ARBITRATION ACT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 98, 16 December 1931, Page 6

ARBITRATION ACT

EFFECT ON FARMERS REFERRED TO BY MINISTER PROPOSALS BEING CONSIDERED * AUCKLAND, Tuesday. A brief reference to the Government's proposals for an alteration of the Arbitration Act was made by the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, Minister of Finance, yesterday, when replying to a deputation from the Auckland provincial executive of the Farmers' Union. The Minister said he had opened his oleetion campaign with the statement that the'problem facing New Zealand was that of keeping the farmers on their feet, and that it was well known that the prosperiy of the country depended upon the prosperity of the farmers. In the city constituencies, however, the people seemed most reluctant to accept that view, and were inclined to rejoin that the farmers had made money in prosperous times and spent it on expensive motor cars. "I realise," added the Minister, "that until something is done to help the farmer, the rest of New Zealand is bound to have unemployment. The whole thing at present is to get down internal costs. We have on the stocks some proposals regarding the Arbitration Act, although I do not think they will help nearly as much as the farmers think they will. I thought the best way might be by the suspension of arbitration awards,. but all the experts on this subject say that would not meet the case at all, and that we would have to alter the constitution of the court." Mr. Stewart said it appeared that it was the irritating conditions attached to awards that were the cause of trouble.