The Daily News, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1901. INDUSTRIAL LEGISLATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 222, 2 October 1901, Page 2

The Daily News, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1901. INDUSTRIAL LEGISLATION.

In the opinion of a good many Mr. Seddon has not called a halt in the matter of industrial legislation too soon. The feeling is growing that a class of agitators is keeping both employers and employees in a ferment. In cases where employers and employees are on the best of terms these professional agitators step in and upset the good feeling. At a meeting of employers held in Wellington last week some important resolutions were carried suggesting amendments in the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act of last year, amongst which the following appear reasonable. " That parties bringing a case before a Board or the Court must show that a dispute really exists between them and the parties cited, and for that purpose some procedure previous to filing a reference shall be prescribed; that no union shall file a reference unless its members form a majority of the workers actually employed by the employers engaged in that industry within the d strict; that no person being a Government employee or not being actually engaged in the industry concerned shall be permitted to appear before a Board or the Court without the consent of all the parties to the reference; that where the parties to a reference are agreed the dispute may be taken direct to the Arbitration Court." What the colony has to guard against jus*; now is trade unionism run mad. In the North American' Review Mr. Benjamin Taylor, an editorial writer on the staff of the Glasgow fferald, one of the foremost journals of Scotland, gives some instructive instances of industries driven out of Great Britain by the unreasonable exaction of trade unionism. He says:—" It was, for example, the exactions and limitations of the Thames shipbuilders that drove the great shipbuilding iudustry from London to the northern rivers, where it has flourished ever since, while the Thames has now only one shipyard of any importance. It was the exactions and limitations of the trade unions that drove lace-mak-ing from Nottingham to Scotland. It was the exactions and limitations of trade unions that drove flint glassmaking from England to Germany, and bottle-making from Scotland to Belgium. The story of the flint-glass trade is a very instructive one. This used to be a very extensive and lucrative business in Great Britain, affording highly-paid employment to many thousands of workers. These workers had, of course, their trade union. The union waxed fat, and kicked on the question of apprentices. And it succeeded in enforcing strict limitation to the number of boys to be allowed to enter the trade in any one year or in any one factory. Having sncured this, they put the screw on wages until they raised the pay of an ordinary journeyman to between £3 10s and £i a week. The monopoly of labour was complete, but not the monopoly of [supply. The Germans stepped in and took the trade bodily from under the nose of the Flint-Glass Makers' Union, which now does not, in the whole United Kingdom, contain as many, members as there are workers in many! a single factory in Germany. The industry has gone, save t«vo or three high-class concerns making to tly tableware for the wealthy; and with it: the workers, white either emigrated to Awrfafcvjir Wsibt empli|^ei%iß

same kind of thing happened in the bottle-making industry. Apprentices and production were kept down, and ! wages were forced up, until bottles | became so dear that Belgium sailed in 'and 'scooped the market.' German table-glass ind Belgium bottles now tell the tale, in every British household, of what aggressive and tyrannical trade unionism can do for the industries of the country. Let it be no'ed that the initial cause of the ruin of these industries was the limitation' i placed on apprenticeship, for that is one of tho most dangerous and lamentable features of trade unionist policy as still pursued." To give an idea of the extent to which the work of the men is curtailed by the union rules, the following paragraph is quoted from a report of the Employers' A«soe ; ation: " A. reports that, when makiDg ammunition boxes for six-pounder cartridges some years ago, it was found that, in finishing up the hinges, any member of the society employed on the job u«d always to do exactly eight in a day. The foreman in charge knew that this was not a day's work, and he changed the men; but in every case, notwithstanding that considerable changes were made, the union men made exactly eight per day. A young Swiss (conunionist), who did not speak English, was then put on the job, and the first day he did fifty. The same firm report that, in filing up the outside handles of machine guns, it was found that nny member of the society working on the job generally did one a day. The fi m knew that this was not a day's work, but were unable to get a society n.an to do more. The work was then given to a gun-filer not belonging to any society and he did twelve a day."