MASSEY AND LABOUR

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8362, 24 February 1913, Page 11

MASSEY AND LABOUR

To the Editor “N.Z. Times.” Sir,— Mr Massey has talked long enough and loudly enough in public to show what ho is made of, and X think w© may fairly conclude that ho is not ‘a brainy man. He is not likely to surprise us with a bfilliant idea to benefit anyone outside his own party. But as a set-off to this wo may be told ho is honest; admittedly that is an essential, but honesty never yet paid a bill duo on the fateful fourth—it requires something more to conclude the square deal. Honesty and brains .combined are required to make this country progress, and however honest the Premier and hia colleagues may be, signs are nob wanting that before long we shall bo back in the old Conservative rut, which will bo pleasant for the few, and exceedingly unpleasant for the many. Of* course, one of the first things to claim their attention was land legislation, and in altering this (they call it ‘ L reforming ”)' they lamentably* failed to distinguish between right and wrong. There 'is no honesty, but a positive lack of the moral sense in this first attempt. By some curious twist of reasoning they seem to conclude that to take by force (of law) from one person is immoral, but to take in the same way from a number of people to enrich one is a square deal. That the land question has not been long since placed beyond the power of the Tory politician to meddle with must be put down to the lasting shame of the •wag©-oaxnora, ±iaci tliey developed somcieut intelligence to nave unaoretoodtno importance of it to themselves and. their ciuldren, its position to-day -yyr>n Ifi Jjo table—*-TJIO strOUgUOid would have been carried and made impregnable. h'or many years past they tiave had the vote and the majority. When the deputation from the .Labour Loafer once met hr Massey they Were right in telling him his policy ' was to hood the labour market by assisted immigration,.'so'that always the employers should b© able to pick dud j choose from it at a price determined by the number of idle men waiting the employers’ pleasure. That is an ideal the Tory party cherishes as desirable; a constant over-plus of wageearners in all ranks, at ad times, is to their thinking the sore and certain cure for strikes and labour trouble. It is nothing to them that this .'must necessarily mean a large number of their fellow-colonists always existing on the border-line of poverty. They , and their friends will be on the right side of the hedge, so—- “ God’s in his heaven; All’s right with the world.” , But the day of meek endurance of this position by the wealth-producers has * passed; they will continue to rebel; this will not bring industrial, peace. Both the wage-earners and employers axe wrong in their attitude on this question. We want on Increase of population of a kind,- but we cannot absorb many at a time. Our present trouble is caused by having more people in the towns than in the country, which, only for the good luck of big prices for our exports, would have landed us.in a crisis before now. With , a little consideration it is easy to see there are only two lines of usefulness possible for our townspeople to pursue—(l) to assist in sending onr land ■ produce to market, and (2) to supply . the needs of those producing it. It ; may ho admitted further that they must also bo engaged in catering for the wants and desires of each other; ; but this last does not come properly under the heading of national wealthproduction; it is but the exchange of wealth already produced. Probably only about half the people living in the towns are 'required for , the first two purposes mentioned, and'the other half should be bn the land. If the price of land were taxed down to its value for use, many of these people wonld be there; but the artificial price precludes any distribution of our surplus town-dwellers in that direction; and hero w© come back to the want of intelligence of the wage-earners who prefer to remain at the beck and call of the industrial capitalist rather than agitate and demand the legislation that would assist them .to homes of their own in tho country. Mr Massey promises to reform the Arbitration Courtj I have no faith in his patching. The Labour Federation would abolish it. Neither is on tho right track. An expansion of its duties is required. Up to the present it has failed to justify its existence; to do so it_ must sit as a Court of Equity. Hitherto its inquiries have gone only half-way; it has consumed valuable time at considerable cost ascertaining what was already known to the man in the street —viz., the current rate of wage paid by tho industry in dispute, and tho cost of living: on. this point it based an award. If wo wish to avoid labour unrest and make the court a useful institution, it must, after getting the information as above, go on to investigate and ascertain the average rate pi profit made by the employers in the dispute; and when that is done the employees should bo awarded, in addition to the standard wage (based on the cost of living), a percentage of the net profit averaged in the industry. Of course wo shall' hear a chorus of “Poohl pooh I It can’t be done,” etc. But it has been done successfully by private firms; and when it is done by tho State through the court, it should be done still more so. The information required by the court is already largely gathered by tho State for income tax purposes; and, working along tho same jlines, all the necessary information can he acquired. This proposition is worth the attention of clear-headed men on both sides, and tho more they examine it the more Stood they will see in it.—l am, etc., INDEX.