The Daily News THURSDAY, JUNE 13th. EXIT-CONCILIATION BOARDS?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 13 June 1907, Page 2

The Daily News THURSDAY, JUNE 13th. EXIT-CONCILIATION BOARDS?

There seems to be a distinct chance that in the near future there will be no Conciliation Boards in Xew Zealand. There is no record that these boards have ever justified the name given them, and the efforts of ihe "conciliators," although perhaps sullicienUy strenuous and persistent, have been quite wasted, ft has been quite rare for a Conciliation Board since tie passii'u of the "Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act" to successfully settle a dispute between master and man without recourse to the Arbitration Court, so that the intermediary Board is merely waste of time. However sorry one may allow oneself to feel for the individual conciliator who is likely to lose his billet in a short time, one must recognise that the removal of excrescent pscudo judicial bodies are a mere tax oil the general body of taxpayers. The iillernativj for Conciliation Boards is apparently Wages Boards, and it is interesting to note how averse Labor is to accept the substitution, although employers have received the possibility of change with extrem.' cheerfulness. Labor leaders aver that labor would be handicapped were the useless system of ''Conciliation" ended.

Neither the chairman nor the average, member of a Conciliation Board has any adequate idea of labor or what it is worth, the cond'tious of the worker or the exigencies of any trade. It was fo; a considerable time iu Xew Zealand the usual practice to appoint a clergyman as chairman of a Board, and. while on» admits clergymen are generally persons of honor and integrity, one cannot imagine any •class of man less suited to lead iu the technical matters these Boards are supposed to understand. It is even now not ihe custom to have a business man as chairman of a Board. It is therefore hard to determine why labor si ill desires to preserve the excrescence, except from a feeling of philantrophy and a desire that conciliators shall not lose their guinea a day while sitting. The proposed Boards ot Wageswould, it appears, be composed of experts—everybody is some kind of an "expert'' nowadays—who, out of their supposed knowledge of the particular trade Ihey were called to deal with, wi ulu be able to adjust wages scales .viih ju-iiie. A very larje employer of hibor lies gi-,i-ii it as his opinion that iho liiniiiigs ~,' Hi,.,,. Wages Boards vi nil! be linn!, but (here is not the siighi*'sl reason why they should be anymore than the findings of a Conciliation Board is final at the present lime. If the findings of such a Poind were iinal the Arbitration Court should be abolished, for there is no necessity to decide a matter that lias been settled any more than there is necessity to stockwhip a railway engine to make it go faster.

It is suggested, too, that there would be no need to appeal to the Arbitration Court after a Wages Board had decided the rate of wage in any specific trade "except on points of law." Why an Arbitration Court to decide points of law? Why not the ordinary Supreme Court .fudge, without any laymen as representing men and masters? Labor sees ill the proposal lo appoint Wages Boards a prospect of diminution in their representation, and thinks it would he difficult to find working men willing and able to become members of Wages Boards. For our part.we believe that there, would he a rush for the billets, for a proportion of l.bor leaders would far rather wrangle than work, much to the detriment of th.'ir fellow-workers, who work rather than wrangle. The abolition of Conciliation Boards has been postponed up to the present time merely as a matter of charity; for, as parties to the dispute, may ignore the Board, and go straight to the Arbitration Court with their load of -Trouble, there exists no necessity for an intermediary. I'nquestionably, vigorous "conciliators" have seen the necessity from selfish motives of keeping their mana and their guineas intact, and with friendly aid disturbances have been created so (lint Concilation Boards eoulil put in a lot of useless sittings bavins no effect whatever except on the pockets of the people. The inauguration of Wages Hoards will, of course, be a direct slur upon the past administration of the Act by the Arbitration Court, for (he said Court has been repeatedly engaged since its formation in adjusting wages. Although at the present moment organised labor is being paid wages as high as any industry is able to pay. it is proposed, apparently, to re-adjust the work of the Court, or. at least, to instruct the Court what lo do.

If both the Arbitration Court and the Wages Hoards exist side by side, the "Wages Hoards should be the" senior and most important body, seeing that it is to lie advisory of the Court, and that its suggestions are likely to be final. A section of Labor evidently fears, among other things, that labor may be out" voted. ,„• lis pnsoualiiv be too weak on these Hoards, and. therefore, in place of a useful organisation i( wants to keep a useless Conciliation Hoard. It is really quite impossible to see what nserul purpose the Arbitration Court will serve if finality is with the Wages Hoards, and the abolition of !ho Court as now const it uteil would tie a boon, and would release a learned .Judge lor circuit work. Any .fudge could decide law points the Wages Hoards were iiieoiuneteiil to de'•idc. If the Arbi I ration c.url has (!,"• ouwvr to n-ndju-i wages decided upon by the Wages Hoards ,-,s equitable, then the Wages Hoards will be as useless as the Conciliation l'„,ard i„ now admilted to be. anil if it Icimi'l the power (here is 1.0 need for it !o e.xist. Labor, apparently, in looking at the new suggestion, Mill -.cgai'ds the -master" as its eiieinv, for one Labor lender want-, to know how il is possible to find live workers of any trad,- who will stand up lor the right's against live of their employers.

Supposing, however, employers were as genuinely ;in\iinirt that mcii got good wages as the men were t ln-insolvos anxious. Js this not. just as remotely possible'.' The simple fact is that it' niaster and man throughout. New Zealand were genuine friends whose interests were conceded by both to lie identical, there would he no place for tin- Labor-leader, nlio-e leading is ol'leuliines a "billet.'' lie i- most, naturally anxious that men and masters should eonUnue to quarrel I'or the same reason that the bjot-repair-i-r ill-- iirs soles to keep , m wearing out. -Vo .soiiahhles, no Labor agitators, and no "perki;." Therefore, any system that will foment dMurhames and keep the i|iiarrels gone,' merrily is the system "that suits him |„. ; ;(. tie is very human in tI:I-> respect, and is not: anv'morc to !>■' blamed than tli- tlorist vim desin-s the funerals of main- notables. lint. i'l'l'-i' I'll- " Hover out has to consider the whole of (lie people, and not morel v 'he iigilntor or ■even the worker. Some'ht;.' perhaps mast or and man will love "Met. other so well, and each be so gon■lii.ely honest mid dc-irous of mutual help that 11,,.,-,. „i|| ]„. u.j „eed for Arbiiraiioo Courts or Wai-s Hoards, no La- = >■■> ;";italor*. I no law on ihe snliioci. H is only because men are so de■i.ous „f "liciliiiL'" tli" oilier man Ilia! oiy law is required at nil. lint it will be 1! lom; line before the |ij-,i rt . ~f ,| l!s . j lice i- ivpivsonled withoul a Sword.

To-day is a notable day in the history of the Anglican Churcli, At Homo, m England, the Bishops arc elected by ii\ Ueau an,l Chapter of (lie Diocese, appointed by the Crown, and consecrated under the authority of this Arch?iis/iop of Canterbury. The Church is in ; U nutter*, other than those affecting her faith or purely spiritual eonecrnsj controlled by the Parliament of England. The Church of England was the first Christi in body to preach Christianity in this colony, in tlie person of the Boy. .Samuel Marsdcn, iu 1824. Later On bishops were apjioiuted by the authorities in England, and tile Chiireb begm fo acquire property in the colony, : ,nd the colony itself was given power ;-,' eoalrol its own affairs. But the Church liail no eonsititul ion or organisation apart l'nmi (he Churcli at Home, or power lo appoint her own bishops, ami it is contrary fo the practice of the primitive Churcli to allow the branch <>! ihe Church in a self-governing community to be governed by the authorities ot the Church in any other naiion. t.'o ISishnp Selwyn d tcrmincd to revive tne old democratic constitution of Syno Is, in which the bishops, clergy and laity met to control the affairs of the Charca. The constitution of the church of flic Province of New 'A ■aland was drawn up and signed on June 13th ,1857, being the first of such constitutions in the British Empire, and it has become the mode) for similar constitutions in other parts of the Knvpiro,, and it has become th« model for similar constitutions in other p.irts of the Empire. So to-day is to be observed throughout New Zealand bv special services and meetings.