THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1907. THE OBVIOUS EFFECT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8369, 28 February 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1907. THE OBVIOUS EFFECT.

Despite the fact that the Arbitration Court has been in existence for the past twelve : years, and that during the whole of this time it has been busily; engaged settling disputes, it is steadily becoming more evident every day that the demands of Labour are far from satisfied, and we may well ask is this dissatisfaction based upon real grievances, or is it the out-

come of the'"chronic growl" condition of the Unionsy which appear to take the view that since there is an Arbitration Court there ought to be plenty of work for it to do! For our own part we consider that in a good many instances the working manusing the term broadly—is not as well off as he ought to be. It should be remembered that New Zealand is to-day "phenomenally prosperous," and that if the working classes as a whole are not doing very well now they may look, forward to the future with some degree of apprehension. There may never again be acute depression in this country, but it would be absurd to suppose that times as prosperous as the present are going to'continue year in and year out. Yet, though we are "phenomenally prosperous" we are heavily taxed—we might, almost aay phenomenally taxed. The prosperity of the country can only be really gauged by its capacity to resist depression. In this respect is New Zealand, strong? To some extent we would say "yes," but not to such an extent as is desirable. There is, admittedly, one unfortunate fact in

connection with the operations of the Arbitration Court, and that is that only certain or a limited number of the different classes of labour bring disputes before the Court. The Arbitration Court, if it is going to fulfil the mission for which it was created, should regulate the wages in connection with all labour —that is the wages or salaries of workers of every trade, business; or occupation. Such a work would be tremendously difficult to achieve, and we do not think any' Supreme Court judge would care to attempt it, though he might be prepared to sacrifice himself at the altar of duty. However, this is apart from the point of view which we wish to express. Since, therefore, the Court only regulates the wages of certain classes of labour, the obvious effect is, with the increased cost of living, due to in- j creasing the wages of various workers, that those workers who have not come before the Court, or who have not had their wages increased, have really suffered a decrease. A system somewhat similar to that known as "robbing .Peter to pay Paul!" Not all the Arbitration Courts, or Labour Unions, under the sun can make a sixpence "go" as far as a shilling. Labour has value, but that value cannot be altered at the will of a Labour Union, or at the mandate of a Supreme Court judge. The value of labour is governed by the laws of the science of wealth, and always will be. It is the function of the Arbitration Court to see that wages are fair and reasonable, but we have never held the view that the Court existed to make "high" wages, and if it were to follow such a course we do not think that capitalists would suffer to any extent—other classes of labour, the whole community, which is largely comprised of non-wealthy and working people, would feel the strain.