T. R. LEITHEAD.]

I.—9a.

79

160. Of course, the union would have a committee? —I believe they had. 161. How many of those members are now working in the works?— That I could not say; but two of those who took a prominent part left. Capil went to start dairy-farming in the North Island, and another one left, entirely of his own accord, to take up the same thing up the Wanganui River. I think Hansen was only the figurehead of the thing; Ido not think he took any active part in it. 162. Why should the men seek to have a person as representative—either president or secretary —who is unacquainted with the industry?—l could not say. 163. There were a number of the workpeople summoned to give evidence on that occasion, were there not?— Yes. 164. Of course, you would know their names?— Yes, we would. We have a copy of the evidence that was given, I believe. 165. How many of them are now in the factory? —I should say the bulk of them are. I could give you three or four cases of men who were working there and left entirely of their own accord to go elsewhere. For instance, Capil, Sanson, Pearce. I think all the girls who have not left to get married are there yet. 166. Of course, there would be girl witnesses? —Yes. 167. As a rule, when they get married, do they leave? —Yes. I think we have one or two married women working in the mill. J. C. Cooper examined. (No. 20.) 1. The Chairman.] Where do you live, Mr. Cooper?—At Tane, Pahiatua. 2. What are you?—A farmer. 3. Are you engaged in agriculture or dairying?—ln the pastoral industry—sheep-farming principally. 4. Have you seen this Bill—the Arbitration and Conciliation Act Amendment Bill?— Yes. 5. Will you please tell us what you think of it?—l speak not only for myself, but as a member of the Advisory Board of the Farmers' Union. Some little time ago the Advisory Board met and discussed this Bill, amongst other things, and we came to the conclusion, I may say unanimously, that it was a decided improvement upon the present Act, and we felt that we could compliment the Minister upon what he had done in bringing this measure forward Ido not know whether these documents that I have here are of any value; they are letters from the various provincial secretaries of our organtization asking that our Advisory Board take in hand the matter of giving evidence. lam acting on their hebalf. [Witness handed in letters empowering him to represent the Nelson Provincial Executive of the Farmers' Union, the Taranaki Provincial Executive, the Otago Executive, and the Marlborough Farmers, which letters were examined and accepted by the Chairman.] I do not think, Mr. Chairman, that it is at all necessary for me to go into details, which you have already heard from the gentlemen who represent Canterbury. What I want more particularly to bring up is the suggestion that the Advisory Board of the union desire to put forward for your consideration in dealing with this matter. Like the Canterbury people, we recognise that any award that would be given by the Arbitration Court concerning the farmingindustry would be to that industry's disadvantage. It would not matter what it might be or how lenient it might be, it would be more or less to the disadvantage of the farming interests. At the same time we saw clearly, or at least we thought we saw clearly, that it would be a matter of great difficulty to exclude the farming interests entirely from the operation of any Act which you might bring in for the benefit of the workers of the colony generally, because I think we all recognise that the country worker is certainly the most numerous by far, and we thought that if you could not agree to the suggestion that our industry should be excluded, you might seriously consider a proposal of this sort: that at least half the workers engaged in an industry should be members of the union before they were able to cite a body of farmers to appear before the Arbitration Court. Our reason for asking this is what has taken place in Canterbury, where, comparatively speaking, a small number of men were able to cite between seven and eight thousand farmers. Now, the conditions existing in Canterbury, though they are varied, are not as varied as they are in other parts of the colony, particularly the North Island; and if an award is given in Canterbury, as it may possibly be given, we know perfectly well that other provinces of the colony are likely to be in the same position shortly afterwards. Take, for instance, the Wellington Province, in which lam more particularly interested: we have at the present time in Masterton, I believe, a small Labourers' Union. I believe its numerical strength is very small, but no matter; it is sufficiently strong within the meaning of the present Act to cite, if it chooses, every farmer in the Wellington Province to appear before the Arbitration Court, and, perhaps, to get an award. Well, the conditions existing in the Wellington Province are probably the most varied in all the colony. Immediately around Masterton itself is an agricultural district, very much like the greater portion of Canterbury, and the workers of that district—that is, if they are genuine workers who are members of this union at all—are simply acquainted with one form of agricultural or farm labour, yet if that union cites the farmers and makes a demand it will probably do so on the broad principles that they have followed in Canterbury, where demands were made which if brought into practice, or even partly put into practice, would make it impossible for a large portion of the farming industry to be carried on at all. Now, in the Wellington Province we have got in Masterton itself almost a purely agricultural district. Immediately south of Masterton, in the Wairarapa, we have a district where the farmers are engaged almost entirely in dairying. Further south of that again, in the lower portion of the Wairarapa, we have an industry which is principally fattening, while in the coast district the industry is what is known as breeding, sheeprunning, stock-rearing, and fattening. On the west coast, again, we have a district where the farmers are engaged to a large extent in mixed farming —dairying, agriculture, and fattening—