The Daily News MONDAY, JULY 13. THE ARBITRATION QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 173, 13 July 1908, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, JULY 13. THE ARBITRATION QUESTION.

A copy of the Industrial Conciliation ami Arbitration Act Amendment Hill lies before us. Under this Ml "any strike or lock-out, whether au award or industrial agreement is in force or not, is made an ollcncc punishable in the same manner as a breach of award, that is to say, by civil action and civil process only, bul without imprisonment.' That is to say, that when any strike occurs the State under "civil proc-css" shall have power to seize the funds of the offending union, and. as a linal resource, enter into the cottages of the striking workmen or their open sympathisers and distrain upon their little bits of furniture. Apparently in deference to the strong view expressed by Sir Joseph Ward, w'ho declared that he would never consent to a man being sent to gaol for non-payment of a line under the Arbitration Act, the right now allowed to the Stale to imprison is proposed to bo swept away, but it has not occurred to the authors of this Hill that for the State lo enter into a pool' man s home and sell his paltry goods and chattels is just as cruel a procedure as imprisonment. Indeed, it is more cruel; fur if a striker was sent to gaol for non-payment of a line, his ease would speedily become notorious, and lie wouid quickly be redeemed by his fellow-work-men. The line would be promptly paid . lJut under this Bill his little belonging.may be obscurely sold and 110 help conn lo ilim at all. "You take my lile wile'] you take the means whereby 1 live,' cries the modern Shvlock. t ndcr ihc power of imprisonment, if exercised, there is help assured to him; under this Uiit as it stands there is none. Those who start back shuddering at the supposed cruelty of sending a man to gaol for the non-payment of a tine are yet prepared to look with equanimity upon his being almost ruined in other ways.

Take tlii; ease o( a man—a single man—who comes along to a mine or a factory. Living ill lodgings, unhampered by responsibilities, lie proceeds to scatter the seeds of discontent and strife amongst his fellow-workmen. lie throws before their eyes alluring vistas of a time when llicv will all be "busses" and the perfectly immense proiits reaped by their employers will bo shared equal!} amougdt tlieiu. A glorious future! A strike lakes -place. Upon whom does the burden—the severe hardship when 110 wages are coming ill-—fail.' The single man—the agitator—picks up his bundle and disappears; the man with wife and children remains, his little savings arc exhausted, his luriiiluie is distrained upon; he is absolutely ruined. Is there no cruelty in allowing the chief instigator to escape and coming down heavilv upon the unhappy victim'( lu addition, this Bill, if it passes into law, will prove rather unequal and partial in its operation. 'L'lic manufacturer, the trader, the mine-owner has goods, stock, machinery to levy upon, apart from any household belongings he may possess. Any line imposed upon them must be paid; it is absolutely certain it will be paid; but the case is very dill'erent with the striker.

After this apparent squcamishiicss about imprisonment, it is somewhat staitling to discover that, alter all, imprisonment i s provided for ill the Bill. '"Ill certain specified industries it is made an ollence punishable by line and imprisonment to strike without giving at least twentyone days' notice to the einplo}ei. Ino industries so selected arc those which are of such a nature that a sudden stoppage would cause serious loss or inconvenience to the public 01* the destruction of the employer's property. This principle is already in force under the Conspiracy Law Amendment Act, 181)4, ill respect of the public supply of gas, water, and electricity, and the present Bill proposes to extend the rule to certain other industries." But the principle of imprisonment being already in force, and as under the Bill it is proposed to be applied to those engaged in certain industries, why, it may be asked, should it not be applied in all cases! If imprisonment is not justifiable in one case, how does it come to be justifiable ill another? Certain industries, upon which it is held the whole community are dependent, arc sought to be specially protected by the power to imprison for non-payment of a fine; but if this power to imprison is likely to prove ell'ective in suppressing strikes in certain industries —as obviously it is believed to be ■ why should it not'be applied in all cases? What is provided for as likely 10 prove effective ill one class of strikes mani festlv ought to be provided for all. The question appears to have been approached in a half-hearted, iinnicking spirit, and the issues have not been pushed to their logical conclusion.

"A strike or a lock-out is made a conUnuou- otlence, with a separate ]i (_■ 11: ii t_. , (or each week of its continuance." This provision is obviously designed to meet tlie exceedingly ingenious view of what constitutes a strike put forward by the Hon. the Attorney-General. It is pronosed that Conciliation Boards shall be abolished, aud the ''penalty for a breach ■j 0 [ award is made recoverable by action f 1 in a Magistrate's Court, and not, as at ! present by application to the Court of Arbitration. The judgment in any such aciioii is enforceable in the same manner as any other judgment in the _ Magistrate's Court. Any penalty so imposed upon a worker is to be deducted by instalments from all wages subsequently earned bv him." Every dispute must first be 'dealt with by a Stipendiary Magistrate. These provisions seem to be in the direction of simplification and the saving of considerable time. It has been felt from the first that the most drastic provisions were inoperative, and later experience lias proved that, added to the power, there must be wholehearted, energetic, determined, and prompt administration.