The Auckland Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1908. A GRAVE INDISCRETION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 70, 21 March 1908, Page 4

The Auckland Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1908. A GRAVE INDISCRETION.

Tor the toute that look* atsittanoe, For the wrong that need* retittmce, For the future in the distance, Ani Mc good that »c co» «10.

The unfortunate deadlock at the Blackball mine still continues, and, though there are rumours that a settlement is in course of being arranged, the position is, from the point of view of our Arbitration Court and our industrial legislation, exceedingly ominous and disquieting. We have already attempted to explain the situation from the men's standpoint, and we believe that, generally speaking, public opinion was with ihem in their desire to secure a longer "crib time" and a more generous interpretation of the "bank-to-bank" clause. It is much to be regretted tjiat they did not take the obvious and legitimate course of appealing to the Arbitration Court, but preferred practically to defy its ruling and to bring pressure to bear upon them, employers in their own way. But, bad as this was, there was worse to come. After the Labour Department had in vain attempted to effect a settlement, and the Miners' Union had been prosecuted for causing a strike, Messrs. Brown and McCuliough, the two lay members of the Arbitration Court, succeeded in arranging a compromise, which was definitely accepted by the men. But immediately after the Court had given its decision, and fined the union, the men repudiated their promise, and demanded fresh terms that the company is not at all lively to accept. We have no desire to speak with undue severity of the conduct of the men, who have evidently been ■worked upon by a sense of unredressed grievances, and by the rather inflammatory speeches in which some of their number have indulged; but we have no hesitation in saying that this last step— the breach of the agreement arranged with the Company by Messrs. Brown and McCuliough—has gone a long way toward alienating public sympathy from the workers in this special dispute, and has placed the industrialists throughout the Dominion in a thoroughly false and unsatisfactory position.

We can -well understand that the unions will find it hard to resist an appeal for help such as the Blackball miners have just made to their fellow workers throughout the colony. But our sympathy for the men in the unfortunate position In which they hava placed themselves should not blind us to the danger in which they have involved our arbitration system, and tUe vital importance of the principle at stake. It is a significant fact that the Grey Wharf Labourers' Union, who must be well aware of the facts of the case, have expressed regret at the Blackball strike, and disapproval of the men's action ; while the Otago Trades and Labour Council, on the ground thaj; it "believes in the principle of conciliation and arbitration in labour disputes," has refused to advise its affiliated unions to grant assistance to the Blackball miners. These are comforting indications of the existence of a sane and healthy public opinion among our workers. The sense of fellowship and fraternity is an admirable feature of our industrial relations; but it is a good thing for the country that some of our labour organisations have the common sense and the moral courage to take this tone in dealing with sq difficult a question. Naturally enough, the "Dominion" and other extreme party organs throughout the country have seized eagerly upon this incident "as a proof that the workers are now "fighting without disguise for the complete overthrow of industrial order," and a pretext for demanding that the Minister for Labour shall at once proceed to extremes against the rebellious union. Even the "Lyttelton Times, ,, which has hitherto adopted a friendly tone toward the miners, now declares that "this outrageous breach of faith" is likely to deprive the men of the last spark of sympathy from the general public. It is clear that the conduct of the Blackball miners has produced a generally bad impression upon the country; and at the same time it has inflicted a serious blow upon the credit and reputation of our Arbitration Court. This we need hardly say we regard as a very serious matter. We are hardly inclined to go so far as Mr. Justice Sim, who, in delivering judgment on the Blackball case, declared that every attempt at a strike "furnishes an argument for the abolition of the system." We agree rather with the "Evening Post," which contends that the system fully justifies its existence by rendering stirkes difficult and improbable; for no law has ever been enacted that is not occasionally broken. But no one can doubt that the refusal of organised bodies of workers to avail themselves of the right of appeal to the Arbitration Court tends to endanger its prestige and undermine its authority. But the worst feature of this complication is that without Arbitration the only solution of industrial disputes is found in the strike; and this, as the Blackball workers must already have begun to see, is the most dangerous and suicidal method of defence mat Labour can uossibly employ.