.. The tioyermjieut ' had had. ,to iriate. tho choice lis t'p. whether it ivould allow, all. the timber .to bp used,now, or whether..it would, insist on some .of. it being.coriserved in order that Wore; all our,present supplies.should be exhausted W3 .'might .liavo .timet to' plant more Umbel -trees for. our, future requirements. Sir Francis.-Bell had gono. -to - the; AVe 36 Const .to. investigate' certain complaints that had come from', that, district as tu tho effect of the regulations. Tho Minister promised that all the. other matters. with none of- which was ho concerned as Minister in charge of the Department 'responsible,'would bo referred fa the Ministers concerned. " He: mentioned specially : the'reqtfests that tliero should ba inspection: of tramways and bridges'pn''6awniill properties and that .there-should' bo mote efficient health"in-spectibh-r of eaSvm'iil townships. Worker and. Employer. ... He ma'de;:nn appeal to the members of tho' deputation "that they, should refrain ' from saying- 'things likely to create ■ subpicion- 'as ■ omployer and - employee. ' It had Men' complained' that ' whereis an employer bad been'fined :only ' teii shillings for a' breach of the Inspec-tion'-'of; Machinery Act,; :■» frorker ;.would have been" sent to'gaol', for-an offence 'against the''War Regulations.'.. The ellecl 'of ii statement of 'ythat sort was'to-sug-gest tha't'-there was'partiality in"the -dispensation of justice'. in New .-Zealand. That, in his opinion, 'did not occur in' this country, and' to suggest that it did occur''was. likely to keep up the hostility betwen employers and employees, at: ft time when everybody concerned ought to .be'..trying to' : remove'• this hostility. It might yet be possible 'one day' to get .the'two parties together, to try to devise some better means for 'the regulation' of industry, buit it would be'difficult to got '.the parties to come together if one of the parties' persisted in on attitude of hostility?; Ho thought he could 1 say that oil .the members of. tho present Government would be glad, oven before they vacated office, to do'something to bring about better .relations between workers ' and era- ! ployets. It would be very difficult to- do, end. it could never be done- at all unless both sides took up an attitudo of friendliiies?, with' an earnest 'desire to''-tiring about a., better state of things, 'From this point of view it would be wise to refrain from making such statements as that to which he had referred. ..' Mr.'Read: Facts 'are facts. \ " , Mr. Herries: No worker ever got two yeaira'for .'breach of tho Inspection 'cf Machinery; Act. ' '\ -.M> ; Beads-'.Thejr got two years for breach of regulations which' were liot even laws,' ivhioh were never passed by .Parliament. .Mr. Hunter: Workers have got 'two years for saying far less than was Said .by Mr. Field the other .'daft' f •• -, . Sir James. Allen said thai the workers who had .been sentenced (o two years' imprisonment had been before the Courts and they had had fair trial. Mr. Field had not been before the Court and,it was not for him to say whether Mr. Field ought.'to go before the Court- Mr. Field had written a letter riming to what he had; said, and that letter ought to be tnkep in.to.;CQnsi.deration along ,wit:li-the (other. letter .which ' made the charges Against "Him." v • Why Government Acted.
The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald devoted 'a considerable ainouint of attention to justification of the policy of tho Government in making certain restrictions oil the timber trade. He said that Ilia restrictions had been imposed on ly after the Government had gone very carefully into the question. All the timber that we had in New Zealand was required in Now Zealand, but tho ooniaiid from Aus* tralia was so strong that it threatened to tako the whole of tho New Zijuknd production, and the position was coming when tho trado and the market would have been controlled from Australia'arid not; from New Zealand. The restrictions were drastic ,to an extent, hut lie did not think that the effect of them would be to cause anybody in the industry to sufter _ loss. During the . war building operations m this country had beeu practically at a standstill, but this position would not, remain .for'.long, and with the increased local demand ■ what could bo expscted die industry would be kept going at its present rate of production. Ev6ry 'one of these matters liad bequ gone into very carefully, but the strong point which-had most influenced tho Government' had been the knowledge thai syndicates were buying up huge tracts of forest country to work timber for export to-Australia. This"was not.going to be for the benefit of the workers in the industry, or' for tho good of the general population of the country. Tim effect would ha Ye been that tho timber would-have gone'to Australia, leaving the people in Now Zealand to pay doublt, or treble' what they ought to pay fot timber required for' their own purposes. These-were tho matters which convinced the • Government that, the time had arrived when in the interests of the people the timber resources of the country should be preservod. No unfair or unreasonable restrictions would be imposed,
Legislation. Due. In v -regard to the coiDjjlaint that had been made about the Workers* Compensation Act, he thought the inembsra-ot ■the, 'Government realised the need fothaving this and other legislation brought up to' date. But during the past four years there had been no opportunities foi- •: bringing .down amending legislation ot this character. He hoped that these matters' would be dealt with in tho coming session of Parliament. Mr. Turley said that although there were complaints of exploitation in. the timber industry the fact was that tho exploitation was not being done by the millers; He knew that -certain classes of timber were shipped f.o.b. at Greymouth for from lis. to lGs, a hundred feet, Tint that the pcoplo who bought that timber in Wellington had to pay 15s. a, hundred feet for itv . Mr. Mac Donald said that the Board of' Trade was going into this matter,- ami •if it should bo found that there was exploitation there would have 'to be a fixed price' for every .class of. timber.. Already there. was a fixed price to the ■miller, but he did not know what happened when the timber got into: tho hands of the retailors. .Labour Department. • .Tho Hon: -W. H. Herries said that amendments in tho Shops and Offices Act, the ' Workers' Compensation Act, and the factories Act had-been on the stocks for 6omo timo,' and ho understood that tho Bills,'when they came down, would 'bo found to bo quite satisfactory to tho workers. Theso Bills had beoii prepared' during the past two years; and in that time there had been no opportunity of introducing them into Parliament. In due course, when theso' Bills came to bo introduced they would bo ■ referred to'the Labour Bills Committee, and the workers interested Would have opportunities of bringing ovideneo before the committee. Tho only other question affecting him as Minister of Labour was that made in the proposal that rawmill ■•workers- in 'the employ of the State should be given' the right to cite the Government before tho Arbitration Court, His personal inclination was to give this right, but-ho had no idea what opinion his "colleagues held on the point. He •had already olfered the right to members of the Railways Service, but hitherto they had iilways refused it. On tho question raised lie woilld oohsult his' officials to. see whether (hero were any reasons .against doing what was proposed. If there should be no objection, provision
would be made for giving the right to workers in State mills to appeal to the Arbitration Courts He believed that in the State mills it was the custom, to pay the award rates. At any rate this liaii always been the instruction.
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 237, 1 July 1919, Page 9
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2,836TIMBER INDUSTRY Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 237, 1 July 1919, Page 9
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