STATE WILL ACT

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 192, 16 August 1938, Page 10

STATE WILL ACT

DISAPPROVAL.

BOYCOTT THREAT.

MINISTER OUTSPOKEN.

LEGISLATION IF NEEDED. TRIBUNAL UPHELD. (B.v Telfjiraph. — n'nrliniiKMitary Re-porter.) WELLINGTON', this day. •'.My attention .<as drawn to-day to a Press report of a circular alleged to have been distributed at Auckland under the authority of the Auckland Council of the Federation of Labour in connection with staff i;ff(»ir« at a local bakery," said the Minister >f Lubour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, this afternoon. "I have made certain inquiries during the morning, and I am informed that the report i.s substantially corree*, that the Xew Zealand Federation of Labour has no knowledge of ' the circular, and that the employer concerned consulted the Auckland branch of the Labour Department before dismissing a driver. "The circular discussed Piente arising out of a dismissal by the eaine employer in May last. That case was investigated successively by an inspector of factories, by a dispute* committee, by myself, ami finally by a tribunal under the chairmanship of a Hamilton magistrate. Associated with the i ngis-, trate were a former Secretary of the Labour Department and a former inspector of factories. Its personnel was particularly chosen to bring a knowledge of the subject, and impartial minds, to bear on ihe merits of the ease.' I .do not know of a more or disinterested tribunal which could have been appointed. Its finding was chat the dismissal was warranted, and I will say without hesitation that I consider its finding was the only one that could have been made on the facts. The New Zealand industrial laws place at the disposal of both workers and employers the most complete code in the world for disputes to be settled amicably. The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act deliberately gives our arbitration system a special quality of elasticity by requiring its administration in equity and good conscience. The Government strongly disapprove* of the reflection cast npon the magistrates by the circular, and of the apparent object of - the- .. circular . to embarrass the employer in the conduct of his business. "I may add that I have the support of the Government in saying that they do not countenance any busines* being interfered with in the way contemplated in the circular. If legislation is required to give the necessary protection the Government will be prepared to give serious consideration to its introduction."