ARBITRATION LAWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 204, 29 August 1928, Page 8

ARBITRATION LAWS.

ANOTHER CONFERENCE. GOVERNMENT HOPEFUL. NO VITAL ALTERATION MEANWHILE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. "We have decided to bring the parties together again," said the Prime Minister, when presenting in the House of Representatives the report of the National Industrial Conference, which failed to agree on the most important question submitted to it, that of the arbitration laws. "If an industry can itself show the way out then the course so recommended must undoubtedly be welcome by the whole country, and I need not say a scheme which meets with general approval has much greater prospects of success than any measure which might create suspicion or distrust on one side or the other. I and my colleagues think that the results of the conference, although small on the practical side, were large from other points points of view, which, if less easy to perceive, are of even greater importance, and we feel that in the good feeling engendered by the last conference there is sufficient prospect of a further step forward to warrant the calling of another conference before any final decision is arrived at.

"The failure of the representatives of industry to agree after an honest and prolonged attempt to do so shows the very real difficulty of the subject, and where experts have failed to point the way it would be rash for any body less highly qualified to move, except with the utmost caution. We have therefore decided to bring the parties together again, in the hope that they may this time be able to find a solution which will protect the national welfare as well as preserve their own interests, which, as I have stated before, are in the long view : dentical. "It is proposed to convene another conference during the summer and to lav the whole matter again before it with the same object in view as on the previous occasion. "Until such a conference has definitely failed the Government do not intend to propose any legislation other than that necessary to maintain the status quo, and for this purpose, as a temporary measure only, it is proposed to continue in force for another year the amendment enacted last session. We propose to make one small alteration entirely in keeping with the principle that the agreement of parties should be the paramount consideration, namely, that should both workers and employers desire a new award they may take" the necessary steps to obtain it." The Prime Minister said discussion on the report would be taken on Thursday.