THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1912. THE ARBITRATION ACT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10691, 10 August 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1912. THE ARBITRATION ACT.

J The Maspoy Government is displaying conspicuous courage in facing the industrial problem early in its career. There is a considerable section of. the Qommunity which regards the legislative treatment of industrial questions ag merely a temporary -expedient and palliative. The neces-. sity for legislation to regulate the conditions of labour arise-s only when men; on either side resort to extreme measures. The experience in Now Zealand during the last twenty or thirty yeans has demonstrated the utter futility of attempting to regulate wages or hours of labour by arbitrjlioiii;. They cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be declared to have generally existed extreme demands on the part of either employer or employed. The desire to live and let live lui£. become so important an element in our social conditions that the conscientious worker has had iilo reason to fear victimisation at the hands of his employer. It has been only when the extremist—the agitator—has appeared upon the scene that the industrial equilibrium has been affected, and the demands upon the arbitration system put tao the se\ erest test. In those cases failure, and strikes have been the order of the day. It is safe to r.aserfc that, were the Arbitration and Coiidliatnion Act not in existence, tho general condition of the -woVkers would ! be just as satisfactory it ig to-day; I In proof of this, one has only to iook at those occupations which have out been regulated by Arbitration Court awards. The conseion-tious worker has Iml nothing to fear from the conscientious employer. It. has happened, however, that the demands) of extremists have proved so embarrassing to employers of labour a* to seriously restrict the avenues of employment. For this reason the operations of the Arbitration sysitem have been inimical to trade and injurious to the cause of labour. Since Parliament is being afforded the opportunity of reviewing the subject, it. would be well if the advisableness of returning to freedom of labour, with restrictions to hours, otc, were seriously discussed. Tlio Arbitration

ard Concilia teion- Act-, as at .prcfieii' > administered, is cumbrous and irritating. To eay that it prevents strike;* is to trifle with known facts. T< assert that it improves the relations between master and employed is to venture closely on the realm of romance. To allege tlnit it secures more regular and satisfactory employment for the groat bulk of the workers is to indulge in speculation pure and simple. What, then, has been the special value to the Dominion cf this industrial experiment ? Possibly some of the older member? of the House, who were responsible for its introduction', will discover some rational argument in its favour. At any rate, the opportunity will be afforded by the Prime Minister's amending Bill for the discussion of the whole subject.