“A WILL O’ THE WISP”
WAGES AND SOARING PRCES. WORKERS’ REMEDY OR CURE. •Interesting remarks on the industrial situation were made at the welcome tendered at Auckland to Mr. Justice Fraser, the newly-appointed president of the Arbitration Court. Mr. Justice Stringer, the retiring president, said he had been appointed president of the Court in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of war, and practically the whole period of his service had been one of rapidly rising prices and nearly the whole of his time had been engaged in pursuing practically a will o’ the wisp. The remedy applied was perhaps only a palliative and not a true remedy, and in some cases it might have aggravated the disease. “I cannot help thinking,” he continued, “that the workers had a remedy, or a cure which would have assisted the remedy, by adopting a policy of producing more and consuming less in order that the soaring of prices might have been checked. I hope we have reached the peak of high prices, and I think we must contemplate the period o-f decrease in prices. The consequence will be that the machinery of the Arbitration Court will probably have to be reversed, and I know from my own little experience in controlling engines of the reverse gear you are very apt to make mistakes and come to grief. Mr. Justice Fraser -will probably have more difficulty than I had, but he may be congratulated upon the fact that he will have the assistance of experienced and highly-skilled associates. In the course of his reply to the speeches of welcome, Mr. Justice Fraser said he felt sure the real difficulties that were troubling the labor world just now were perhaps not quite so much economic as spiritual. We certainly had our material economic difficulties, but the aftermath of war, brought about only a spirit of restlessness and mistrust, but we required something in the nature of spiritual belief in our relations with One another. “We hear of class warfare, hatred, and suspicion,” said His Honor, “but I do not think it is good for people to live in this atmosphere. Of course, a good healthy hate —when there is some justification for it—is not a bad thing, but it is not a good thing to hate when it is possible to do without it. What I am hopeful I shall be able to do is to bring about some measure of Industrial peace, a genuine peace, and not an earned truce. What I can do in this direction I shall be very glad indeed to do.”
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Taranaki Daily News, 15 February 1921, Page 2
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431“A WILL O’ THE WISP” Taranaki Daily News, 15 February 1921, Page 2
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