STATE REGULATION OF INDUSTRY.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43089, 7 May 1907, Page 4

STATE REGULATION OF INDUSTRY.

An interesting. address " Was delivered at Christchurch' by Mr G. > T. Booth on “The "Labour movement in Australasia” recently. He contends

that the Court of Arbitration has become under' the; pressure of unionist importunity a ooutrt for the State Regulation of industries, instead of being ai tribunal (which should inter--veno only .when ■every other means : has failedl Ohr Arbitration Court, he says, has’ been called into daily service to hear and settle a multitude of petty claim® and factitious disputes. It cannot, enforce specific performance of the contract between workman and

employer, nor does it seem- desirable that such power should 'be placed m its hands, for then we should have something vetiy nearly approaching slavery. He dealt with the merits and failures of labour legislation, and argued that 'State legislation acts a® a Ibrake on the wheel of industrial

progress'. He quoted figures to. shW that in the United States the manufacturing operative turns out on the average £475 worth of goods per annum, while has brother in Australasia, turns out £159 Worth, just one-third a& much. In othier words the oort of manufacture iin Australasia is three time® as great a® in the United IStiatejs. 'Such a disparity, he contended was utterly unreasonable. Mir Booth is sadly afraid that “the establishment of artificial wage rates is leading us in the wirong direction,, as viewed from the economic standopint.

It is the economic efficiency of labour that counts. We cannot 'hope to de- | Velop bur manufactures or sucCess?fu3ib resist foreign invasion if we

| have tb continue paying three times as much for labour as is paid elsewhere. That is not to say that we should seek to reduce wlages. No sane employer -w-.--’-rt that except under the pressure of had' times or excessive competition'. We must, find some plan which will bring out the latent possibilities of our factories, and this it seems to me, can be 'best accomplished (by , encouraging our capable .workmen instead of discouraging them.. The time wage ‘system is obviously inadequate. The piece-work system is objected to, not altogether without good reason. The premium plan is probably the best yet devised, under which a standard

rate of pay is fixed for a standard output;, and iai premiuim paid for any excess; production Under this system thle average workman is assured a standard wage, while the superior man is enabled to add to Ms earnings and' encouraged tb use Ms wits and Ms superior abilty to Ms own advantage. Otf this 'I am convinced, that the present system of ai uniform wage and rigid Conditions- imposed by a State authority is not conducive to industrial efficiency, and while

there is much to be said in favour of our Arbitration system', in this most important particular its methods stand condemned.”