The Daily News. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1903. OUR LABOUR LEGISLATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 42, 17 February 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1903. OUR LABOUR LEGISLATION.

Although the position in New Zsa'i land is preferable to that ia places where they have ricourse to strikes to remedy labour grievance, there lsstrl a certain amount of fricdon and dissatisfaction. In the course of an inter-1 ' view on the subject in Welling'on last we°k, the Premier made an important deliverance on the subject. The! matter is one of such importance that I the special correspondent of the Lune- . din Star fur/iishes his paper with a full report, from which we extract the following, which will bs read with interest by employees and employers everywhere. A deputation waited upon Mr Saddon and made some grave charge? against employers in respnct to preference of employment to Unionists, Oni of the deputa'ionists had referred with a certain amount of warmth, when speaking of those who had attacked the i Arbitration Court, to persons who ha 1 and were always quarrelling with Boaae- > one, and who had made the the local Trades Council a bear-garden. They . were men, he said, who represented nobody but themselves. Mr Seddon, in reply, said that in the case of a Judge of a Supreme Court being retained as head of the Arbitration Court, he always thought it lent strength to the Court. Both worker and employer should feel that there was in that fact alone a safeguard. He assured the working-men of this country it was a safeguard to them having a Judge of the Supreme Court on the Arbitration Court bench. He should vsry muob regret, indeed, if the occasion arose for . an alteration, but rather than have the > Supreme Court placed io the unenviable position it was being placed in he would • not fail to make th 9 change, much as he would regret it, and knowing, as he would, that it must lower the status I and position of the Arbitration Oaurt. But the change would only be made if , grave necessities warranted it, As to ' preference to unionists, he had never hesitated in expressing his opinkn, and • he scarcely thought it necessary to refer him to the newspapers ortheir opinions. In fact, he joined issue with the statement that preference at the present time was only nominal, and should continue so. He said that if it was ouly nominal it should be altered as soon as possible. It should be mads concrete and not nominal. He should be quite prepared himself to put it in a concrete form in the interests of Labour and Capital. He bslieved in organised labour, and in masters joining together likewise. His mind had never altered on that,'and in the first interpretation ' by Judge Williams this question was ] settled in a concrete form. The sooner I they went back to that the better for I all concerned. He now came to a mat'.er on which he felt deeply, and ' I which he was very much p<rined to ] hear—that, beciuse men had given , evidence and had stood out for tho rights the law gave th<*m, tbey had s been marked men, discharged, and em- ' ployment refused them. Those employers who adopted such methods wbre a riiscedir, to the colony.—(Hear, ° heir ) Taey were only bringing about, t a state of things he did not wish to see. If the public kn6w there were a so many eases as had been alluded to c public feeling would be with the work- e m and against those who adopted 60 s c un-British a way of dealing with their men. A man whom unionL s had re- p cognised as being a little above the w general run by giying him a respon> b

sible position was the man who, if the employer wera wise, would be engaged, and would prove most valuable and a just servant. Ho was aware of what went on from what Game under his own notice. He alluded to the Waihi mining cafe, and if much more of that (rent on he would have to ask Parliament to amend the law in such a direction that any person treatrJ in such an unfair manner would have th> ight to compensation. In regard tc ■ion payment of back pay, there was * <! ave reflection cast upon many employers, and it was high time someon. wa* appointed to do away with cause for fear. " You may tike it as bang definitely arranged by the Government," 8«d Mr Seddon, "thitthej will ask Parliament to make provisbt for paying inspectors of awards. Iwill not be one for the colony to be of an service at all. You will have tc have inspectors of awards in every die trict; practically it means your inspectors of factories will be insp-ctorp of awards. In addition to their other duties they will practically b come officers of the court." The arrange men!', however, was a matter of detail, us was the suggestion in regard to the examination of books. The inspectors must be given all necessary powers. The man who did not pay what ai< award said he should pay was in th: same position as a man sued for wag.ip in the courf, and why should he no 1 ; be liable to the same publicity, which might be given if a member of Parliament naked for a return. When these employers realised what it meant they might be more careful. It was said the workers were unreasonable. He did cot thick that was so. He, however, as Minister of Labor, would endeavor !o maintain a strict impartiality between employer and employee, and the Government were anxious to do justice to both. The law in thesmatters must be observed, the same as any other laws. It was a question of shall the law be observed ? Shall the masters pay what is fixed by the Court? The representations of the deputation' would be brought be'ore the Cabinet in due course. The matter of inspectors had to be considered and practically settled, and suggested amendments of the law must be gone into fully. A» to the position of the Court, he hoped workers would realise the gravity of tbo situation and reflect seriously.