ARBITRATION COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 79, 3 April 1928, Page 9

ARBITRATION COURT.

DEFENDED BY ECONOMIST. ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT. ABOLITION WOULD HARM NATION. "I am aware that the Arbitration Court has many weaknesses, but it is my thesis (1) that the net economic and social welfare of the country would be reduced if the Court were abolished; (2) that the Arbitration Court is,, in fact, not an important factor in the present depression." With this preliminary, Dr. H. Belshaw, professor of economics at Auckland University College, embarked on a closelyreasoned defence of the Court, in a paper read before the National Industrial Conference.

Before proceeding to answer the general arguments raised against the compulsory arbitration- system, Dr. Belshaw remarked that it was not sufficient for critics of the Court to show that it is defective, and therefore ought to be abolished. "A completely convincing case for abolition must show: (1) That the operation of the Court does impose handicaps in industry; (2) that these are not balanced by compensating advantages; (3) that the evils would disappear with the abolition of the Court, and that no evils of equal or greater magnitude than these would be likely to arise as the result of abolition." A Favourite Argument Examined.

He devotes considerable space to an examination of the charge that "the minimum wage tends to become the standard wage, and the efficient worker is usually degraded to the level of pay of the inefficient," and says, "the imI plication surely is that variation would be increased if compulsory arbitration were abolished. I agree that this is likely, but in a wholly undesirable manger. If the system of compulsory arbitration were abolished, there would be two opposite reactions on trade unionism. Certain unions in which the employees are concentrated in fairly large groups would be strengthened. Others, where the workers are scattered, or where the employees are mainly women, would be seriously v-eakened, and possibly would disappear. Under such conditions it is unlikely that there would be less uniformity than at present.

"But two other consequences would follow: (1) There would be a danger of the return to sweated conditions; (2) there would be wage variations from industry to industry, and from firm to firm, as well as from individual to individual, with the result that the efficient business would be placed at a disadvantage, for the weaker firms would meet competition at the expense of

wages." The minimum wage, he concludes, is undoubtedly desirable, to prevent sweating. Having examined other arguments against the Court, Dr. Belshaw concludes that the Court is "at most, a minor factor in the present economic situation," that many of • the criticisms levelled at it are "untenable;" and "further, even where criticisms are, in fact, justified, there are reasons for believing that they would apply equally tc conditions which would result from the abolition of the Court, or that cthei socially undesirable conditions of equa or greater importance would arise." Suggestions for Improvement. Nevertheless, Dr. Belshaw does no argue that the arbitration system ii New Zealand could not be improved "Very diffidently," he makes a number o: suggestions (already published in tin "Star"), including the desirability o "fixing a minimum wage, varying wit] the cost of living, but related *io *famil responsibilities by a system of famil; endowment,' the making of provision fo special conditions in different Industrie and different localities, and the provisio of alternative methods of eollcctive Imi gaining where the majority of worker and employers in a district desire ii "Trade boards along the lines of thos developed in the United Kingdom slioul be set up as an alternative to compulsor arbitration, and the desirability of set ting up minimum wage boards in apiculture should be considered."