Opinions from All Sources.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 184, 3 August 1901, Page 3

Opinions from All Sources.

The committee of the Nelson Chamber of Commerce- adopted a resolution calling attention to the unfairness of mortgagees being made responsible under the Workmen's Compensation Act in certain evouts, and poinding ou!> that ode efiect of the Act would be the preference of employment to single men. It was also urged that " hazardous employment h 8..0u1d be specified.

The chairman of the Wairoa branch of tlm New Zealaud Farmers' Union writes as follows to the Taranaki H«rald:— The success of tho Farmers' Union appears to have completely 'upset the equilibrium of the Premier and Borne of his followers, who very unwisely seem to ha"?fe declared war against it. Our union is s-ud to be political, and Mr Seddon, with a few of his devoted partisans, is going to starb'oue that is non-poJibifcal. Is not this good enomjh for a comic opera? It would certainly be hard to beat—the&maziiig want of logic displayed in assuming that a combination supported by man of every political parby is started purely in the interest* of party politics, whilsb one started by a party leactor and his followers is non-political. The majority of the members will dictate the policy of the union, and the fear and distrust of the farmers shown by our legislators can have bub one jpsult—that of driving every farmer into the combination. The thingm going to be a BUCCCBS. How our labour -works, says the New Zealand Herald, may be judged by the fact that both parties in the mining dispute have declined to accept the award made' by the Conciliation Board, and have appealed to the Arbitration Court. Ths hearing of the dispute before the Board lasted over three months, and bfie Board actually sat on fifty da*s. It is, we think, a moderate estimate that each day's sitting co3t £BO, taking into account the sums paid to member* of tho 80-ird, the cosb of bringing and paying witnesses and making allowance foe the large number of persons who h*d to attend on both sides. This would make the actual cosb of the proceedings, which have proved absolutely useless, about £4OOO. Possibly tho prooeedmga before the Arbitration C >urt will coat is much as those bjfore the Conciliation Brard. Indeed, in all probability the hearing of this dispute will coat in all nearly £20,000 And this n , colony which, by official mou'h'. . ,I,..'ared in London to have abol'-. •*!' labour difficultiesfey co have avoided all th« cm4..s,rtA \-m of strikes. Why, since t- * was started ten tini'.-j i.h<; been wasted than on .tiikt; (.:;;;•'>'>g the whole history of New Ze«,lan.'l, Ab the annual meeti*K. o* the Employers' Association in on Thursday, Mr J. A. I-'rcv-jiok st.n>>l • thab the year jusb passed had been ft!'! of anxiety to many employers .»iid the coming year did not promiw ir'!astci.al' .p/!BC8. ' Though bhe colony v;&l- :- ( >-.•oiaLly adapbed for genuine progress, he questioned the wisdom of lightly casting 'aside economic principles which had stood the teßt of fifty years. The duby of the; Arbitration Court was to ascertain the market value of labour, anil employers should give the Court every assistance to •do bo. Referring to Boards of Coneifi-: ation, he had failed to notice in Chrisbohurch one insbance where -an attempt bo '■ conciliate bad been made.

We have been running one of the -largest mills in Ne* Zealand for over, twelve years, and never had any diffi-: oulty with our men about holidays. And ; they were always satisfied with dmr: dealings with thein "until carpet-bag' legislators and buah lawyers (iustiigated; strikes a»<l caused trduble hetween employers and employed. If Parliament wiilinsistuponpaßt-ing legislation iuterfering between employers and employees, as has been the case for the paßt few years, there will be nothing for it but for manufaomrera who have large wages bills to pay to shot down altogether and i allow the Government to find employ, ment for all hands at ;tbe expense of she ratf.pnyerß of the colony. The;last Accident Insurance Bill passed through the House is a fair specimen of the legislation we may expect in the future. Bo far'employers have Jet their wteitest*

II go by'.,the board, bat in future tbey mußt J insist on obtaining justice or retire from business altogether, with whatever few goundothey may be able to dispose of y, their bnsio'esses fdr. I can say with, confidence that no manufacturer in our .■' line cau expect to make a dividend for

i fiims.elf or his shareholders uuder the i present conditions of labour.—Mr Evans, I Timarn,'on the Factories Bill. Farmers as a class cannot fail to be 1 keenly interested in the movement initiated in the North Island, but ap-

parently spreading to the South, to \ concentrate energies for the protection j of their interests into a body known as I the New Zealand Farmers' Union. Properly and wholly administered, the , New Zealand Farmers' Union should become'the greatest industrial combination in the oolooy. And it is befitting • that it should be so. As a distinct class •those who follow Agricultural and pastoral pursuits largely preponderate over

those belonging to any other calling. Tlie immense power for shaping tha policy of toe country 'possesned by agricultural communities h*s hitherto been split up ino indefinite fragments and almost entirely dissipated before any decisive blow for the permanent wellbeing of tuo industry could be struck. Trades unionism haa to be the dominating fuotor in political life. This 'ii the fetish that hira been jealously propitiated by the S;dd:«u Goveramjut for the simple reason that it held, and still'hoids, the fare of the Libeial party in the hollow of its hand. As a result,

legislation dictated by the workers has -been called into being, much of which is fcirbirely inimical to the beat iutereetß of the-.producers, the evi'.s in due course bsing reflected 'back to the detriment <.f the woikeia. But thu labour un on giant may be overshadowed and reduced

in stature to proportions which no longer menace the community, and thiß only by Betting up a larger combination armed with m re legitimate ends to serve, those of the proper development of the natural resources of the colony. In the firm e.j (*bli«hmeit of the N- w id farmers' Union that object is to be achieved. At present the farmer's vote is of no more value than that of the worthless Hundcwne", but backed by th» iu 1 force 6f an intelligently g iverned union, its weight would be enormous.— M«taura Ensign. It is high time that a strong protect was B >uuded by the employers, who-e responsibilities have occupied the full

attention of our legislators for the last decade, but whose rights have received Only the scantiest consideration. The Whole tendoucy of all our labour legislation nas been in the same direction. Good wages >*nd short hours of work have been the goal that has be-.n aimed at, and unless a halt is soon called we have no hesitation in predioiing that manufactures in New ZeaUnd will be an unknown quantity, and the workers will find that they iiav* simply cut their own throats.— Morning Poht.