The Te Puke Times FRIDAY, DEC 19. HON. J. A. MILLAR ON THE STRIKE.

Te Puke Times, Volume II, Issue II, 19 December 1913, Page 2

The Te Puke Times FRIDAY, DEC 19. HON. J. A. MILLAR ON THE STRIKE.

No one 'in this country who knows anything of the career of theSHon. J. A. Millar, member for Dunedin West in the House of Representatives; and Minister for Railways and Labour in the late Ward Ministry, will accuse that gentleman of being unsympathetic with Labour, or of not being; conversant with every phase of the Labour question. Mr Millar came into public prominence as one of the leaders in the great {maritime strike of 1890, and since then, both as a private member and as a Minister of the Crown, has done his best to fur.ther the cause of Labor in every legitimate way. The remarks made by Mr Millar recently on the second reading of the Labor Disputes Investigation Bill are, therefore, of especial interest at the present time. Mr Millar said:

-"His idea was that the sooner the strike was over the better it would be for the workers. When ■ was the worker going to learn the lesson that a section of the public cannot defy the whole of the public ? The strike was never any good for the working man. The sympathetic strike was always ardent at first, but it cooled quickly, as soon as the strikers felt their pockets touched He was surprised at any representative of Labor opposing this Bill. It was the missing link in our arbitration system, providing as it did for the settlement of labour disputes among workers not under the Arbitration Act. The Bill was drafted mainly on the model of the Canadian legislation, but it was better than the Canadian system in that it recognised the union and not the individual workers only. 'From a unionist's point of view this was a great recommendation to the Bill. The .workers concerned would be protected against themselves. Men in a crowded meeting who had been addressed by an orator could be induced to vote for any isolation when their passions were aroused. He knew that this was so, because he had seen men agree to strike against advice in just such circumstances. Nothing could be fairer than the Bill. All that it prevented was the hasty strike. The one defect .injt, he thought, was that in i

the sympathetic strike was not touched. The Bill presupposed a dispute. He would point out to the member for Avon that no Government had had anything to. do with the 1890 strike, and no Government could have stopped it, chiefly because it originated in New Soutli Wales. Sir James Mills, of the Union Company, and he, as secretary of the union, did all they could to prevent that strike coming to New Zealand. In this they failed, but the condi-, tions were very different then from what they were to-day. There was no machinery then to investigate a dispute. A strike was all very well for a union while it could ;keep its men together, but as soon as individuals began to go back to work the strike was virtually over. A great deal had been said about the Government taking action to end the strike. With all due deference to the men who had said this, he would like to ask them what the Government should do ? Qould the Government bring down legislation to say that all members of the Federation of, Labour would have to join unions under the Arditration Act ? No Government in the world had ever ventured to interfere, in contracts between empioyer and employee. It was .impossible to force a man to work under cer-tain-conditions unless he.approved of them. And employers could not be compelled to employ men unless they wished to do so. He admitted that if he had been Minister of Labour he did not see how he could have brought in any proposals to Parliament that could have done justice to the present trouble. It was a great pity the strike had ever occurred, and he was credibly informed that if the whole of the Australian unions came out it would force an agreement between the strikers and the employers here. The men might as well unclerstand at once that no matter what happened the employers would not enter into any agree-, ment with the Federation of Labour., The-men might s'ay out for six months; but tliey would' find themselves in exactly lhe same position at the end of the time as they were now. He had just the same sympathy for Labour as he had 30 years a.20, and no man would do more for Labour than he was willing to do,so long as Labour was sane. But if Labour was not sane,. then there was only one thing to doLabour must-be allowed to go its own way. He congratulated the Minister of Labour on having introduced the Bill." (Applause). It will be seen that Mr Miller thoroughly approves of the attitude of the Government in relation to the strike. . I

; V-A hew roadster gig is offered 'for sale by Messrs Washer and Wright. ■~-.:.; ' fc&.The finder of a purse containing a, sum of money, lost in the \ Post Office or its vicinity, will be Rewarded on returning same to y v Times Office. - ■ ■ :; A;line of 300,fwesand lambs '/advertised to be sold by the New 'i Zealand Loan and' Mercantile "' Company at their next stock sale will not come forward,, the wet weather having prevented their , being shorn; ■ Mr R. Tees," Secretary of the local Chamber of Commerce, has received ,a letter from the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Auckland,' stating that particulars of the forthcoming sale of sections in the Aturoa Village will be published in the Te Puke Times, and that the sale will.probably be held in. Rotdrua, in conjunction uvith the sale of .other lands.