THE LABOUR LAWS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12637, 26 October 1905, Page 4

THE LABOUR LAWS.

In regard to the labour laws of thi& colony, Mr Rassett revealed an equally; broad-minded and liberal dispositionHe is an employer of labour, but he* made it perfectly clear that in his opinion reasonable legislation for the protection of the workers is both desiraibleand necessary. He would be no party to the repeal of the existing laws, but, while giving his rote to safeguard theirs essential principles, he would support such aimendraents as would tend to! remove existing inequalities and to make their application more equitable to all concerned. His suggestion that workers who have attained the age of,, say 60 or 65 years, should be exempted from the operation of 'industrial laws has much to commend it to the favourable consideration of the workers themselves, and was supported by argument' which was both logical and humane.. It was- fin eloquent plea for the just recognition of the claims of the veterans in the industrial field and a force* ful protest against the. humiliating and. degrading indignity to whioh they ai'e> now subjected. His idea is that all workers, men and women, should be relieved of the necessity of working after a certain age; but failing the consummation oftihat ideal he would protect, those who have to work in their old age from having to bear the degrading, badge of the " inefficient." That the* exemption of eldev'y-workers .from, the operation .■ of the industrial awardswould not seriously prejudice the interests of the workers as a whole h©ehowed conclusively, and, apparently,." to the complete eatisf action of kis hearers. His condemnation of Ministerial inconsistency in, the matter of labour legislationT-'aa shdwn ~byiihe persistentrefusal cf 4he Government to apply; their laws to State empioyees-r-met witJt the full appreciation of the large audience. To Sir■:■ Joseph Ward's excuse* that to subject-railway men ;and othersto the awai'ds of jhe Arbitration Court would " seriously disturb tie finances of the Colony," Mr Baseett pertinently replied that the Government never' allow-r

Ed a similar consideration for the finances of private employers to hind@tr the application of the awards to them,; no matter how seriously it might disturb their financial arrangements. But,. as lie pointed but, Sir Joseph Wocd'oexcuse is untenable co far as the Government as concerned, and, in any case,, fhe difficulty apprehended by the Minister could be easily met by the provision tlhat an award affecting a State Department should not tak© effecb during the ourrency of the financial year ittwhich the award-was made.