THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1913. THE BETTER SPIRIT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 16 September 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1913. THE BETTER SPIRIT.

"It is not by legislation and regulation, after all, but only by the growth of the better spirit and the gradual , spread of common-sense that industrial peace and the well-being of workers can be secured." This.opinion, expressed by one o£ the leading journals of the Dominion, will be shaded by. a very large section of the community. Over twenty years ago the Legislature of New Zealand, after the bitter experience of a maritime strike, conceived the idea of conciliation and arbitration as a means of adjusting industrial differences. For a period the operatioi.of the law appeared, td produce beneficial results, although the warning was issued that the restrictions placed upon trade would be followed by such an increase in the cast of living as would result in excessive demands and ultimate revolt. That warning was not heeded, and as time went on the conditions became so exasperating that the system of arbitration and conciliation broke down under its own weight. Numerous efforts have been made to reinforce it with amendments, but these have proved only temporary expedients, and one after the other they have collapsed, until to-day the Dominion is no more immune from strikes than it was twenty years ago. It is quite clear also that the industrial classes, after their experience under conciliation and arbitration, are determined that they shall not surrender the right to strike. In an interview in Dunedin on Friday last, the secretary of the Drivers' Union said: "It is absolutely futile to legislate to stop strikes, and the fact that a body of statesmen, purporting to govern the country in a statesmanlike manner, attempt to legislate to prevent strikes, simply demonstrate their' absolute inability to govern the country in the interests of the people."

This view is, no doubt, generally entertained by the workers throughout the Dominion. The natural inference is that strikes are in the best interests of the country. Whether they are, or are not, the workers consider that any person who legislates to prevent the'n demonstrates "his absolute incapacity to govern the country in the interests of the people." Very well, then. If the right to strike is to be retained, why should the country be put to the expense of maintaining the conciliation and arbitration system? Why should industry and trade be fettered with regulations which are binding only upon one side to the contract? ' Why not wipe the Conciliation and Arbitration Act right off the Statute Book and allow people to employ or to be employed as they think fit? . Have the operations of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act in either New Zealand or Australia tended to the development of "the better spirit?" Are the conditions to-day better than they were twenty yearß ago? T>oes the wofrker display a greater interest in his work, and strive to do better by Bis master, since he came under an award of the Arbitration.Coturt Does the master feel a greater interest in his men now that he is bound by bard- ! and-fast regulations? These questions' require no answer. Tb> industrial unrest, the strikes and rumours of strikes, the rioting and bloodshed that have darkened the pages of our history during the last yW or two speak for themselves. ~ If it be true, then, that industrial peace can only be maintained by the growth of the better spirit, how is it possible to cultivate .that spirit? Can the passing of punitive 4 * laws be regarded as a means towards attaining the end? Will they riot excite antagonism and revolt instead of producing harmony? This is a question which our legislators should seriously consider at the present juncture. If we were asked td define the "better spirit," we should say it was the spiriW>f .toleration, the spirit of universal brotherhood, the spirit of • rightebusness which exalteth a nation. The problem is not in the definition, however, but in the attainment of the objective. How can we produce in the avaricious employer and the dishonest employee the better spirit? May i%iot be accomplished by example rather than by the application of rigorous legal enactments ? If the Government, as employers of labour, were to set the example as to how men should be treated, and if Government employees were to demonstrate their appreciation of the treatment they receive in a proper manner, would the way not be paved t for A. social. revolution ? If ' private employers' were W rec.bg-- . nise their obligations to the dullest, ' and men were to' feel their responsi-as-servants, the effect would soon be manifest upon our industrial institutions. The regulation by law of the relations between man and man mereiy/serves to create suspicion and distrust. 'lf employers arid employees were to feel themselves honourably bound to do their duty by one another, we should have fewer strikes, arid would be much nearer the goal of industrial peace than we can ever hope to be under existing conditions.