AN OUTSPOKEN ARTICLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 124, 16 August 1927, Page 9

AN OUTSPOKEN ARTICLE

BASIC WAGE QUESTION SYDNEY PAPER’S ATTACK GOVERNMENT NETTLED By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Reed. 11.50 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. The Government Is appointing a Royal Commission to inquire into statements contained in the article of a correspondent, published in the Sydney “Morning Herald,” and a leading article thereon by the “Herald.” The correspondent, dealing with industrial awards, says: “The Government, by hook or by crook, managed to maintain its bare majority, and it is to this Government that the Industrial Commissioner, Mr. Piddington, owes his appointment and acknowledges his duty. If this is true, it follows that the administration of our industrial system is dictated not by justice, as is tl promised aim of other tribunals, but by political influence.” The “Herald” leader says, inter alia: “Rural workers are not blind. They know the stern reality behind the farmers’ protests against the award. The Industrial Commissioner has said himself, that he is not so much a judge as the voice of a Parliamentary majority, and that his procedure in fixing a rural basic wage was to make an award first and hear evidence after.” The Government considers these comments as an attack on the judiciary.—A. and N.Z.