The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1927. INDUSTRIAL PEACE.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 December 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1927. INDUSTRIAL PEACE.

Reading the daily news brings the striking conclusion that what appears moat desirable in this world is industrial peace. The succession of disputes rolling round the world produces a state of unrest and loss which affects the material welfare, and creates a craving as it were lor industrial peace It is remarkable, says an exchange, how often the indispensable factor of co-operation between Capital and La hour is lost sight of in industrial disputes, and the present movement at Home to promote closer and more amicable relations between the two great forces which dominate the industrial sphere is one of the most encouraging features of recent economic development. The fact that the initial .step towards this end was taken by a number of influential employers and economists—Sir Alfred Mond and Sir Joseph Stamp among others—might have been expected to prejudice—the work era against any such scheme or proposal More especially the Labour organisations might well view with anxiety the progress of a movement that, by encouraging the workers to identify their interests more closely with those of the employers, would tend in the long run to render trade unions superfluous and to supersede them altogether. Yet, in spite of these difficulties, we learn that the General Council of the Trades Union Congress has come to a decision favourable to negotiations on the basis indicated first l>v Sir Alfred Mond and later by Mr Baldwin. The general idea underlying the scheme is an attempt to reconstitute industrial relations no longer as between “master and men.’’ hut as between co-partners jointly concerned for the welfare of their common enterprise, and though details are of necessity still lacking, and any conjecture as to the results of such a discussion must l>e premature, a conference on such lines is clearly' a step in the right direction. Permanent industrial peace is possible only when both parties desire it sincerely and earnestly. In other words, the “will to peace” is just as indispensable for the preservation of peace between the nations. It is therefore ver.v encouraging to note that, at the present juncture. the representatives of even the more militant sections of the workers at Home are evincing a strong desire for conciliation and compromise as against industrial warfare. Mr Frank Hodges, speaking for a large body of miners, said recently that the strike and the look-out are being rapidly superseded, and even Mr Ben Tillett. once the “stormy petrel” of the Labour movement. has declared for “intelligent cooperation’’ and the careful observance of pledges and promises to end “the present industrial chaos.” Opening under such auspices, the proposed conference should speedily secure a large measure of success.