PARALYSIS OF TRADE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1938, Page 6

PARALYSIS OF TRADE

MINISTERS ON AUCKLAND HOLD-UP NEED OF BETTER METHODS OF REGULATION BUSINESS OF THE COUNTRY MUST GO ON (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. The necessity for having some more satisfactory method of settling industrial disputes without holding up the trade of the country was stressed by both .the Prime Minister, Mr Savage' and the Minister of Labour, Mr Armstrong, when referring on Saturday to the Auckland waterfront dispute. Mr Savage said there had to be a better foundation for work on the waterfront, and Mr Armstrong said the present frightful uncertainty could not be tolerated. Some kind of inquiry would have to be made in regard to work on the waterfont.

The Government was immediately concerned about the dispute because of the Government property and goods on the ships involved, said Mr Savage. That was one aspect of the question, but the Government was concerned also for everybody else’s goods and for keeping industry going. He was not suggesting that the men should accept any sort of terms at all. and he was I not suggesting that the fault was on any particular side, but he was saying quite definitely that the time had come for the Government to play some part in keeping industry running smoothly. This waterfront trouble was the way to crucify the Government and the people of the country, and whatever was necessary to be done by the Government to keep industry going it would be its job to see that it was done. “The whole thing is wrong and there must be a better foundation for work on the waterfront,” said Mr Savage. “Some means must be evolved of setling these disputes, without holding up trade, both external and internal. The whole economic life of the country is being strangled while arguments are taking place between the companies and the watersiders. It would be in everybody's interests if we had an improved method of settling these things. It should be possible to do justice to all concerned without holding up the country’s business.” AN INQUIRY PROPOSED. The need for an inquiry- into conditions on the waterfront generally with a view to arriving at a more satisfactory state of affairs was referred to by Mr Armstrong, following the receipt of advice shortly after noon on Saturdday that the men involved in the Auckland dispute hdd decided to resume work today on the conditions suggested by the watersiders’ national executive. What form the inquiry would take he was unable to say, but a more satisfactory state of affairs would have to exist in the future. Mr Armstrong said the whole of the commerce of the country could not be paralyzed simply because there happened to be an argument between some waterside workers and the foreman of a shipping company. It seemed to him that shipping companies imagined it was their duty to uphold the foreman on all occasions, and possibly the waterside workers were a bit that way too. However, the Government had its responsiblity to the community generally. Why should the whole commerce of the country be paralyzed and the people penalized because of a slight difference between these two sections? The Government had said repeatedly that if private enterprise failed to serve the interests of the people, then it would have to do the job itself, and possibly some consideration should be given to that aspect. In any case the business of the country must go on without interruption, and the Government thought that could be done without doing any -injustice either to the workers or to the employers.