THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1908. NOT ALTOGETHER UNSATISFACTORY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9154, 29 July 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1908. NOT ALTOGETHER UNSATISFACTORY.

The decision of the special Board of Conciliation, which sat upon the tramways dispute at Auckland the other day, need not be regarded as being altogether unsatisfactory. The special Board's decision certainly was special—very special and extraordinary indeed—and tends like manj of the awards already in existence in this country to bring about an upheaval in industrial circles that is inevitable in'the near future, after which there will probably be quite a lengthy spell of industrial peace and prosperity. At present the position is not a source of unlimited joy to either employers or employees—there are reforms wanted, and various restrictions on industrial enterprise should be removed. In discussing the tramway case the "Auckland Herald" remarks:—This finding imperiously confiscates the essential right of the employer to work his

business with "suitable" men, for 7a valid reason" must henceforth be given for any and every "dismissal"—in other words, an employer who is dissatisfied with an employee and considers that he has good reason to be rid of him, has no longer the right to give notice which the employee possesses. There is apparently no way by which an emploj er can get rid of an employee whom he no lunger wants unless he can obtain a "valid reason" satisfactory to some outsider who neither take the risks of the business nor share its responsibilities. The tramway management are compelled to take back a man who has been dismissed and are deprived henceforward of the right to dismiss those whom they think merely unsuitable. They are also required to dismiss a deputy-manager whom they trust, and whom they wish to retain in their service. Are we not evidently reaching a time when dismissal and appointment are to be determined by irresponsible union committees, and when those who find the capital for industrial operations will be contemptuously ignored? This decision strips employers of legitimate and necessary control, leaves business organisation at the mercy of trumpery charges and frivolous attacks, and cannot but shake public confidence in special boards of conciliation.