GETTING TOGETHER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 January 1939, Page 7

GETTING TOGETHER

LABOUR MINISTER’S PLANS FOR INDUSTRY PROPOSED ADVISORY COUNCIL. CONFERENCE IN WELLINGTON. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. His intention to arrange for a conference in Wellington next week on the lines of those already held in Invercargill. Dunedin and Christchurch, at which the Employers’ Federation, the Federation of Labour, the chambers of commerce, the Farmers’ Union and the Sheep Owners' Federation have been represented, with the hope of arriving at a decision to set up an industrial advisory council on which all the interests will be represented to deal conjointly with their problems, was announced by the Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, in an interview last evening. Mr Webb said that for some time he had felt the need for greater co-opera-tion between the productive agencies of the country. It seemed a wrong policy for the different sections of the community to be standing apart, throwstones at each other, instead of getting together and co-operating in facing the problems confronting them. ECONOMIC WELFARE.. “So I decided to convene conferences in the various cities between representatives of the Employers’ Federation, the Federation of Labour, the chambers of commerce, the Farmers’ Union, and the Sheep Owners’ Federation," Mr Webb said. “In fact, every section of industry is invited to be represented

for the purpose of discussing problems affecting the country’s economic welfare. “During the holidays I availed myself of the opportunity of convening meetings in Invercargill, Dunedin, and Christchurch, and contacted the various organisations in Auckland. lam pleased to say that the conferences were exceptionally well attended, and a most hopeful spirit prevailed. The determination seemed to be expressed by both employers and employees to put aside political prejudice and bias and get together to consider ways and means of more advantageously working existing industries and developing others. During my whole tour I did not strike one discordant note to the programme outlined."

BENEFITS OF CONSULTATION. The Minister said it was his desire, before introducing legislation affecting the industries, to consult them and give them an opportunity of preparing a Bill that would give expression to their wants. In short, he wanted to get every element of knowledge of the industries expressed in his legislation. ’ “I adopted that principle when building up the Coal Mines and Mining Bills, where representatives of the miners, the mine managers, the mining inspectors, and the mining companies were invited to send in suggested amendments to the Bills in question,” the Minister said. "On receipt of these I prepared Bills which embodied a great number of the suggestions made. “Some of the clauses were not acceptable to the employers, while others did not meet with the approval of the workers. But they agreed to compromise their differences in order to hand me Bills that would give practical expression to the needs of the industries." OIL INDUSTRY LEGISLATION. In framing the petroleum legislation the Minister said, he had adopted similar methods. After outlining the policy of the Government in connection with the ownership of all oil discovered, he had consulted the interested parties and informed them that he was prepared to amend the Bill from A to Z in order to meet their requirements provided the cardinal principle of ownership was not interfered with. “Oil company representatives from all over the world gave very valuable evidence, as this class of legislation was new to New Zealand,” Mr Webb said. “The Farmers' Union also gave evidence, and when the Bill was even-, tually agreed to there was little discus-1 sion in the House because it was re-1 cognised that this, along with the mining Bills, was the result of the co-op-j erative efforts of all parties affected. T| think I can reasonably claim, on the evidence submitted by people from j overseas, that our mining, coalmining and petroleum legislation is the finest | of the kind on any Statute Book in the j world." Mr Webb said that in contemplated legislation governing labour conditions it was his hope that there could be dc-

veloped the same spirit of co-opera-tion, and he was confident that if that was done’ much friction would be avoided and better results obtained. “I am further convinced that no | matter how big the problems and the j difficulties of handling them may ap-[ pear to be. with the combined intclli-1 gence of the parties concerned expressed in a sympathetic way those problems will soon be solved." the Minister said.

CANTERBURY COUNCIL representation scale. ONE SEAT FOR FARMERS' UNION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH. January 11. Surprise that the provincial cxecu-j live of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union should have only one seat of the 30 employers’ seats on the proposed Canterbury Council of Industry was expressed by several speakers, including Mr Mulholland. Dominion president of the union, at today’s meeting of the executive. The meeting elected | the provincial president. Mr I. L. M. j Coop, as its representative on the, council. In the discussion the possible work of j the new councils was the subject of

conjecture by several speakers, but there was general support for a motion that the union should be represented and also for a suggestion by Mr Mulholland that the executive should take care to make it very clear in the meantime that farmers were not bound by the council’s decisions. Mr Mulholland, asked by a member to give his view on the proposal, said that it seemed to him that at the moment the Minister did not yet know exactly what he wanted. However, he thought that the union should accept the invitation to send a representative because it was possible that much good work would be done by the new councils. It was of the utmost importance. however, that the union and farmers generally should retain a free hand.

The need for this free hand was obvious:. continued Mr Mulholland. Farmers in their negotiations with farm labour had to deal with an organisation which had in its ranks very many members whose interests were actually in conflict with those of farm workers. He had a suspicion that the councils were really designed to do much -more important work titan seemed likely from a surface view. It was possible that they were designed to have a measure of control over industry, and that possibility, too, made it important that farmers should retain freedom of action.

‘•We have to look gift horses in the mouth these days." added Mr Mulholland. However, provided it retained its freedom, the union could do no harm by being represented on the council. Even if its representation, one member out of a total of 20 (10 employers and 10 workers), was small, its influence and that of the primary industries would be stronger than it seemed numerically.

Other members agreed with Mr Mulholland that the invitation to join the council should be accepted, and said

that, though the numerical representation was too small, such other primary industry representatives as the sheepowners’ union might be included.