WELLINGTON EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7831, 25 June 1909, Page 1

WELLINGTON EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION.

The annual report of this Association contains the following passages: ARBITRATION ACT AMENDMENT. "This was the most important measure dealt with by last Parliament! Your committee believes that the abolition of conciliation boards, the establishing of conciliation councils (comprising employers and workers actually engaged in the trade in which the dispute has arisen), and the appointment of permanent conciliation commissioners (who are given a free hand to adopt any method deemed advisable to induce the parties to come to agreement), will be more conducive to industrial peace than any previous proposal or measure. So' far the working and results of this new machinery have proved eminently satisfactory, and give promise of doing away with the bitter feeling that was apt to be displayed in disputes before conciliation boards and the Arbitration Court. "The hearing of breach of award j cases by magistrates is not favoured by your committee. It is considered the Court making the awards is the tribunal best able to interpret them, and as precedents in similar cases, while the varying decisions of a number of magistrates will probably lead to confusion and uncertainty. "The unduly heavy fines imposed by some magistrates on the hearing of the first cases brought before them gave rise to considerable apprehension, and employers protested against the imposition of heavy penalties that were much more severe than the Arbitration, Court had at any time imposed for similar breaches of award. There are indications that, as the decisions and rulings of the Arbitration Court are becoming better known, a more reasonable view of the relative seriousness or otherwise of breaches of awards is being taken. Your committee, therefore, hopes and expect that the extreme penalties imposed for comparatively trivial breaches on the first coming into operation of the new procedure will not be again inflicted on employers. SOCIALISM. "The spread of current Socialistic ideas amongst the workers and other residents of the dominion was recognised early in last year. In order to emphasise the opinion of the employers of the dominion that the nationalisation of means of production, as suggested by the Socialists, would mean the removal of incentives to personal effort and enterprise, and would prove fatal to the best interests of the country and people, your association, in conjunction with, kindred associations throughout the dominion, passed resolutions urging upon all non-Socialis-tic political parties the need for the sinking of minor ditferences and for their combining to combat the propaganda of the political Socialists. "Your committee believes the Socialists have received a salutary check by reason of the employers openly opposing and combating them, and there have been marked indications that the good sense of the workers has been: awakened to the fact that Socialist leaders m their trade unions are productive of strife rather than of industrial peace. Your committee, while recognising that Socialistic ideas are held and advocated by only a very small portion of the people, desires to express the opinion that it will be well for , employers and all well-wishers of the dominion to view the actions and proposals of the Socialistic party critically and watch the trend of legislation' closely, in order that any attempt to I further the revolutionary schemes of that party may be promptly and strenuously opposed." * ,