THE WAY OUT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9056, 3 April 1908, Page 4

THE WAY OUT.

The idea of imprisonment in lieu of pliyment of fine for broach of a lahour award must be repugnant to all lovers of legitimate liberty, and it is surely a legitimate if not a legal liberty for any man or'body of men to refuse work under conditions 1 which are or have become unacceptable to him or them. To send to prison a man who revolts against certain conditions attached to labour, and is unable, or even unwilling, to pay his fine, savoui'3 of injustice. Nevertheless, if the Arbitration Act is to be maintained—and we believe the majority of the people of the dominion favours its maintenance in principle at any rate—its awards and punishments must be upheld. Mr W. Fraser, M.P. for Wakatipu, has indicated a means whereby the Act may be upheld without recourse

to such drastic procedure as imprisonment for non-payment of fine. He suggests that the Union which encourages a strike should have its registration, with all the privileges attached thereto, cancelled should it fail to comply with a decree of the Arbitration Court; and if individuals (as in the slaughtermen's strike) fail to pay fines imposed for breach of an award they should be debarred from membership of their Union; nor should any other Union admit them until their fines were paid. This seems to be a reasonable and very practicable suggestion, and would, doubtless, if embodied in an amendment of the Arbitration Act, prove efficacious without being in any way unduly harsh.