Wairarapa Age MORNING JAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1911. OUR INDUSTRIAL LAWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10163, 13 February 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING JAILY. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1911. OUR INDUSTRIAL LAWS.

The position in regard to the industrial laws of New Zealand is exciting a good deal of attention just now in the Commonwealth and other parts of the-British Empire. The open disrespect shown by a certain section of the labouring class for the Arbitration Court, and the cancellation of the registration of a number of Unions, has created a suspicion that the industrial upheaval which the Otago: Trades and Labour Council ha 8 threatened is. nearer - »at hand than most people care to imagine. Mr H'. Y.'Braddon, in delivering a paper before the social and statistical science section of.the Australas-i iaii Association for the Advancement of Science, referred to the industrial outlook in New Zealand in the following terms:—"The outlook, in New Zealand was distinctly gloomy, and on the industrial horizon of the Dominion loomed a cloud' sis large as a man's hand. It looked as if the period of expansion was ended, and it was said the industries could not stand added burdens. Meantime the unions, led by socialistic agitators, coiitinued to insistently make demands. Nothing was more likely in the early future than an open defiance of the Act, and a general resort to strikes. Already many unions were cancelling their registration s under the Act—in itself :. n ominous sign. On .their side the employers would almost welcome an upheaval, in the hope that some unknown good might -come out of" it. They were .tired of the restrictive conditions, the multiplied awards, the reduced output per man, and the continuous surveillance by Government inspector and union secretaries. Both sides seemed to i:e girding for a fight on a large scale/'