The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1927. SMASHING A GLASSHOUSE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 180, 20 October 1927, Page 10

The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1927. SMASHING A GLASSHOUSE

IT is the declared opinion of Mr. T. Bloodworth, a leading industrial union secretary in Auckland and a former president of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, that the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act has made trades unionism flabby and given it the thin marrow of an exotic plant. Thus, thinking so and in no way afraid to speak his thoughts in plain words, his terse advice to organised workers is: “Come, away from the glasshouse!” In a candid statement to this journal Mr. Bloodworth indubitably strikes the most militant note that, so far, has been struck in the general controversial dissatisfaction with the service of the Arbitration Court. If his aggressive opinion about the usefulness or uselessness of that tribunal be the real mind of industrial unionism on the subject, it is well to give it such tongue as to create a widespread echo.

The fate of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act affects alike the main material interests of both employers and workers, and it is essential to walk warily before anything is done to make an end to it. After thirty years’ service a very good thing may become very bad, but unless there is something better to take its place, the wisdom of experience at least suggests the retention of the old thing. It has been announced by the Prime Minister that the Government, to-day, would introduce the Arbitration Act Amendment Bill. This prospective measure may contain the secret of the Arbitration Court’s fate. It may even provide everything that empl&yers and workers have dreamed about and yearned for in respect of industrial peace and prosperity. There is, however, a definite limit to optimism concerning political service nowadays in this country. The best that may be looked for will probably be nothing better than another tantalising experiment in the form of patchwork amendments.

If Mr. Bloodworth had his way to work his will there would be no more experiments with compulsory conciliation and arbitration under the jurisdiction of the Arbitration Court. The existing Act would be repealed forthwith without regret, and industrial unionism given an opportunity to acquire strength and merit as an active, constructive, educative force in the community. These are brave words, no doubt, and rich enough in the promise of militant progress to hypnotise many workers into appreciative acceptance of the advice, but in practice they would be little more than fluff. How long would Labour keep from becoming destructive in the militant sense if there were no statutory compulsion to make industrial unionism constructive as far as avoidance of ruinous strikes is concerned? And the same question may be put fairly to employers of whom many, if the system of compulsory industrial conciliation and arbitration were abolished, would revert to the law of the jungle and prey like jaguars on unprotected workers. It may be noted that Mr. Bloodworth admits frankly lie does not know what would take the place of the Arbitration Court. Quite so, and until something better has been devised industrial unionists should hold fast to that, which they have, even though it may be an obsolete instrument. Perhaps the smashing of the glasshouse would sound well to militant trades unionists, but the smashers should not forget that many of the tender plants nourished and raised in it might suffer and wilt in the first cold blast of industrial adversity.

THAT GARDEN SUBURB

IT is so long since the Orakei block was promised as “a garden suburb” for the workers that the workers have forgotten the promise. It is as well they have,- for there is as much chance of their being able to afford a section of this land which was to be made available for the home of the humble artisan and his class as there is (according to the Book) of the rich man passing into Paradise. But the rich man will pass into Orakei Garden Suburb. He only. Subdivisional, roading and drainage expenses have been so heavy that land experts say these sections will not clear themselves under a price that would be absolutely prohibitive to the ordinary wage-earner, even on the most extended terms. Those who dreamed of a lot in that garden suburb may continue to dream. Meanwhile, their only practical course is to fare forth in search of cheaper land to those far suburbs which our monopolyinspired omnibus regulations have partially deprived of their transport facilities. The auctioning of the Orakei Block has been so frequently postponed that the sale cannot be much further delayed. The Government is now displaying so masterly an activity that it has brought before Parliament a Land Laws Amendment Bill to deal with the conditions of sale. It seems that the Government has at last been seized with apprehension concerning the speculator. and to baulk this bogy it is providing to suppress the upset prices, to hold the sale at less than thirty days’ notice, and to bar the transfer of deferred payment licences for a period of ten years —“unless recommended by the Land Board.” It does not seem as if this worry over speculation is justified. Few speculators will buy these sections at the price. Speculators seek quick returns where profits are small. If the land was worth speculating in, the holding of it for ten years for double or treble prices would not be an effort to the speculator. The Minister of Lands told the House that at the Hutt Valley sales a number of prospective purchasers got together and decided to bid below the upset price. Mr. H. E. Holland asked did the Minister mean workers, and the Minister replied that the sections were not for workers only, but open to the general public. If the upset prices were anything approaching what those of Orakei will be, the question was quite superfluous. Few workers could have even considered purchase. Nor need the workers of Auckland consider the Orakei Garden Suburb. It is,destined for the man of means.