Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, JULY 20, 1914. THE RIGHT TO WORK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8894, 20 July 1914, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, JULY 20, 1914. THE RIGHT TO WORK.

There appear to be dangerous possibilities in the "Workers' Eight to Work Bill," introduced in the House last week and read a first time. If the. principle ij acknowledged that every man is entitled to be provided with work, surely it will also be conceded that he must equip himself mentally or physically for the kind of work that may be available. And it would be reasonable, also, to insist on the obligation to work; otherwise it is more than probable that the idle and shiftless would benefit at the expense of the genuine workers. The Bill, of course, proposes that the State shall stand sponsors to the unemployed—not only to the class that is genuinely anxious for work, but to those who pray that work shall not be found for them and to those who are for various reasons at present unemployable! The proposition is a •'most I'"formidable one. It is admitted that' in the necessary development of the Dominion all the surplus labour at present unemployed could be profitably occupied; but this would involve *a borrowing policy far in excess of [ the country's resources. Private employers ■ do not care to launch out to* .any/greater extent than at present rDecimse of the restrictions that the labour unions have placed upon the employment of labour with regard to pay and the hours and conditions of work. Most of the work at which the unemployed could be employed is to be found in the back-blocks —roadmaking,;, railway-building, bushfalling, . farming—and experience has shown that this is not the class of work that appeals to the majority of those whose misfortune it is to be frequently out of work. The granting of the right to work would, in some cases, involve the granting of the right to select the kind of work. But it is doubtful if the policy of "coddle" can ever be of permanent value. Great economic questions cannot be settled by Acts of Parliament. They have a tendency to make the worker rely less upon himself, and more j and more upon the Government to | play Providence to him, which no Government can do if:permanent amelioration is desired and if a "fair deal" is to be given to the rest of the community. Side-by-side with the demand for the right to work is the demand for compulsory unionism and shorter working-hours. The employer is practically asked to cut his own I throat. Compulsory ... unionism means something more than the filching of the employer's right to select his workmen: it also means the refusal of the right of any.man, to sell his labour to whomsoever he pleases. The full details of ,the Bill now before the House are not yet available, but it will be interesting to learn whether the right to work is to be reserved solely for those who wear the union label. It is scarcely likely that the Bill will reach its third reading, but the fact that its principles have been endorsed by several of the , leading Liberals in the House indicates that it is not regarded as being outside the scope of practical politics. :