WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 November 1925, Page 4

WELLINGTON NEWS

TWO TYPES OF WORKERS

(Special to “Guardiftn”.)

WELLINGTON, November 10.

The Wellington Welfare League of which Air C. P. Skerrett, K.C.. is the President has done a lot of very useful work in educating the community, hut particularly in exposing the dangerous doctrines of the Communists to which the. Extreme Labour Party is closely allied. Some go so lar as to as-

sert that there is scarcely any difference between the two organisations. ,wr Skerret in his Presidential address to tin* referred to two types of mind amongst the workers. 'I lie lirst is the extremist who holds the views that there is no possible accommodation between the employer and tlm worker. He preaches the unceasing conflict until Capital is wholly and! entirely eliminated. Me carries on unceasing war by class-labour, strike, limitation of output, go-slow, by stoppages ol all kinds, and irritation tactics to ruin the industries of the country in the hope that lie can destroy the economic conditiosn existing. With this type of man there is no possibility of negotiations. There is another type of mind which we all know and which we all understand. H is that of those workers who desire by combined bargaining to secure the highest price for their services and for their work, who desire to secure satisfactory conditions of employment and who desire to hotter their conditions in life. Such a worker has our complete sympathy, and our complete understanding. It is a legitimate purpose and legitimate use ol trade unions; and the existence of trade unions of all kinds is a necessity, not only to the worker lint to the employer hintself. There is nothing in - this type ol mind which prevents ttseliii negotiations for satisfactory relations between the employer and the worker. That typo of mind is open to reason and conviction. The trouble is that the extreme tvpo of mind has collared Lite management of the Labour Organisations and now controls them. And there Mr Skerrett stops short instead of giving us his deductions front the tcsults of the elections. If there is one thing more than another that "as manifested on November 4th, it "as Mutt, the country would have none ol tile Extreme Labour policy. The country also gave the Government a mandate to protect the type of worker with the moderate mind. The Extremists have the “ usehold ” of the ’Toons, that they they can use them

as they please. The privileges and liberties granted to Fnions of workers are constantly being abused by these Extremists, who, while disclaiming against capitalism, are all the time feathering their own nests. It is the duty of the Government to give legis lative effect to the inundate it has received from the moderate workers, and that is to compel the T.xtronisits to relax their control of the Fnions. The various claws ol the paid secretary should he clipped, and the Secret Hallo) should he made obligatory in most Union affairs. There would he fewer strikes ami stop-work meetings and irritation tactics il l nion atiairs were conducted by the moderate workers, and it should he the aim ol the Government to induce the latter to take a more active interest in the affairs of the Union. The activities of the paid secretary must be placed under more rigid control. The Government owes its majority to the votes of the workers in all electorates, and that was the silent nnpoal of the moderate workers for deliverance from the dominance of tile Extremists.

Til K 15A.\ 1C OK XK\Y ZEALAND. This bank wits the butt of many vicious attack (luring the elections from men who knew nothing of hanking or the Bank ot New Zealand. The history of llie Bank is the history of New Zealand for its inception goes look t" I .'(il. Die li.mk's original shares r, ere £lO. each u'itli a resen'e liftV>ilit.v of £'lo. The whole of the £lO per share was lost and in addition a call of £3 (is sd on the reserve liability was made in 1895 and immediately written oil'. A further call of £•'! its Sd was made in lsl’fi, and still another in dfr_’l. So that the original shareholders paid £2O for their shares of which £.'l (is 8d was entirely wiped out. In 1921 a transfer of a suflieieiit stun from the reserve fund was made to bring the shares up to CIO each, and the shares were divided into C! each and these cost the original shareholders £2 each. In lfll-1 the holders of old shares were given the privilege of taking up new shares at a premium of AOs in the proportion of one new share for every two belli. So that the new .-£(! Ids Id shares cost them £lO. In I 9 2.' 5 an is-

sue was made at par in the proportion of one new share for every three held, and early tin’s year a further issue was made in the proportion of one sharp for every lour held and the money so obtained was lent to the Government for the Advances Office, 'faking all this into consideration an original holder of 1000 shares would have paid £20,000 and for the 50(i shares he received in 101 I le would have paid £OOOO. or £25.000. In 1021 these were converted into 15,000 shares of £1 each. The two subsequent issues of 5000 shares eaeli cost him 20s each or £IO,OOO. Me would now he holding 25,000 shares of £1 each, which would have cost him £.'15,000, or an average of 28s each, and at the present rate of dividend 13.1 per cent, he would he receiving a return of ft 11-21 nor cent, and there were many years when there were no dividends.

LABOUR LAWS. SERIOUS BURDEN ON ORAZTER.S. "In the Rural Workers’ Basic Wage and the 1 lilt, Accommodation Bill we have the lirst fruits of the Labour l’artv in power in this State. These fruits are an indication to the 'small men ' on the land of what may be expected if by some mishap the Labour Early were to win the Federal election .'’ I he above remarks were made bv -Mr •I. M . Allen, general secretary to the Graziers’ Association <says the "Sydney .Morning Herald I bis legislation," he continued, "is tending to impose intolerable burdens on the smaller men, besides penalising ttie larger landholders, if. as was the State Labour Government's intention, all the men on the land were compel lid to pay the rural basic wage and provide accommodation in accordance with the Bill, it would mean that many struggling settlers would he getting less out of their work than their employees. It certainly would make land settlement much more difficult by increasing the burdens of the small men. and very seriously reducing their returns.

"While the State Labour Pnrtv has posed at the general election as the •farmers’ friend.’ its first acts, when returned to power, were to increase the costs of primary production, and make it still more difficult for the small man to carry on. This, too, is being done at a time when the outlook for the wheat harvest is discouraging, and the season generally Is unsatisfactory.”