The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1913. INDUSTRIAL PEACE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 46, 30 June 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1913. INDUSTRIAL PEACE.

The price of industrial peace in Australia is fairly high if the figures j given before the Industrial Comjmsjsioner at Sydney a few days ago are i correct. Mr Holme, who represented the New South Wales Industrial Department, reported that under the 1908 Act one award cost £1367 6s lid, five cost between £SOO and £IOOO each, fourteen between £3OO and £SOO. I twenty between £2OO and £3OO, fiftyeight between £IOO and £2OO, and so ion. Under the 1912 amended Act I now in operation one cost over £SOO, i four between £3OO and £SOO each, ! three between £2OO and £3OO, and j nine between £IOO and £2OO. Over all, the average cost of single boards has varied between £95 13s in 1908-9 and £9l 6d in 1911-12. These figures of course represent the expense on machinery that the public was put to. jin the'case of the award that cost | £1367 to produce, for instance, the bill was made up of chairman’s and 'members’ fees, travelling expenses land allowances, aypewriting, vehicles, jand similar cliargs. Dealing with | this aspect especially the '‘Daily Telegraph” says:—“Superficially such ac(counts seem to typify the tendency of j proceedings to drag out to noticeable j length where fees are paid and allowjances made on a good scale. But | even if it was so in this case—and we |do not say that it was—the costliness of getting an award produced is only [part of the story as far as the public is concerned, and by no means the 'most important at that. Thousands 'on thousands of pounds are spent on 1 the mere proceedings of the tribunals, ( but the findings involve much larger i amounts. Broadly jt may be assum- • ed that the great majority of these f. hundreds of awards gave the workers j \ increased wages, the payment of j J which was naturally and promptly J passed on to the community as con-J ( sumers and users. When tho total I

l)i!l comes to be raa3o up, therefore, it will be in the nature of a staggerer. All this might be philosophically borne with on the ground that peace is worth any price, if it were not for the exasperating fact that the price docs not buy peace. Labor unrest is about as frequent a condition as it over was in this country, but much more damaging than ever owing to the greater' extent to which combination is practised. Dins tho huge, bill annually sent in to the public is largely for service not rendered. The community is paying a top price io peace and gets war for its money.’ And so tho game goes on in the Com monwealth and over here also. Arbitration and Conciliation have no' proved the success anticipated by r long way. Sometimes one is led tc wonder if the problem is capable o; solution. With the best and most humane intentions many efforts to se cure permanent industrial peace have been made, but the goal seems yes far off. In tho Governor’s Speed promise is made of something helpful to both the worker and the man whe finds the work. Let ns hope it may really prove so.