MUTUAL TRUST.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1918, 21 December 1918, Page 4

MUTUAL TRUST.

LABOUR'S “EXEREMIST” LEAD- ■ ■ ~ ' ERS. PLEA FOR A BETTER 'UNDER-' STANDING. Ah appeal for a greater measure ■of mutual trust between employers and employed, with some incidental references to the extremists in the Labour movement, was made by Mr T. Similar A eston, president of the New Zealand .Employers’ Federation, in his address at the annual conference of the federation, at Wellington on Wednesday. More mutual trust, ho said, could only arise from a radical change m the.mental attitude of each individual employer and employee towards each other. No 'scheme which did not produce that result could be permanently effective. The Arbitration Court in New Zealand was at (me time thought to have settled Labour disputes. So long as it could make concessions to workers it was approved by them. When the limit of concessions began to be reached the advocates of direct action look its place. Owing mainly to the exceptional circumstances of the wiir, employers, rather Hum stop industries, had granted concessions that hr peace time they might have ■refused. Even now, however, in some industries, attempts were being made by extremists among their fellows to discredit even 1 heir ’chosen advocates of direct action. At the present, no sooner did a Labour leader begin to inspire Hie smallest feeling of (rust and respect amongst employers than his followers proceeded lo cast him out of oliice. Consequently, unless lie was a man of strong character and great courage, to inainlain himself in power he must constantly stir up f rid ion and strife between employer and employee, and preach, if he docs not practise, Bolshevik doctrines. CERTAINTY OF CONDITIONS WANTED. Mr Weston stated (hat there, must he a certainty of conditions if business was to he done economically and expeditiously conducted. Modern undertakings, he said, ofton required months to complete. Ihi less a'fixity in the price of labour and material existed, coni factors required a large margin to guard a--gainst ilie possibility of a rise in either or both. Constant alterations in tlie scale of wages might stop allogeiiier the initiation of new industries and the development: of old, and in any case inevitably increase their cost. The experience of the ias! four years must have I aught everyone that a. decrease in I he cost fc-f living was what benefited the greater number, and that a rise in j wages operated unequally and henei tiled the few at the expense of the | many. This want of certainly in industrial conditions was one of the factors that resulted in higher prie('S, POINTS FOR MODERATE MEN. ‘TI is cm points like these,” said Mr Weston, “that (he moderate men on |>o|h sides should come together and consul!. Let them study the question closely, and a successful plan for combating lids growing evil can surely be thought out and agreod upon. The story of (lie munition workers in England shows the efficiency of sudr joint action. There, when once the worker gripped I lie importance of a full effort on his par!, and the managers the necessity of fair conditions of life for I lie men, the output increased enormously, and (be problem was solved. It was, however, the joint appreciation of the nature of the positiun by both sides that brought this about. COST OF LIVING AND TDK CFRRENCY. “There is no doubt ilia I the expense of production and distribution of most articles of living can be snbsta.nl iaily decreased, provided both Capital and Labour concentrate their attention on these ponds, and seek I lie aid id' dispassionate students in economics, for whop-, personal wealth has no great attraction. The rapid progress of agricultural science should result i n j the cheapening of food products, and greatly assi-t in this. Some improvement, too, will have to he made in the currency of all nations. Gnu of the important linnneial difficulties to he solved in (lie immediate luture is the fact that the supply of gold is steadily falling short of the coinage requirements of the different nations. A remedy must be perfected to prevent, or at ah' events minimise, (lueluulions in the value of, (he universal medium of exchange. NECESSITY OF CAPITAL, “The mo.-l aeiile danger in .siglq (he two English-speaking nations, the British Empire and the Cniled Stales, have P< .face is the hitter antagonism between .Labour and Capital. This is a mailer even more for the individual than the Slate. Every citizen must do bis part, ami must not evade his personal responsibility. If the worker recognises the necessity for the existence of Capital, and that Labour without its aid Is impotent, if he gives a full and unstinted effort, then the capitalist on Ins part must be fair and generous in his dealings.” ■