MINISTER'S REPLY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 174, 23 July 1907, Page 3

MINISTER'S REPLY.

aMEXEMENTS OF ARBITRATION ACT. SPEEDIER SETTLEMENT OE '..■: . DISPUTES. The Minister reminded the deputation I flat the speakers had -wandered over a area of ground, and questions \ 3ad been raised which his children would probably not see settled before they died. Mr. Cooper had fully dealt with the deficiencies of the Arbitration Act, and, alfengh he favoured "very strongly the re.tßrtion of Conciliation Boards, he (the .jimister) did not altogether know whe- , tier the amending Act would please him mfirely in that respect. He hoped this or at any rate in the early part of Bert week, to circulate that bill among tie whole of the labour unions of the ■colony and employers' federations. He lad endea-vonred in it to meet pretty well sll the known objections which had arriPTi. Tfig one object had been to encourage unionism, and at the same time to enable facilities to be given to deal ■Bith all disputes in a prompt manner. He had also endeavoured to get over tfie of disputes by enabling them to be dealt with almost as they occurred, so that when a dispute took place between a TiT|inn and an employer, "the Arbitration Court Should within one month ' finally settle it. In regard to breaches, he hoped the scheme he had devised wonld tnable them to be dealt with with-in-four days of it coming to the notice of ' ifie ■ IJepartnienC realised the

anzroj»nce.-inri' trouble which had been — eansed-by- delays, and "knew that the

laager one brooded over a grievance, the wosse it became. He could hardly go into details in regard to the Act, but it ■was in print, and as soon as hia colleagues had approved of it, he would take the earnest oppontunity tof circulating' fit among those interested, and giving full opportunity for an expression of views upon-thc! subject, when the measure came before the Labour Bills Committee. 3tr. Millar assured his hearers that the one object of the Government -was to put on the Statute Book a measure

wMch woold give the fullest satisfaction to everyone. He felt certain that the (Common sense of the workers would as- ' sist him in remedying any defeats which existed. Every point raised in regard to t&e Conciliation and Arbitration Act

iad been brought up previously, and iieijaa noted the whole of them, and

Coiearonred in some manner or another to deal TriiJi th-ose points.

' "A CDEEENCT QUESTIONS, i E had been remarked £hai the Labour party -objected to borrowing in toto, and • wasted the colony to go in for a local carrency instead. Xhis was the biggest question ever tackled. He had stood oataide, as Mr. Hampton did, and iiad gwahis vie-ws clearly, and thought the ;<JKsiian as clear a* daylight, but when : one got inside and saw the intricacies of finance, he ■would say it was not soeasy. How could we buy the coastal jraet" without borrowing? The London 'money marketwould onfyiakegold, and, ■assuming thai oar imports exceeded our it would not take the balance a local currency. A piece of leather . .WDMd.do for legal tender in the colony . bo loig as we agreed to accept it, but - it became hopelassly impossible they came to our 64 millions . w:deht Everything imported was pur2**? ° n a s ° id value, and this could eliminated until the article -was maßy consumed. The proposal -was not S?«aeabte unless the State purchased wl &c gold in the colony, and sold it ~ S^^ 6 " rbe fiTiaTlce3 of -the world were vtXits hands of a few people, who could any country, and we were too joang a colony to tackle anyone in that Mβ; ■ IABIFF MATTERS. vHe went-on to deal with tariff matters, •aong «jat the question of motor cars •«e stffl a moot point, and it would be «»«n from the Preas that it was not through as it at present stood. jfw : «id not put himself up as infallible, ' STiS,"J™ a tariff dealing with 700 « SCO things, it was very difficult to fwe satisfaction, -when he found how oae TKMte hedged upon another, one man's being another man's prohr^? l^6ll4l7 the one man. wanted it S tt . f ree and the other wanted proton. He had tried to adjust it, ; T4tuid-niri e f° M far as the y possibly <« tte boot question, fc Aril 3ect " puttin S on a- speci- ; tkeZ? l e \- ?aiT was t0 d ° aw ay with «»J?T? at . lOn Of S-Weated goods which W?. de - m the Country. He had -. Romans two-strap shoe, which was«old £*2Li*i heU tl3e invoke for this, S Kf S not sweat,gg, to did not know- what it could be. '^^LSf ep l red to demonstrate that

which cost .9/6 to 10/, would not pay any more'under the new tariff than at *£*%!*' hutit " wroilld awa y ™ th the shoddy staff imported by people who made large profits, and instead, local industries would be encouraged. If it did cost the consumer a shilling more than at present, he would be getting a better article. b ASSISTED IMMIGBATION. In regard to the immigration question, he could say that the Government had not encouraged' immigration. What was done was that eight or nine months ago, the unemployed committee in London started to load up our ships, £10 being paid by the Committee to each immigrant, but jt was not paid by the Government at an. mc Committee got together about £900 in passage money. The High Commissioner got definite instructions not to assist in passage money any pioneers, unless they were agricultural labourers or domestic servants, and these were the only two •classes of immigrants we had received during the last six months. Of course, the Government could not stop people paying their own passage to Kew Zealand. A number of artisans were doing that now, but the Minister of Immigration assured him that none were receiving assisted passages from Home, unless they were domestic servants or farm labourers. With respect to machinery inspection, he would meet Mr. Foster later on, and would go into the ma-tter and see what could be done in the way or amending legislation. He hoped to bring down a bill this session, but whether it would be passed he could not say. The question of the half holiday would be dealt with in the amending •Shops and Offices Bill which the Government proposed to bring down. As for the Shipping and Seamen's Act, so far as the 120 feet was concerned, that would be made the minimum quantity of spa-ec per man in the fore--castle. It bad been adopted by the Old Country, and he would see that it would be made the minimum here.

The land question he need not discuss, aa they would have all the opinions of members and ministers recorded in the course of a few days, but he thought they would agree -with him that they would not have done badly if they could save nine million acres. Under the law as it stood at present, every acre of Crown land could go under the optional system, but by removing nine million acres they would have made a very big stride, because that area was in addition to the land acquired under the Lands for Settlement Act. He did not know whether the conference had done it intentionally or not, but according to a resolution it had carried, they nad constituted themselves a political party. They had no right to do that. No one, of course, denied that to them, but by doing so they placed the Government in this position. They asked expenses of the delegates of any political party.

Mr. Cooper: Isn't it a farce? You know we all "barrack" for the same party. It was a Conservative Government which gave us this privilege before John Ballance eajne-.into power. The Hon. T. W. Hislop was -Minister at the time.

Eon. Mr. Millar: I doubt it. It will go back into the records to find out. What I want to know from your executive is whether it is a political party solely. If so, we are in the unfortunate position of opening the door to every political organisation which aaks for the expenses of its delegates to a conference.

Mr. Westbrooke explained that the resolution "bearing on this point was only passed by the conference, and had yet to be adopted by the affiliated unions. The Minister said that if the Government advanced money for the delegates to one political party, then why not to the Liberal and Labour Federation, Farmers' Union, N/tional Reform League, and others? The Government had always voted a sum to the delegates to the Labour Conference, but not as a political party. The Government desired to continue this vote, but if the party was to be a political party, the Government would be simply forced to say no.

A Voice: " The Farmers' Union is not a political organisation."

Hon. Mr. Millar: "Oh, isn't it? But it doesn't matter whether a party is working for the Government or the Opposition, the Government cannot pay them."

Coming to the Asiatic question, Mr. Millar said it was proposed to meet the' difficulty by applying an education test under which very few Chinese -would be able to arrive in this country; a test by-which an Asiatic would have to pass in one or more European languages. iAs to protecting country workers, the Government was taking "action, but in this respect, it had been somewhat forestalled by the member for Geraldine, who had introduced a bill on the but agricultural labourers would be protected under legislation similar to that of the Shearers' Accommodation Act, with one or two inspectors to look after their interests, one for the North Island, and another foT the South. The question of the nationalisation of industries the Premier was more entitled to reply to, but lie had a distinct recolleclection that not many years ago a wave of indignation was raised from Dunedin girls when it was suggested that a clothing factory should be established by the Government in Wellington to manufacture the whole of the clothing for the Government employees. That, however, was only a detail, and did not apply to the principle, but he could not commit Cabinet to an opinion on this question of nationalising the industries of the country.

It was no use the deputation supporting the abolition, of the Legislative Coun cil because the Government had just appointed fourteen members to strengthen it. His answer was that the Government did not see its way clear to abolish the Council.

The question of workers' compensation -was now in the hands of the Department, and he hoped to bring down a bill to enable workers to get the full benefit. He was endeavouring to keep lawyers out of it, so that a man would know exactly what he was entitled to. This had taken a' lot of work, and he had' had very valuable assistance from Mr. Richardson, the Government Insurauce Commissioner, in regard to it. He hoped to be able to place useful information before the Labour Bills Committee dealing -with the matter. In regard to first aid, they could not make a hard and fast rule to meet the conditions of town and country. He promised in conclusion, to carefully go into all the matters that had been brought before him by the deputation.

The deputation thanked the Minister for giving them such a lengthy and patient hearing.