THE ARBITHATION ACT

Hokitika Guardian, 21 February 1922, Page 1

THE ARBITHATION ACT

(Mercantile Gazette). - Parliament has closed, and so far tho Government has not remitted a single item of taxation, in fact the burdens ■ ave been increased and whatever economies Mr Massey has been able to make there has been no corresponding lifting of the weights which, like the old pun-ishment-inflicted upon persons charged with a criminal offence who refused to plead to the indictment, are crushing the life out of the people. The session lias been barren of results, no particularly useful legislation hag been passed i nd valuably time lias been lost by the useless and dreary tactics of the Labour party in contesting various sections ' of the Arbitration Act. As propaganda for the next ecction, the results were from their point of view excellent, but tli • Labour’ opposition members wo: merely'fighting the wind, a. fact they know as well as we do. With Mr Mas-.-.ey’s compact body of followers prepared to vote on every occasion as di recited by their cihief, the Lab members had about as much chance of

getting their amendments passed as a worm would leave if it tried tc* stop adescending guillotine blade, falling vertically across its length. Th e amendments proposed by the Labour leader were all negatived and the Arbitration Amendment Act was pass b/ th e Government, the principal clause of which tends to render the awards of the Court less inelastic than they have 1 ct-n which is a considerable step in the right direction, but we think the wording of the principal clause will throw a much greater responsibility upon the Court- than it has hitherto been called upon to bean From the newspaper reports, although the Court has power to review its awards and to vary the rate of wage ! i be paid, the Court- is barred by the Statute from reducing the wage to an an ount which will not maintain the worker in fn.fr comfort. This is ; s evnryon,, would wish it to be, but or o; two questions will come up for decision which we think will be difficult to satisfactorily answer. Tn the case of a named man with five or six children the amount required must necessarily be different to what would he sufficient to adequately maintain in comfort a single man. but assuming some general

principle may be Hound which can conveniently be applied to ~very case, what will occur if employers cannot pay the waste ordered by th<- Court, as is happening now the alternative must he unemployment, as any wage fixed by the Court will be paid by the, employer only for so long as the public will hnv the goods made by him and if the price j required to enable the manufacturer to , pay the wage and leave a profit does j not appeal to the purchaser, the cost must recede or no market will he found.

Mr Hughes in Australia put this quite clearly the other day when he said “goods must he costed at such a. price as will enable them to he sold.” Tn this country it may be said that our manufactories are carried on to supply tbe domestic trade only, and have not to face eomj>etitive foreign markets, and that being so whatever wage is paid may he passed on. But the cheaper goods are, even in our local market, the more fneely will they sell, the more goods which are sold, the greater will We the quantities produced and the larger n.umihe r of workers will be employed, the more capital will be created, which in turn will be reinvested in extending facilities for manufacture, and the greater will he the demand for labour. Reverse the process and the result will be increased cost, few buyers, stagnation of trade, and unemployment. In Australia, they Have lately had some experience of the effect which high labour costs have upon trade. The Dutch Government wanted largo stocks of coal for Java. Singapore was also in the market for many thousands of tons. Both Governments asked for prices in Cardiff and in Australia, the tender j from the Commonwealth was 50s per ton c.i.f. Surabaya and Singapore, but Cardiff offered to deliver best Welsh at 405., and of course received the order; Australia, although only four teen or fifteen days steam distant from the delivery ports, could not, by reason of high labour costs, compete against sellers who had twice the distance

and more to carry their coal. Wo said months ago in these columns in speaking about the attitude of our own coal miners, that it would not be long before. 'English coal could be landed in New Zoaand ports at 4Us. and wo believe a contract could be arranged on that lias is to-day. M r Holland when he interrogated the Premier last week as to whether New Zealand intended sending coa| tc Australia should a minors’ strike develop there in the near future, wae evidently not aware of the fact that it would not; be this country to which Australia, would look for relief in the «vent of a coal famine from any cause, as others could supply at half the price wo should want. mri t ■■■■■■■■ i—a—i