WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 6 December 1916, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

LABOUE TEOUBLES. SETTLEMENT OF DEIVEES' DISPUTE. ■'.-,' (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Lee 4. -The settlement of the drivers' dispute, which had been in s ight for some days before it was finally announced this morning, is in a large measure a triumph for,Mr Herries, Acting Minister for Labour, whose tact and patience, are being commended by both sides. The men, with public sympathy behind them, might have been tempted to go much further than they did had not the Minister frankly admitted the justice of their 'claims and at the same time emphasised the importance of avoiding an industrial upheaval at the present juncture. Th e face of the Award Court was saved by leaving its award nominally intact/and giving the men a war bonus according to their ! grade, amounting to about ten per cent: in each case. This arrangement is to continue till three months after the war, and public departments having contracts with the master drivers are being instructed to adjust their payments to the altered conditions. It is hoped that local bodies and private employers will review their payments in the same spirit and it is expected that a great majority of them will do so. MINIMUM WAGE

It was scarcely necessary for the Minister to remind employers that it was still open to them to pay more than th e minimum wage with the war bonus added, but this authoritative mention of the matter, besides drawing pointed attention to the inadequacy of the Arbitration Court's award, will serve as a reminder that the author of the original Conciliation and Arbitration Act framed the whole measure on the as-

sumption that the minimum wage would be what its title implies, the smallest . wage that could be paid, not the stan-

dard wage. Of course, on this point Mr Reeves' calculations were all astray, as he admitted a few years later, but the failure of his good intentions ought not to have relegated them to the limbo of the impossible. Sir John Findlay propounded some time ago a scheme for giving statutory recognition to a "exertion wage" as distinguished from a "living wage,?' but unfortunately the very people he wished to benefit took alarm at his very proposals, and he received no encouragement to persevere with them. Perhaps in the light of what has happened since then the labour unions may be better disposed towards the scheme now. LABOUR TROUBLES

The settlement of the drivers' dispute, though a comparatively small thing in itself, has distinctly proved the labour outlook. It is known now that the ballot which was taken before the dispute was referred to the Cabinet resulted in a large majority of the members of the Drivers' Union voting for striking in the event of an increase of wages being refused, and if the negotiations had failed there is no saying how far the trouble would have gone. Practically all tlie unions in the country were behind the drivers with eager ■expressions of sympathy and most of them with substantial offers of assistance. All eyes are now turned towards the "West Coast where the Blackball

and Paparoa miners seem at this distance to be inviting grievances and looking for trouble. People here who ought to know the temper of the men declare that if they were handled as discreetly as the drivers were they would be ready enough to accept a fair and reasonable settlement. But the obvious comment upon this is that they should have sought these aids to conciliation before going out on strike. There may yet be time to avert the catastrophe many people are fearing, but th e prospects would have been brighter if the men had displayed a better sense of their own responsibilities. LABOUR'S-PART The deplorable feature of the labour position just now is the disregard some, of the workers are showing for the pressing needs of the Empire in the present crisis. That the Allies are going "to win the war eventually everyone is assured. But that it wil be won in a year, or in two or three there is no guarantee till the British Empire throws all its man-power into the struggle as France and Russia are throwing theirs. The workers here have more to gain by success and more to lose by failure than in any other section of the community, ana yet a noisy „ soulless minority among them are urging their fellows to use the necessities of the nation as a lever for obtaining extravagant concessions to themselves. There is no need to assume off hand that this is the case with the miners on the West Coast, but they will have only themselves to blame if the very worst interpretation is placed on their attitu a c It is the poorest of the poor services they are rendering to their fellows bv estranging public sympathy from labour by making it appear that it is cureless of what- becomes of the Empire in its fight for existence. The workers will come into their own more fully or the conclusion of peace than ■they ever dreanred of before the war, and the measure of their triumph will 'T n : t i,§ .j U .ja.-3ure of the assistance they --_„.,.";•. the freedom and 4nte S rivy of their race, , _ _