MORE STRAIGHT TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 57, 7 March 1913, Page 6

MORE STRAIGHT TALK.

MR. MASSEY AND THE MINERS. A NEW HUNTLY UNION. (By Telegraph —Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. At the deputation which waited on the Prime .Milliliter as Minister ot Labour to-day. urging an inquiry into the recent formation of the Huntly Miners' I'nion. and the alleged victimisation of men who had been concerned in the labour trouble in that district, there were some lively passages between Mr Massey and a Federation of Labour leader. Mr Fulton. The latter condemned in strong terms the right given under the law to a minority of workmen to form a union registered under the Arbitration Act. lie entered a protest against the agreement that had been drawn up under which the new union agreed that It should be lia.ble to a penalty of £50 a day in the event of a strike, and expressed his belief that the judge of the Arbitration Court would not affix his Feal to such an award. Another thing wax; that when the secretary of the newunion applied for registration of its rules they were back in the hands of the secretary the day the union was registered. " Now," said Mr Fulton, " there has been some speedy work. We hold documentary evidence that you, as Minister for Labour, were pushing the matter through." Mr Massey: Kindly produce it. Mr Fulton: I can produce it. Mr Massey: Produce it now. Mr Fulton: You were pushing the matter through. Mr Massey: Do you mean that I was pushing it .through unproperlv or unfairly ? Mr Fulton: You were pushing it through. Mr Massey: Answer my question. Mr Fulton: Yes, I say unproperly. Mr Massey: The statement is contrary to fact. Mr Fulton: I shall produce the evidence. Mr Massey: You must accept my statement. If you don't. I refuse to hear you further. Mr Fulton read a telegram from one Walsh, which said: '-Received wire from Massey, Prime Minister, that application had been received, and that he was pushing it through." Mr Massey: That is not my wire. I don't accept that as a copy of anything I forwarded. I am prepared to stand by anything I put into a wire, make no mistake about that. That seems to indicate that there had been some delayed he wired to mc to expedite matters. I am prepared to place the original upon the table of the House. You made a very improper statement in regard to myself. You said I w_s pushing the matter through improperly and unfairly. Mr Fulton: I didn't use the word "unfairly" I used the word " impro- i perly." r |

Mr Massey: Very well, I contradicted you. and asked you to withdraw the word.

Mr Fulton: I accept your statement. Ihe -Prime Minister, in replying to the deputation, said it had been suggested that he should send the Conciliation Commissioner (Mr Harle Giles) to Huntly. Mr Giles had visited Huntly at his request in January, and had submitted, a; report .later on. He (Mr -Massey) received a letter from the solicitor to the federation, Mr o'Re<*an calling attention to certain alleged grievances and w it was impossible for him to get Mr Giles to go he instructed Mr .'T pc ? tOT < at u <*land, t° visit the district. As far as the law was concerned the Government recognised that its first duty was to administer the law •■ it found it, and he had instructed 7bU IT*' W ?° Wa3 a trU6ted and capable officer, to carry it out feariajy and impartially, and he thought he 1 «** Mr Lomas was" doing' that to the best of his ability. If ihe law was defective, it was the duty of coud am C t to f n it The Government could find nothing better to take the place of the Arbitration Act, and an teSW t0 ""* Act ™U be brought down next' session. His own and the desire of the Government to place such an Industrial Act upon the Statute Book as wouM give cemeTth 6 "V t0 b ° th P arti< * «» cerned, the employees on the one hand S et l, Un, °" isti 0r non-unionists, and the employers on the other. He believed they would be able to achieve £& o £"tt and -^ place on t,ie **E jalook an Act which would restore for a considerable time at all events that industrial peace which he was sorry To r/elvcloS. dUtUrbed ? * «* P~°

This morning Mr. Walsh wired to the Prime Minister as follows:-" R e inter view with yourself by Huntly socialists sssri? this momins ' s p^ rs «£ *W™!> We saying you were « pusnJ _£ £S£ _S_£_.*»-* -•-■