THE WFLFARE LEAGUE AND THE INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 147, 17 March 1920, Page 8

THE WFLFARE LEAGUE AND THE INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION

.Sir—We have in New Zealand a Prime Minister whose declared' policy is to bring our people together in the common aim of national production. IVO have also a New Zealand Wei fa re League, composed, I understand, of some of our leaders'in the National enterprise, and led by one who is admittedly .unexcelled as an adviser and advocate in (he adjustment of difficulties that arise in that enternrise. This league has offered its s?rvices to the nublic, and asked for nnhli-> support in' the definite and simple policv of letting the light into the practical' operat ; on of industry, with a \iow to tho development of a corporate spirit in our national enterprise: and in furtherance- of this purnose it has suggested that a proposal made by th« New Zealand labour unions should he adopted; namely] that n .national industrial conference, composed of employers and employees in even'industry, should be called 'to determine the principles upon whHi our national enterprise should be conducted. '''■'. The essential question for determination at this conference would obviously be whether we are to continue our. present svstem. under which each is forced to make his first consideration his individual, profit, or are we to adopt the principle of combining our resources in tbe'eommon piiTpos© of national.production so that there mav be more to divid;. At its meeting last night, the Industrial Association dealt with the proposal to hold this national conference, and obviously shirked the responsibility that lies upon it and rill mich bodies to-day. Judging from Press reports of the I..eating, one of the main objections to the proposal was that the sneakers could not see how the public could be adequately represented at ti\> .conference. It is true that in its proposals as published the Welfare T.ea.gue suggested that, tho public (i.e., the consumer)' should bo specially represented at this conference, but both the league and the Industrial Association speakers seem to have overlooked the fact that if employers n.nd employees in all industries are represented it is unnecessary to have special representation for the consumers, because in of each industry the.employers and empiovecs in the other industries, ni"' their.families, are the consumers. Mav I point out that there are only two possible courses whereby the Prime Minister's policy, of bringing us together for the purpose of using our resources to the greatest advantage in national production, may he carried out. One is tho proposed national conference, where the industrial policy can bo laid down by our most trusted experts, and the other is by the arbitrary direction of Parliament: or the Government; which means, of necessity, an inexperienced, and therefore mischievous interfeniico in the practical operation of our enterprise. If such a conference can be brought about the truth will emerge in it that the main cause of social unrest is not the conflict of labour and capital, but the far more wasteful of the different industries and branches of industry with one another. Thoeo employers and ?mploycc: who oppose tho holding of such a. conference or" who fail to help it, must obviously rest under the imputation that they prefer the policy of individual 6elf-intero*t to that of national production.—l am, 0C "' ' F. G. DALZIELL. 11l Tho Terrace. Maroh 1?.