The Daily News. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1920. THE ARBITRATION BILL.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1920. THE ARBITRATION BILL.

Clause 3 of the Arbitration Amendment Bill (No. 2) has met with determined opposition on the part of Labor members. The clause allows of any organisation of employers or employees, consisting of not less than fifteen members, to be heard by the Court in all eases where the members of such organisations may in any manner lie affected by any result of such proceedings. This is regarded by Laborites as a direct challenge to trades unionism, but whether this contention may be right or wrong, it is very certain that the object of the clause is not to give the unionists more power, but to recognise the rights of all parties outside those unions to be heard on all matters wherein they are directly concerned. The fundamental principle of British justice is that all persons are equal in the eyes of the law, therefore unionists are not entitled to special privileges that would give them an unfair advantage over the rest of the community. The Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (Lord Birkenhead) recently made some very strong comments relative to the action of "Labor's wild men" —the extremists—and he defined an extremist as one who desires an immediate and radical revolution in the existing economic order 'of society, and is not at all particular as to the means by which it is brought about. The extremists, he states, are a comparatively small body, who realise that if they worked with their own resources alone their influence would be inconsiderable, there-* fore, their aim is to make up for their own weakness by capturing the trade unions, a process that has been enormously favored by the block vote system. The original duty of trades unions was to safeguard the economic position of the worker, but has been distorted into an infernal machine for wrecking society. Tlris view is strongly supported by a recent press cable from London, in which it was stated that the National Council of the Independent Labor Party was drawing up a new programme favoring direct, action, and making the aim of the party the end of the present capitalistic system. The programme says that the industrial organisation of society must be based on commercial ownership of land and capital, with a central body and local bodies representing the people. The message concludes thus: "The best means of effecting a peaceful revolution is for organised Labor to take over the industrial machine." When, in September last, the Labor Congress at Portsmouth (England) decided to institute a supreme Labor Cabinet of thirty, the chief argument in favor of a dominant body was: "Unless we can think and act in mass, we shall be defeated in detail." Mr. J. R. Clynes, M.P., who opposed the scheme, contended that what was really wanted was not representation of individaul trades, but the election of the best men available, regardless of their trades—a sentiment which should meet with general endorsement. It is obvious that any legislation which has the effect of giving recognition of guilds or other organisations outside the four corners of autocratic unionism would he strenuously opposed, for it might be the means of moderate Labor cutting [adrift from the extremists. At all 1 events it would enable all parties concerned to lay their views before the Arbitration Court, and it is only by hearing all sides that a just decision can be arrived at. "We have not," said Lord Birkenhead, "beaten the Kaiser to become the slaves of Mr. Robert Smillie and the unbalanced academics who do his thinking for him. . . . If the smash comes, it will not be society that will go to pieces." The Lord Chancellor advises the trades unions to shoulder their own responsibilies and to remember their obligations to their fellow citizens. Let them, he adds, divide and define:

1. When the leaders of a union or group of unions nre seeking strictly trade union ends by strictly trade union methods, then considerate conduct to fellow-citizens may well consort with rigid discipline, and the unions even if not always successor), will be powerful and respected engines of working-class progress, to which progress, there is no known or ascribable limit. 2. When trade union leaders use their position to seek political and even revolutionary ends by using power committed to them for one purpose or other purposes, which nre not only different but repellent, it is time for -tlie rank and file of the unions to take a hand in the game. Legislation that will facilitate this certainly prove advantageous to society.

ENCOURAGING OIL SEARCH. Vcav by year the importance of securing supplies of mineral oil lias become greater, and yet next to nothing lias been done by successive Governments either to encourage private enterprise in searching for oil, or any activity shown by the State in developing the oil resources of the Dominion. Meanwhile powerful, combines have been formed in other parts of the world to obtain and control supplies, with the result of a soaring, l in the price and frequently a curtailment of the quantity placed on the market. At last the Dominion Government has moved in the matter, and though tty? en- ■ couragement to prospectors lias been limited to placing a subsidy for the purpose on the same level as that extended to those seeking for coal, gold and precious stones, the concession must bo accepted as an acknowledgment by the Government of a duty that has been too long neglected. Judging by some of the items in the Supplementary Estimates, it would seem that the Government can spend money lavishly in ostentatious display and on objects that are a dead loss to the country, but when it comes to such a vital matter as developing the resources of the country a niggardly policy is exhibited. From an economic point of view this attitude is unsound and detrimental to the best interests of the country. The Industries Committee took a very proper view of this matte* by stating in its report: "The unsatisfactory position in regard to the whole question of oils is that the sources of supply are in far distant countries. Many countries similarly circumstanced to New Zealand are endeavoring to secure supplies from local sources, to render themselves independent, and are testing their own mineral oil possibilities" It has been stated that the Empire as a whole required six million tons of oil per annum, but at the present its total production capacity was under two million tons. This clearly demonstrates the urgency \for making every possible effort to develop all likely oilfields. Necessarily the difficulties and expense of searching for oil militate against private enterprise being attracted to this work, which more properly should be a national undertaking of prime importance. Possibly the time may come when the State will make an organised search for oil, and money judiciously spent on that work would never be grudged, while it may prove a remunerative operation.