AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 January 1928, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

(By Telegraph—l’er Press Association. AUSTKALIAN A BOIUG INALS. (Received this day at 10.10 a.m.) SYDNEY, Jan. 24. According to a return issued by the Commonwealth bureau of census, the numlK-r of full-blooded Aboriginals last year was 59,915 compared with 59,290 in 1920, but in 1925 the number was 62,394. The figures relating to halfcastes point to a steady increase in their number averaging about a thousand yearly, the number Inst year being 15,45.3. About ten thousand lullblooded natives are in European employ. There are upwards of four thousand lmif-rnstes in Queensland. There is a marked tendency to gather Aborigines into Government mission stations. Only about fourteen per cent lead nomadic lives.

FEDERAL RECOGNITION R REUSED. MELBOURNE. Jan. 24. In pursuance of their intention to place before the Federal authorities ■their plans for the llight from Australia to New Zealand Messrs Moody and Jolley interviewed Mr Brinsnicad who later made a statement that the attitude of the Ministry towards the proposed flight had si ready been clearly expressed “I have indicated to Messrs Moody and Jolley that no Departmental facilities will he placed at the disposal of any person who proposes to organise a long oversea flight in an aeroplane, designed specially for land Hying. Knowing the particular machine which Moody and Jolley propose to use for this purpose, the authorities will not recognise it in any manner whatsoever. The use of Government aerodromes for the proposed llight will he refused.

LABOUR DELEGATE. MELBOURNE. Jan. 24. As a result of a ballot among Trades and Labour Councils ol Australia to select delegates to represent Australian workers a', the International Labour Conference lo be held at Geneva in May. the name of A. Walker, of Adelaide, will lie submitted to the Federal Ministry. ARBITRATION COFRT. M FLIIOI'ENE, Jan. 21. Explaining the system of compulsory arlii Ira I ion in New Zealand. I’mlessor Tocker, of Canterbury College, in an address to the members ol the Victorian Chamber of Manufacturers, expressed the opinion that the system had failed to do. the things which It had been created to do. lie advocated a return to collective bargaining between employers and employees. Industry in a young country should lie llexible and adjust incuts mutually satisfactory' to employers and employees. ** ft should he made to suit conditions in particular branches ol industry. ’ continued Rrolessor locker. “The Arbitration Court is a piece ot legal machinery set up lictwceii the parties in industry, which prevents their coming together, and torees them both to organise for contention, rather than for conciliation I’rolessor Tocker said in New Zealand compulsory a: bit ration was introduced tliiity years ago. primarily with the object of ensuring industrial peace. 11l that it had failed, especial!'.* in recent years. From 1921 until this year-strikes had become increasingly common and the Court had developed along lines never intended, and its effects had never been fully considered. While the scope of tho Court’s investigations was limited to the conditions of only about one-fourth of the wage earners of the community*, it made awards which were binding over a lar largei field. It bad a proton.id iniiuom ■* "ii other imlnm.- ami lb' minimum age fixed b.v the (.null became, in almost every case. tin*

standard wage. No increase was provided for skill or productivity. No allowance was made for human variability. Disputes were frequently created to give the Court work to do. Industry was hound in a strait jacket. which prevented experiments, decreasing production and increasing s '| lic burden arising out ol tlnsystem ultimately fell upon the shoulders of consumers and on unsheltered primary industries.