Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9394, 15 March 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE refusal of the flax millsrbanda to consider the question of a reduction of wages in face of the great fall in the London market has had the natural result of causing several mills to close down and shortly 175 will be out of work. Tbe Secretary of the Union has done his best to throw tbe blame for the present state of the industry on the high royalties charged for green flax, but the figures he put forward did not stand the test of investigation and have been proved to be Incorrect in nearly every case. Even had hia statements been accurate they would have proved nothing, as it is not possible to compare the royalties paid under different conditions. It might for example be cheaper for a miller to pay £1 per ton for flax of good quality near the mill than to pay 5s for flax which had to be carted a long distance over bad roads. Tne chief danger of a falling off in the export of flax is that manufacturers who have machinery adapted for New Zealand hemp will throw it aside and turn their, attention to Manila or other fibres. Thus when the workers have been convinced that lower wages must bo accepted, the market for New Zealand hemp will be wanting and years will have to be spent in again bringing phorminm into nse.

ALTHOUGH the Addington enquiry has failed as regards its main purpose, it is throwing some interesting light on tho methods employed in Government workshops. For example if a few new hands are required the manager sends a list of names to the Superintendent of the BluffHurnnui section, who forwards it to the Chief Mechanical Engineer, who in turn passes it on to the General Manager. By the time the ist has gone through all these hands and been returned after dne consideration the need for the extra hands may have passed or the men may have found work in other places. Tho demands of the Ciassaifioation and Superannuation Acts have to be considered before appointments can be made and unless common opinion errs political influence is also a factor which is of great importance. Should it be desired to dismiss an employee the same long process of reference from one authority to another has to be gone through. The whole business is a fact so throttled by red tape that it is a marvel that any work can be accomplished at all. The Addington worshops provide an interesting example of the state of affairs which would prevail under a Socialist regime when all the means of production and distribution were in the hands of the State.

THE Arbitration Court in Australia seems to work on rather different lines from the Dominion Court. In the Broken Hill dispute the Judge estimated the cost of living on the Barrier at £2 4s 5d a week, and with this as a standard to go by fixed the minimum wage for unskilled labour at 8s 7>£d per day or £3 11s ■ 9d per week. Miners are to receive 10s a day. The Court we are told made no order for the mining companies to oontinne work. The idea that a company or private employer can be compelled to keep his business going at a loss in order to provide work is such an outrageous one that apparently even an Australian Arbitration Court hesitated to attempt to enforce suob a condition.