AUSTRALIA'S ARBITRATION BILL. Kicking the Non=Unionist.

Free Lance, Volume IV, Issue 209, 2 July 1904, Page 6

AUSTRALIA'S ARBITRATION BILL. Kicking the Non= Unionist.

THE Federal Labour Government, following New Zealand's footsteps, have framed an Arbitration Bill, which goes one better than New Zealand in that it includes a clause that, if passed into law, will give preference to unionists. That is to say, the non-union-Ist will have to regard himself as an extremely lucky individual to get a job It won't matter m the least if the non-unionist is a better man than the unionist. He will have to sing very small indeed. • * * Australia, which, above everything else, wants to develop along industrial lines, is going to take the opportunity, if possible, of reducing the skill of all its workers to one dead level of excellence or otherwise. Any Bill giving preference of employment to unionists, puts it m the power of the Court to say, not "Are you a better worker than your non-unionist brother 1 ?" but "You are a better man merely because you are a unionist. ' » • • Unions have done good service for Australia and New Zealand working men, but the unionist has, unfortunately, come to regard himself as the salt of the earth and the only person that has any right to live. The fact that a man oelongs to a union doesn't m the least prove that he is a competent tradesman. Indeed, xn many cases it has been shown that incompetents base their claims to a job on the fact of their connection with SO' considerable a force in industrial life. * * * Mr. George Reid, in dealing with the preference to unionists clause, stigmatised it as intolerance of the worst kind, which would induce in-

dustrial warfare among the workers. Go back a few years, if you will. Take 1894, when unionist and nonunionist shearers' fought hand-to-hand. A non-unionist who dared to work was a "scab" and a "black-leg." He may have been as good a shearer as the lordly unionist, but he isn't gomg to get a job if that Australian Arbitration Bill is passed ; at least, if there is a unionist, competent or not, who wants work. • • • Such a clause merely denies a man the privilege of having a mind of his own. He must endorse the doctrine of the unionist, or starve. He is to be as surely called "scab" and "black-leg" by the Government of a "free' country as he was by the unionists v\ ho burnt non-union shearing sheds, and even steamers carrying "scabs," m the bad days not so long ago. We know of men in this city of Wellington whose best employees are non-unionists, and who give them wages m excess of those required by the award in the Arbitration Court • » ♦ As a matter of fact, the best worker doesn't have to shelter behind anything, provided he has learnt his trade, and is a capable exponent. A clause such as the one which was carried by a majority of two m the Federal House shoves the non-union-Ist into a lower social scale, because he has sturdy independence enough to assert that his ability shall be the basis on which his employer shall gauge his worth He is possibly to be coerced into unionism against his will If he has been a worker whose work is worth more to himself and his employer than the work of his unionist mates, he is told that such excellence is antagonistic to unionism, and it becomes unnecessary for him to attain a high standard of proficiency. • * * The Commonwealth Premier conceives this clause to be the "heart" of the Bill Its inclusion would be, to say the least, absolutely heartless 1 , for, to use Mr. George Reids words, it is an "attempt to thrust the nonunionist into the gutter." Of course, the contention of the unionist is that he, by combination, has raised wages, m the benefits of which the non-unionist joins without paying anything for the privilege. The unionist should always remember that the non-unionist, who is not now to share m the inestimable benefits only conserved to> the unionist, has to pay equally with himself the high rates now ruling for the necessities of life In addition to having made it difficult to live with a big wage, the unionist now wants to ta,ke his job and his "tucker" away from him. Verily, it takes a democracy to show us what conservatism really is

The virtues of Plantekoa Veterinary Salve are set faith on another page of this issue, and should prove of special mteiest to stock owners. Mr. J. R. Palmer, Town Clerk of Wellington, sends us the City of Wellington Year Book, 1904-5, which is, as usual, replete with information covering municipal matters generally. It is issued in a handy packet farm, and contains many excellent local photographs, notably one of the new Town Hall. Mr. C. Smith announces an event of importance to ladies. His annual stock-taking sale commences to-morrow (Saturday), and, gauged by former winter sales, and the satisfaction expressed by customers, he anticipates the greatest success he has expertenced. Everything is genuinly reduced in price, and, as the stock has lately been much enlarged with new goods, the public may be sure that articles are not out of date or shop-worn. Messrs. George Thomas and Co. will offer for sale, on Thursday, July 7th, at the Exchange Hall, twenty-two splendid freehold building sites, held by the Wellington, City Council. The subdivision- of Aitken-street has been effected, and it is unnecessary for us to expatiate on the great value of property in close proximity to the Parliamentary Buildings. Full particulars of the subdivision, terms of sale, etc., are set out bv advertisement elsewhere.