WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE ARBITRATION COURT. LABOR'S DISSATISFACTION. I (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, July 5. At the annual conference of the United Federation of Labor yesterday the Arbitration Court was adversely criticised by a number of speaker- and finally it was resolved, on the m< of the Hon. J. T. Paul, to instruct \ .ational executive of the federation to consider the whole question of conciliation and arbitration, with a view to more fully protecting the interests of organised labor. The official report of the proceedings of the conference does not set out in any detail the grievances of the federation against the Arbitration Court, but it is safe to say that the chief of them arises from the constitution of the court. This is an old story. For many years organised labor has implied by its attitude that the leaning of the president is inevitably towards the interests of the employers, and that the workers enter upon every dispute with two-thirds of the constituted authority arrayed against them. This is the problem the national executive is being asked to solve. SHOPS AND OFFICES. The health authorities are busying themselves just now, not unseasonably, in framing new regulations under the Shops and Offices Act, to ensure the proper warming of premises iii which girls and women are employed. The minimum temperature tentatively suggested is 55 degrees, and during the cold spell this week thermometers have been much in request. It was found yesterday morning that with the mercury standing at 46 degrees on the street, shops and offices heated by gas or electricity to 52 degrees were comfortably warm. In most cases the heating appliances were running up to their limit, and would produce no higher temperature over a lar,'o area, but in smaller spaces 54 and 55 degrees were obtained, and these temperatures were found to be beyond what was required by the normal person, and even oppressive. The results of some of the more careful experiments nave been reported to the authorities, and probably will have some effect on their final decision. THE WANGANUI ENQUIRY. The Minister of Defence is very naturally resenting an assertion which appeared in one of the local papers the other day, to the effect that it was only "after considerable pressure" he had consented to an enquiry being held into the complaints concerning the treatment of conscientious objectors at.the Wanganui Detention Barracks. As a matter of fact, the first mention of the complaints appeared in this column, and was immediately followed by a departmental enquiry, which, Sir James Allen confessed, did not satisfy him. _ Arrangemerts for a moro searching investigation were well in train when Mr. H. E. Holland appeared on the scene with a demand that its Bcope should be largely extended, and a ship-load of complainants and witnesses brought back from France. The intentions of the member for Grey doubtless were admirable enough, but the result of acceding to his demand would have been to delay the proceedings by five or six months, and to prolong by that term whatever abuses may exist at Wanganui. LAST MAN ON FARM. The Government at last has resolved upon a definite policy in regard to the treatment of farmers and farm workers by the Military Service Boards. It has recommended, in effect, that the boards should exempt from military service a sufficient number of men to maintain production as nearly as possible at the present standard, "in order to safeguard the finances of the Dominion." This, the acting Prime Minister say 9, is of paramount importance. There is to bo no wholesale exemption of men following a particular occupation. Each case is to be considered upon its merits, and the appellant must show to the satisfaction of the board, or have it shown on his account, that his retention in civil employment is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the standord rate of production. Of course, the Government can give no instructions to the boards that would restrict their statutory authority, but it is presumed its recommendation in a matter of this sort will be respected.