The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1927. A FUTILE LABOUR MISSION.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 June 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1927. A FUTILE LABOUR MISSION.

The investigations into industrial conditions in the United States conducted l>y the. body of Australian delegates di'spa tehed to America some months ago have not yet l>een concluded, hut there seems to lie very little hope, comments the Auckland Star, of securing anything of real value to the Com nionwealth from their report. The statements of Mr H. 0. Ada 111, 01X9 Of the journalists with the mission, are most interesting. In the first place, H "as arranged that the mission should consist of four representatives C Australian employers and four representatives of the wage-earners. Trouble began at once, the Labour extremists desiring to include Mr Jock Garden, the notorious Communist, and the Unions refusing to nominate members on the lines suggested by the Government. The Federal authorities then nominated four delegates from the unions, and the Labour party promptly expelled those delegates who accepted the Government’s invitation. The Government then attached to the mission two journalists representing two newspaper syndicates, which paid their expenses, on the understanding that these pressmen were to be members of the mission and receive all possible facilities for securing information. But long l>efore the mission reached America discord became painfully apparent. Though the Government bad decided that it was not desirable for the mission to be controlled by a chairman, the mission decided not only to have

a chairman, but to elect, a new chairman every week, with the natural Jesuit that no one ever had any permanent authority. Mr Adam admits that the confusion which I‘esulted was not wholly the mission's fault, as ‘‘it was sent away in a hilri'y, without a proper itinerary, without knowing what, it had to do. and without any plans.” However, the climax of this “very badly mismanaged muddle*’ was reached when the mission, resenting the fact that reports of their activities had <tlrendy been published in the Australian papers, passed a resolution excluding the pressmen from all meetings l<>tweon the delegates and eiTiier employers or employees. The journalists attached to the mission naturally resented this action, and Mr Adam withdrew. But his withdrawal "does not. seem to have improved matters. Recent cable messages show that., i

might have been expected, the party is divided into two distinct political camps, and there is also disunion among the Labour representatives, tinder these circumstances it is not to he expected that the' findings of the mission will he anything like unanimous, or that the report will contain much of real value to the Government or the people of Australia. However, a great deal of very interesting information has been already Circulated by the Press representatives attached to the mission, and Mr Adam has himself reached conclusions by no means complimentary to American industrial conditions. Wages are high in the United States, hut the cost- of living is excessive, and the “real wage” of the American worker is generally lower than tlie Australian rate of pay. Outside of a few favoured industries there is no effective Labour organisation, and the workers, being largely at the mercy of their employers, have accepted piece work, bonus systems, and “speeding up” as inevitable features of industrial life. But Mr Adam maintains, with much force and truth, that such conditions are alien from the Australian workers’ conception of well-being.